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Cover Stories

• Modular and Scalable Battery Systems for Electrified Commercial Vehicles

  In electrically powered commercial vehicles, the battery is the biggest weight and cost factor. AVL has developed a battery system that keeps complexity, development time and time to market as well as the costs low.

• Electrification of Urban Busses

  Daimler launches the Mercedes-Benz Citaro E-Cell, its first purely electrically powered city bus. In an interview with ATZ, head of development Gustav Tuschen talks about the complex development, the state of battery technology and why electric mobility has to be viewed from a broad perspective.

• Modular Approach for the Electrification of City Bus Fleets

  In times of high fine dust pollution and due to future CO₂ specifications for commercial vehicles, electrically powered urban buses are gaining in importance. The industrial company ABB has developed a drive train whose modular approach can be used to operate various charging concepts.

• Assistance and Automation for Commercial Vehicles at Freight Depots

  Especially for commercial vehicles and trailers, there is an operational environment where conditions and processes can be easily automated thus generating cost reduction and increase of efficiency. This is at the freight depot or truck yard. Here, Wabco presents solutions with a rear view camera for trajectory planning.

• Testing ADAS Functions in Heavy-duty Trucks

  Active assistance systems in commercial vehicles have been the subject of much discussion lately, because in particular in the case of more serious collisions, typical accident scenarios are repeatedly occurring in real life. With a mobile laboratory, Bertrandt wants to contribute to the tests of future ADAS.

• Functional Safety Concept of a Hybrid Powertrain for a Heavy-duty Vehicle

  Functional safety of heavy-duty vehicles – a topic with growing relevance due to the extended scope of the updated standard ISO 26262 and the trend towards electrified powertrains. In this paper, FEV presents a procedure for the development of a safety concept for a hybrid powertrain in a heavy duty vehicle, compliant with normative requirements.

• Effectiveness Assessment of VRU Protection Systems

  The protection of pedestrians and cyclists (Vulnerable Road Users, VRU) is one of the main current research topics in vehicle safety. In order to assess the potential of different types of VRU protection systems, Virtual Vehicle, in cooperation with BMW, has developed a simulation method. It provides detailed, vehicle-specific results across a broad range of critical situations while still being fast enough to be used in a standard vehicle development process.

• Motorcycle Safety System for Preventing Lateral Sliding in Curves

  In a research project, Bosch has developed a system that can significantly reduce the risk of crashes when riding a motorcycle. In physically limited cases, in which the wheels slide sideways, an additional lateral force is introduced by a gas generator and the motorcycle is kept in the lane. The functionality could be proven in simulations and real driving tests.

• Thin-walled Foaming Components for the Vehicle Interior

  Exceptional interior materials that are both visually and haptically convincing contribute to the feel-good atmosphere in premium vehicles. For component production, however, the diverse selection and combination options of the end customer represent a challenge. The thin-walled foaming process for interior components developed by Dräxlmaier starts here and makes it possible to apply all surface materials offered on a single substrate.

• Process Chain for the Additive Manufacturing of Aluminum Lightweight Design Structures

  Space frames are developed for small quantities and generally for high-performance vehicles. These consist of energy-absorbing aluminum extruded sections which are combined with aluminum cast nodes. Novelty of the Next Generation Space Frame 2.0 by Edag is the streamlined digital development process: For the first time, only one software for design, CAE and the process steps is used in additive manufacturing.

• Optimal Traffic Sign Luminance with Glare-free High Beam

  A field test was carried out at the Laboratory of Lighting Technology of the Technische Universität Darmstadt to determine the optimal luminance of traffic signs. Here, four traffic signs were set up along a circuit at their most frequent locations. After each run, the high-beam intensity of the test vehicle was varied in six stages and, among other things, the readability distances as well as the psychological glare and the sensation of brightness were recorded. From the results, a high-beam intensity was determined which maximizes readability on one side and ensures that the driver does not feel disturbed on the other side.

• Digital Attack Scenarios on Connected Cars

  The internet of things is gaining ground. Connecting each vehicle to the Internet has given way to possibilities that were not even conceivable just a few years ago. On the other hand, the high level of networking has opened up a topic that was previously of little concern: IT security. In cooperation with the engineering service provider IAV and the Technische Universität Berlin, this topic was worked on. The focus was on points of attack arising from the high level of networking of modern vehicles. The final project was awarded the 2017 Herrmann Appel Prize of the IAV.

• History – 120 Years of ATZ: Brakes

• In the Spotlight: Recycling of Li-ion Batteries

• Guest Commentary: Harald Keller, Edag

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