Vehicles seemingly controlled by invisible hands are by no means a distant prospect. Soon they’ll be part of every cityscape – and not just in the current pilot regions in Düsseldorf- Derendorf and the city’s industrial port, which have been approved as real-life laboratories by TÜV Rhineland and Düsseldorf, home to Rheinmetall and the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Teleoperated driving technology makes this possible. The vehicle is equipped with a built-in remote-control function (steer-by-wire) and various cameras. The “driver” sits remotely in a control station that contains all the functions and control units of a normal car. The view from the vehicle – including the side and rear-view mirror views – is shown on large monitors. A crucial safety factor: the camera images and all the driver’s decisions are implemented in real time thanks to state-of-the-art 5G mobile communications technology. The view from the vehicle – including the side and rear-view mirror views – is shown on large monitors. A crucial safety factor: the camera images and all the driver’s decisions are implemented in real time thanks to state-of-the-art 5G mobile communications technology.

The interdivisional pre-developers strive to anticipate or recognize future technological trends and to design the resulting innovations to the point where they can be handed over to the relevant Rheinmetall development unit or, for example, to a joint venture, which will then assume responsibility for further development, marketing and, ultimately, industrialization of the project. The RTC, which forms part of Rheinmetall’s central “Research, Technology and Innovation” unit, is headed by Heinrich Dismon and Klaus Kappen, the chief technology officers of Rheinmetall’s civil and military sectors.

The interdivisional pre-developers strive to anticipate or recognize future technological trends and to design the resulting innovations to the point where they can be handed over to the relevant Rheinmetall development unit or, for example, to a joint venture, which will then assume responsibility for further development, marketing and, ultimately, industrialization of the project. The RTC, which forms part of Rheinmetall’s central “Research, Technology and Innovation” unit, is headed by Heinrich Dismon and Klaus Kappen, the chief technology officers of Rheinmetall’s civil and military sectors.

A WIDE RANGE OF APPLICATIONS

Due to the diverse range of potential users of teleoperated driving, Dismon sees excellent market opportunities for the new technology in the civil sector. Potential users and applications include car rental companies and shuttle services, logistics and transportation firms, local public transport, commercial and special vehicles as well as airports, ports, power plants and mines. There are also applications in the private sphere, where drivers may not want to be at the wheel themselves or simply wish to teleoperate their vehicles and park them in the nearest parking lot.

“But we also see realistic possibilities for use in the military domain,” adds Kappen, “such as logistics vehicles or in particularly critical areas.”

In addition to the necessary control and safety equipment manufactured by the Group and teleoperated movement of vehicles, the Düsseldorf-based company’s portfolio also includes tele-assisted driving. For example, artificial intelligence in a fully autonomous vehicle may face a problem if it needs to cross a solid line due to a specific certain traffic situation, which is normally a no-go for the autonomous control system. “In such cases, a human could intervene as a tele-assistant and take care of the situation,” says Kappen. “We have to have a technical supervisor who can step in as needed. Thanks to the bridging technology of tele-assisted driving, level 4 or 5 autonomous driving is quickly becoming a viable prospect,” he says.

However, this future-oriented technology should not and cannot be brought to market by Rheinmetall alone. This is where Mira GmbH comes in. This recently founded Rheinmetall subsidiary will soon be offering a wide range of products and services related to teleoperated driving for the civilian sector, which incidentally is a precondition for bringing external partners onboard.

LOTS OF ARROWS IN THE QUIVER

The RTC is also active in other civil and defence technology projects. Tool-based reporting and regular meetings with relevant developers on site ensure that research is not conducted in an ivory tower but is instead linked with the operational units to the greatest extent possible. Kappen: “Potential benefits of the RTC’s developments are continuously scrutinized in the Group’s management committees.” In addition, substantial sub-developments – such as teleoperated driving – are already under way in various operational divisions of the Rheinmetall Group. These include the visual system (Electronics Solutions) and the hardware and operating software for vehicle control (Vehicle Systems).

Other activities of the RTC’s 35-strong staff include development of new countermeasure systems for the navy, improvement of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in urban areas, and camera- and radar-based monitoring of vehicles. The latter is about to become a legal requirement in the United States, mostly as a means of making sure children or pets aren’t forgotten or unintentionally left behind in cars. For car manufacturers, this is an important feature that also earns points in the Euro NCAP test. Artificial intelligence is also used here, whether simply for detecting the presence of people in the vehicle or for monitoring the driver to ensure that he or she is fit to drive. This technology, which is at an advanced stage of development, is currently being handed over to the Sensors and Actuators division.

The RTC will initially provide support, but the division will eventually assume responsibility for further development and, ultimately, commercialization. There are numerous other potential uses for these applications in the civil and military sectors. These include vehicle access control, passenger status (strapped in?/ healthy and fit to drive?) or intrusion detection, to name but a few. Reason enough for Rheinmetall to have recently entered a joint venture with DERMALOG Identification Systems GmbH, Germany’s largest biometrics company. Reason enough for Rheinmetall to have recently entered a joint venture with DERMALOG Identification Systems GmbH, Germany’s largest biometrics company.

PILOT PROJECTS FOR CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE

Where’s the nearest charging station? Is even it available? How much farther can I drive? Anyone who’s ever driven an electric car is familiar with these concerns, especially as the current number of charging options in our inner cities – though steadily increasing – is still nowhere near the level where we wouldn’t have to worry about where the nearest one was. This is where the RTC comes in with a concept for solving availability issues in inner cities – after all, lack of space means that it’s often not even possible to construct enough conventional charging stations.

Curb creates remedy

A curb side charging system could provide a comparatively quick and easy remedy. The idea is to turn entire streets with on-street parking into a power source with up to 22 kW of charging power. Initial internal tests received highly positive feedback, and some cities are already interested in installioning pilot charging facilities of this kind in partnership with the RTC. Drivers of electric vehicles will certainly be grateful.