2012

International relief supplies and personnel support during earthquakes, floods or hurricane incidents are seen as a matter of course today. The work of relief forces, however, is impeded not only by language barriers and unfavorable weather conditions, but also by the lack of standards, equipment and execution regulations.

The EC-funded project IDIRA addresses precisely these issues. 18 organizations from 7 EU countries are searching for solutions over a project duration of four years. German partners involved in the project are the Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI and the German Red Cross, Saxony branch.

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Characteristics such as the efficiency of planning processes, the proximity of highway or platform access and the annual growth rate of freight or passenger volume – these are examples of indicators for analyzing and assessing interchange terminals. Within the EC-funded CLOSER project, corresponding case studies have been carried out in several European cities.

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Four years of project work, 48 partners, 7 demonstrations projects and a total budget of ca. 26 million € – these are the numbers behind European Bus System of the Future (EBSF), to this day the largest EC-funded road-bound traffic project. On October 15, 2012, the International Association of Public Transport UITP (Union Internationale des Transports Publics), being the director and coordinator of the EBSF project, presented the results of the individual EBSF sub-projects, the so-called »Use Cases« (demonstration projects), to the press in Brussels.

The aim of the »Ergonomically Optimized European Bus Driver Work Space« sub-project, was to determine the conditions necessary for creating a standardized European Bus Driver work space, similar to the German VDV 234 guideline. The test acmpaigns were executed at the Fraunhofer IVI on the basis of statistical specifications (regarding gender, age, height) with selected test subjects (active bus drivers) from Rome, Dresden and Göteburg.

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The Thuringian Minister for Construction, State Development and Transport, Christian Carius, visited the 30.7 meter long AutoTram^® Extra Grand – the world's longest bus –, which is manufactured in Thuringia. The bus is a test vehicle that was developed within a Regional Growth Core funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. It is hoped to close the gap between buses and trams in metropolitan areas on special bus lines.  

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The AutoTram^® Extra Grand currently does its laps on the DEKRA test track at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz, working through the testing procedure to obtain a single vehicle approval. In past weeks, an increasing number of journalists and press representatives have been expressing their interest in this impressive vehicle. They are fascinated by its length, which raises several questions: How can a vehicle of this enormous size cope with the tight bends of city traffic? Is it a hazard to other traffic participants? How can the AutoTram^® be maneuvered in forward and reverse drive?

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The Minister of Transport of Beijing gathers informaiton on innovative transport technologies and Saxon transport policies

The city of Beijing's Minister of Transport, Liu Xiaoming, visited the Fraunhofer IVI in the company of a high-profile delegation. The framework for the visit was set by a conference organized by the TU Dresden Institute for Further and Continuing Education GmbH (TUD FaCE). The guests gathered information on innovative transport technololgies and concepts, and they also visited the AutoTram^® Extra Grand as a future-oriented vehicle technology for public transport. The delegation was especially interested in the establishment of a joint study program in the field of transport engineering. Agreements were made about strengthening the collaboration in the research and davelopment sector and with Saxon public transport providers.

The AutoTram^® Extra Grand was presented to the public for the first time yesterday in the historic city center of Dresden. The premiere of »the world's longest bus« attracted many visitors and press. Earlier in the afternoon, representatives from politics and research visited the vehicle, including the German Minister of Education and Research, Prof. Anette Schavan, Saxony's Prime Minister Stanislaw Tillich and Prof. Reimund Neugebauer, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology (IWU). The AutoTram^® Extra Grand is over than 30 meters long and has a capacity of 256 passengers.

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The octocopter HORUS (HOvering Remote controlled Ultra-light Sensorplatform) developed at the Fraunhofer IVI in Dresden provides a complete panoramic view and can be applied for photography, videography or thermography. Thanks to its eight rotors, the platform does not only have a higher payload capacity compared to quadrocopters, but also an increased reliability. The aircraft is a serious alternative to manned and unmanned flying objects which are already in operation. Due to its technical variability and low costs, the octocopter is perfectly suitable for scientific field campaigns.