The automotive industry is currently undergoing a transition it has never before experienced. Increasing public awareness for impacts on the environment, such as climate change, and human health, such as particular matter emissions, are affecting every aspect of doing business. Inner city driving restrictions for Diesel cars are looming, emission regulation is becoming ever more stringent and penalties for non-compliance are skyrocketing.
At the same time, more and more people around the globe are moving into cities. The mobility demand of urban populations pose an immense challenge to providers of mobility solutions: congestion, lack of parking spaces, interaction with pedestrians and cyclists prohibit the continuation of doing business as usual.
All this change is occurring against the background of digitization (Industry 4.0, Mobility 4.0). So far, the car itself and its performance features, like acceleration and cornering speed, were often the key selling points for car manufacturers. In the future, increasing automation of the driver’s task may lead to a decrease in relevance of these aspects. At the same time, connectivity, new services like car sharing and mobility on demand are becoming the center of attention for customers. In addition, the rapid development of storage technologies and alternative powertrain concepts go hand in hand with the “Energiewende” – the transition of the energy system towards renewable energies.
As a consequence, methods and tools are required for supporting the engineering of future vehicles and mobility concepts. These methods and tools should address the aforementioned changes and lead to innovative solutions, such as electric cars with a flexible degree of hybridization, new vehicle classes and sizes, and different mobility solutions altogether. These vehicles are purpose designed, and not only the vehicle but also the information and material flows are engineered.
In this course, you will learn more about the upcoming challenges in vehicle engineering We address the increasing complexity in the subject area by taking a life cycle perspective, which considers every aspect of the product, ranging from production to use up to its end of life. This holistic view covers the technical, economic and environmental perspective.
Throughout the course, we guide you through the story of an automotive manufacturer undergoing a major transition. It will be accompanied by practical seminars, where you will have the chance to take a closer look at the technology of future vehicles and apply the methods and tools taught in the course. We will also invite you to TU Braunschweig’s vehicle related research infrastructure, such as the Battery Lab Factory and the Open Hybrid Lab Factory.
More information for the procedure can be found on the StudIP event website.
The lecture takes place in the winter semester.