Autonomous driving, connected mobility, increasing electrification: the automotive industry is undergoing change. This makes it all the more important to support companies in integrating digital services into their business models and exploiting the innovation potential of digital business processes. For three years, a consortium of scientists and industry experts has been working to develop solutions for the mobility sector. The result: a comprehensive transfer of knowledge and experience, concrete tools for practical application and a strengthened ecosystem for the mobility industry in Germany. The ‘DiSerHub’ project, in which FIR at RWTH Aachen University, Paderborn University with the Heinz Nixdorf Institute (HNI) and the SICP – Software Innovation Campus, the An-Institut für Transfer und Weiterbildung (TUCed), the Institut für Automobilwirtschaft (IfA) and the Fraunhofer autoMOBILproduktion Alliance collaborated, has now been successfully completed. The result is a transformation hub that offers new models in the areas of production, distribution, use and recycling. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) has funded the project with a total of around 3.7 million euros.
The aim of DiSerHub was to harness the potential of digitalisation, impart knowledge in a practical manner and accelerate implementation in companies. "If digital services are to be sustainable, they must go beyond mere functionality and deliver genuine added value – for users, the environment and the economy. DiSerHub enables exactly that: we build bridges between research and practice and promote a circular economy in which automobility is not only efficient, but also resource-saving and value-adding,‘ says Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Boos, Managing Director of FIR. ’We have not only developed theoretical concepts, but also identified concrete use cases and discussed them with companies."
The project partners, supported by regional trade associations, have achieved numerous milestones. The broad expertise within the consortium made it possible to address topics such as digital twins, artificial intelligence (AI) in car dealerships and demand-driven autonomous mobility in an application-oriented manner. These include checklists, decision-making aids, digital tools and recommendations for action. In terms of content, the entire value chain is covered, from development and production to sales, use and recycling. Practical examples in the form of blog posts, videos and podcasts, as well as training courses, are freely accessible on the central knowledge platform www.diserhub.de.
Paderborn scientists focused on developing sustainable, needs-based mobility services and practical demonstrators for connected and automated driving. Various demonstrators, including VR driving simulators, have been set up in a real-world laboratory to bring the digital transformation in the mobility sector to life. This gave interested parties the opportunity to test Car2X communication, digital services and new business models in virtual reality. At the same time, the demonstrators – such as a Lego environment for the NeMo.bil on-demand mobility system – give the public low-threshold access to topics such as connected driving, fleet management, operational planning, sector coupling, AI and technology acceptance.
"The close cooperation between the Heinz Nixdorf Institute and SICP has enabled us to cover a wide range of technologies. By setting up the joint demonstration environment, we will be able to make new developments in the mobility sector accessible to SMEs in the future as well," says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ansgar Tr?chtler from Paderborn University. The project team is well positioned for the future: a second project phase has already been approved by the ministry. It will start in January 2026. The network that has been created will therefore continue to serve as a platform for exchange and cooperation. The focus will then be on socio-technical challenges in the context of AI-based services such as fleet management for on-demand mobility. The demonstrators will be used to investigate user acceptance of business models for highly automated vehicles in order to identify current barriers to market entry.
This text was translated automatically.
