How will the Saarlanders move in 2040? To answer this question, the State Chancellery has funded this socially and economically important project from ERDF funds in the Saarland and from state funds in the total amount of approximately 570,000.00 euros. “It is very important to us to support the team of the ITS Research Group of the Saarland University of Applied Sciences (htw saar), which has been working on this topic for the past three years,” said Minister President Hans. The result is a “Smart Mobility Competence Atlas” (KoSMoS), which provides an overview of the local players in this important topic for Saarland as an automotive location, as well as an overview of the current attitudes of Saarlanders towards Smart Mobility and dares to make prognoses for the future.

“The research and development of intelligent mobility concepts is a high priority for the state government. Alternative, low-emission drives, digital and smart technologies as well as artificial intelligence and networked production will become even more important in the future – especially in a region like Saarland, where the automotive industry has long played an important economic role”, explains Minister President Tobias Hans with a view to the mobility turnaround. “We have a research landscape in the Saar that can be a decisive location advantage, especially for the most current topics in the automotive industry and its future”.

The IHK also sees the Competence Atlas as an important contribution to the further development of vehicle construction in the Saar region. “The results of the Competence Atlas provide a good basis for companies to adapt to the changing mobility requirements of customers. They help them to expand and optimize their digital services. These are important prerequisites for an integrated traffic concept”, comments IHK managing director Dr. Heino Klingen on the results of the htw study.

At kosmos-project.eu interested citizens can now find out about activities and research results on smart mobility in the region. Smart Mobility is defined as an offer that enables “energy-efficient”, “low-emission”, “safe”, “comfortable” and “cost-effective” mobility and that is used intelligently by road users. In many cases, this involves optimizing the use of existing offerings through the use of information and communication technologies. The presented competence atlas contains comprehensive structural, mobility and acceptance analyses of this topic area in relation to the Saarland.

The head of the research project, Professor Dr.-Ing. Horst Wieker: “From our experience with the development of the ITS test field in Merzig, we know that the challenges of the digital transformation of the transport sector are enormous. An industrial region like Saarland is facing special challenges in this respect. In our view, these must be met proactively. The transformation of the automobile is first and foremost an opportunity to break new ground. KoSMoS shows that this will succeed in Saarland if only all forces from society, business and information technology are bundled.

The website kosmos-project.eu offers companies and public institutions in the field of smart mobility the opportunity to network and thus create synergies for new projects in the state.