Ergonomics and Human Factors

Mensch in Bewegung is a joint project of Ingolstadt University of Technology (THI) and the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU).

The 21st century brings with it urgent challenges - such as climate change, digitalization of the world of life and work, and social inequality. In these times, universities must also contribute to positive change with innovative ideas. KU and THI are taking on this task during the five years of their project and beyond.

What new ideas are there for mobility? How can Region 10 develop sustainably? How can the digital transformation in the world of living and working be shaped well? And how can civic engagement help with the challenges of our time? These are the central questions of the project.

With its technical and economic focus, THI is closely linked to the region's industry and economy. KU, with its focus on the humanities, contributes social, societal and sustainable aspects in particular.

The "Mensch in Bewegung" project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). As part of the "Innovative University" funding initiative, the German federal and state governments support educational and scientific institutions that, in addition to research and teaching, also make it their mission to have an impact on society. This mission is referred to as the "third mission" of science.

The joint project "Mensch in Bewegung" offers the two universities the opportunity to combine their complementary strengths and to have an impact on the region. KU and THI pursue the common goal of strengthening the exchange of knowledge (transfer) between science, politics, business and civil society. The funding from the federal and state governments enables the two universities to fulfill their social responsibility and work together more effectively. With technological and social innovations, they contribute to securing the quality of life and prosperity in the region.

Link: https://mensch-in-bewegung.info/

The subproject deals with the development of novel "human models" in order to address two problem areas in particular: On the one hand, we will find a long period of so-called mixed traffic, in which it will be important for road safety that automated vehicles can estimate how manual drivers behave in road traffic. On the other hand, the acceptance of automated vehicles (from the passenger's point of view) will strongly depend on factors such as driving style and manoeuvres, safety distance, etc. of the automated vehicle. Therefore, individual parameters have to be determined and driving functions have to be parameterized appropriately.

The objective of AMI-AirShuttle is to research or develop concepts, procedures, studies, plans, digital solutions, processes, approvals and business models for the value and slot-neutral integration of air cabs at Munich Airport against the backdrop of future scaling and marketing potential of the overall solution for third-party customers. The underlying guiding question, which is being addressed across all main work packages, is: What requirements must be met in order to integrate manned, electrified air cabs (eVTOL) into the airport's existing operations (use case: MUC) in a timely, safe, efficient, and environmentally compatible manner and to be able to launch a commercial operation of air cabs at international airports?

The goal of BARCS is to develop a concept for the economical operation of autonomous shuttle buses through the use of teleoperation and the further development of existing technologies. In this context, the construction of a test vehicle and its evaluation are of particular importance. Finally, the technical and user-related requirements for highly automated vehicles are to be researched in the project in order to be able to integrate autonomous shuttle buses into local public transport (ÖPNV) in Bavaria on a comprehensive and economical basis through appropriate developments. The aim is to create the first foundations for teleoperated/local autonomous operation and to be able to develop low-frequency public transport routes with a low input of resources. On a function carrier, these goals are to be achieved in particular by using artificial intelligence (AI), 3D environment detection and object recognition, as well as sensor fusion of various 3D sensors such as stereo cameras and LIDAR.

The SUE project will realize a first prototype of a highly automated people shuttle, a people mover, which will be operated autonomously via AI processes using three fused localization technologies. This concept is new and unique and will be developed in SUE. Thus, via this project, an innovative autonomous shuttle will be developed that can be used without human supervision based on the newly passed German law on autonomous driving. According to the latest laws, such vehicles may even be put into regular operation from 2022.

In addition, innovations in the field of functional safety (FuSi) for autonomous vehicles are also expected in SUE. These are, for example, new testing approaches for highly automated vehicles with AI software modules or the development and publication of a guide to the challenges with the corresponding problem solutions for the introduction of an autonomous shuttle in urban public transport.

MIRASOFT addresses problems of safeguarding automated driving functions in three subprojects (TPs). TP1 deals with modeling the behavior of unprotected road users (UVTs, e.g., cyclists, pedestrians, eScooter/eBike riders, and many more) in traffic circles and intersection situations and with special consideration of weather conditions. Through user studies in different degrees of reality, movement patterns of test persons are recorded in order to validate to what extent the behavior in virtually conducted experiments corresponds to reality. Subsequently, these data are used to model UVT behavior by statistical methods. The goal is to generate realistic UVT models for simulation. In TP2, critical situations from the driver's perspective are investigated, focusing not only on safety but also on improved driver-vehicle interaction. By using augmentation and physiological sensors, "Driver State Assessment" should improve the situation awareness of drivers and lead to safer operation. Furthermore, system transparency should increase the understanding of algorithmically made system decisions. TP3 prepares the integration of TP1/TP2 into a common "Mixed Reality" test environment. For consistency reasons, the Open Simulation Interface (OSI) will be used and test methods based on the project results obtained in the set-up phase will be integrated.