The IT service provider Materna is taking on a sub-project management role in two projects under the “GAIA-X 4 Future Mobility” initiative and is developing concepts for the management of autonomous vehicle fleets for passenger and freight transport. Together with numerous partners from the public sector, industry and research, Materna will develop a data space for the secure exchange of mobility data to manage automated and connected vehicles. This initiative was launched by the German Gaia-X Hub, which is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. Over the next three years, the consortium behind this nationwide research project will develop specific use cases to reduce heavy traffic congestion and thereby improve the carbon footprint.
“The European collaborative project GAIA-X is establishing a secure and transparent data space in Europe, from which, amongst other things, entirely new mobility concepts can emerge in the future. Mobility and smart city solutions are among the most exciting areas of application for innovative data ecosystems. In our Data Economy focus area, we are developing forward-looking IT solutions and new data-driven business models for this purpose,” explains Martin Wibbe, CEO of Materna.
Materna is developing specific use cases for Advanced Smart Services
The GAIA-X 4 ROMS (Remote Operation Management Services) project is developing solutions for the (remote) control of autonomous vehicle fleets in passenger and freight transport. By making mobility data from a wide variety of sources available for AI solutions, it will be possible in future to implement autonomous buses and trains in public transport, mobile parcel collection points and other innovative mobility solutions. Fleet operators, such as transport companies, as well as providers of data-driven services and vehicle components, can benefit from the project.
Project manager Marco Kremer describes Materna’s contribution: “Using modern cloud and blockchain technologies, we are creating a federated data space and connecting providers and users via interfaces so that they can exchange data with one another on a self-determined basis – this is a key foundation of connected mobility. We look forward to collaborating with our project partners on this pioneering project.”
Across Germany, 18 partners from public administration, industry and research are taking part in the GAIA-X 4 ROMS project, including IT companies, transport operators, universities, the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and the Fraunhofer Society.
“Federated, decentralised data spaces will also open up innovative areas of application for many other sectors, such as the agricultural and automotive industries,” says Thomas Feld, Vice President of Data Economics at Materna.
The GAIA-X 4 moveID project outline, which Materna also played a key role in developing, addresses sovereign identity management. With the help of self-determined identities, vehicles can be integrated into decentralised transport systems and traffic flows can be dynamically adapted to local traffic restrictions, such as traffic-calmed zones or various environmental zones. All projects under ‘GAIA-X 4 Future Mobility’ will benefit from the results developed in this project.
“GAIA-X 4 Future Mobility” initiative
The “GAIA-X 4 Future Mobility” project family consists of five interlinked sister projects focusing on the field of mobility. The aim of this initiative is to develop a networked and technology-neutral mobility ecosystem for cross-sector and industrial collaboration between all mobility providers and users. Materna is participating with the GAIA-X 4 ROMS and GAIA-X 4 moveID projects, contributing its long-standing expertise in building data ecosystems and developing mobility data spaces. GAIA-X 4 Future Mobility is funded by the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport.
Materna is a pioneer in the fields of mobility and GAIA-X
Materna has been involved in building sovereign data infrastructures for ten years. With the Mobility Data Marketplace (MDM) of the Federal Highway Research Institute and the Mobility Data Space (MobiDS), the IT service provider has developed key data hubs for the secure exchange of data in Germany. MobiDS and other projects, such as the Catena-X automotive cloud, also collaborate with the GAIA-X 4 Future Mobility initiative.
The recently acquired subsidiary TraffGo Road GmbH is also involved in the GAIA-X 4 ROMS project. TraffGo Road specialises in intelligent mobility solutions for the public sector, for example in the areas of smart parking and geoinformation systems.
Materna is a day-one member of the GAIA-X European Association for Data and Cloud AISBL and is developing use cases for the public sector in particular.
