At the European FORM Forum on the future of road mobility held this week in Brussels, the Eurecat technology centre is unveiling new technologies and digital solutions for the automotive industry to enhance transport anchored in autonomous vehicles and the resilience of connected autonomous mobility systems along with producing more sustainable and robust vehicles and more efficient batteries for electric vehicles.
Organised by the European Automotive Research Partners Association (EARPA) of which Eurecat is a member, the forum brings together industry players to share knowledge to shift towards resilient and circular road mobility in today’s digital world
Eurecat is presenting at the congress a new lighter and more sustainable battery concept with higher energy density and shorter charging times to fast-track mass market uptake of electric vehicles developed as part of the European MARBEL project coordinated by Eurecat through BATTECH, the leading battery R&D and innovation centre in Southern Europe.
The European MARBEL consortium is working to design, develop and demonstrate a new compact, modular, weight-optimised and high-performance battery pack featuring longer life and greater energy efficiency in charging and energy use based on a robust and flexible battery management system (BMS) as well as ultra-fast charging and battery cooling.
Cybersecurity for protecting autonomous and connected vehicles
As for digital tools, Eurecat is showcasing the European SELFY project led by the technology centre which is developing a self-assessment and self-protection toolbox to enhance the security and resilience of cooperative, connected and automated mobility (CCAM) systems against potential cyber-attacks and malicious actions. This is at a time when around 50 million connected and automated cars are expected to be on the road in Europe by 2026.
The project aims to become the leading provider of manufacturer-adaptable toolboxes for trusted data management as well as for security preservation, self-repair and self-management in the industry.
Artificial intelligence to enhance mobility
The technical solutions Eurecat has developed for the industry include the FRONTIER project, which is designed to deliver new strategies and technologies to the road network and traffic control systems in order to improve current mobility and help plan the transport network for the mobility of the future.
New tools have been developed by harnessing artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicle-based transport modes in order to cut pollution, traffic jams and accidents along with mobility costs for all users whether private individuals, industry players or public organisations.
This European project’s consortium thus seeks to support the transition to autonomous multimodal mobility by rolling out artificial intelligence models for traffic prediction and accident detection, mapping out partnership and arbitration processes between stakeholders and setting up business models to ensure the solutions’ commercial viability.
Safer, lighter and greener vehicle structures
The technology centre is also working on flexible and hybrid manufacturing technology drawing on high-strength green aluminium alloys to produce adaptive crash-tolerant vehicle structures developed as part of the European Flexcrash consortium.
The project addresses the main challenges facing the automotive industry and aims to develop safer, lighter and circular structures to increase vehicle lightweighting and passenger safety while paying special attention to the front-end structure as frontal crashes account for 70% of total car collisions. The project’s solutions will also make it possible to unlock more efficient use of resources and streamline material supply chains.
