Young talents visit the BME Department of Automotive Technologies!

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We warmly welcomed an initiative from the mother of a student at Fáy András Technical School. She sought a meaningful professional program for 30 students involved in automotive mechatronics technician program, leading her to reach out to the Department of Automotive Technology at BME.

For the 10th-grade class of the school, we organized a two-hour program. Associate professor Zsolt Szalay, PhD, the department head, provided an engaging insight into the key scientific areas of automotive engineering studies, ongoing research, and discussed major industry collaborations. During the visit, students had the chance to explore intriguing topics like whether a car can be hacked or the current research trends in autonomous vehicles and environmental perception. Later, they were divided into smaller groups to discover our vehicle hall’s equipment.

Ildikó Teigler, the organizing parent, expressed, “We were thrilled with the positive feedback. Upon visiting the department’s website and seeing they hosted primary school students during the Children’s University in the summer, I thought a similar program might interest high schoolers and guide better students toward an engineering career. It was interesting to see the exciting opportunities the department offers for high school students, and we hope it can inspire future engineers.”

Following the program, Zsolt Szalay shared his thoughts, “I was delighted by the initiative, especially that a parent organized this for the class. It was fantastic to witness the students’ enthusiasm! Our university and department consider building connections with interested, talented students crucial. That’s one reason why we organize the Children’s University. I’m glad we could put together an engaging program for the 10th-grade students.”

The Department of Automotive Technology at BME remains committed to fostering relationships with young talents and supporting students interested in the field.

 

The second issue of Mobility Magazine is out!

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The second issue of Mobility Magazine, the periodical publication of BME ITS Nonprofit Zrt., is now available online and in print.

The publication describes the successes and projects of BME ITS over the last 10 years and introduces several departments of the Faculty of Transport Engineering and Vehicle Engineering. An interview with Dr. Zsolt Szalay, Head of the Department of Automotive Engineering, can be found on page 36 of the magazine.

BME researchers pioneer cloud-based real-world vehicle control

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With a successful demonstration as part of the EUREKA Central System project the development of a central system to support the testing and operation of automated vehicles has reached an important milestone. The demonstration, carried out between 8-10 November by the consortium leader Budapest University of Technology and Economics and consortium member Virtual Vehicle Research GmbH of Austria, was the first time that an external partner used the services of a central system to control the manoeuvres to be performed by the test vehicle via standard interfaces.

During the demonstration, the vehicle was driven along a route designed by the central system based on a digital twin model generated in real time and sent to the test vehicle. In another experiment, low-level control messages were sent directly to the vehicle from the cloud, i.e. the vehicle was driven by the central system. The maneuver was designed to avoid a physical pedestrian or virtual pedestrian. To the best of our knowledge this is the first published experiment in the world where a real vehicle has been controlled in real conditions on a real track via standard interfaces from a cloud-based central system.

Dr. András Rövid, head of the Autonomous Vehicles research group at BME’s Department of Automotive Technologies and the professional leader of the consortium, said after the demonstration, “I am very pleased and consider it a success that we were able to meet the set goals in the tests and demonstrate the operation of cloud-based vehicle control under real conditions.”

Sensors embedded in infrastructure offer a unique opportunity to produce a digital twin model of the environment, including both static and dynamic elements. In our case, the digital twin model is produced in a so-called central system, based on higher level data extracted from various infrastructure sensors, which can be used to implement a number of additional driving support or autonomous vehicle functions provided by the central system, as well as to test them in an automated way. One of these functions is e.g. autonomous obstacle avoidance, where the trajectory to avoid an obstacle is planned by the central system based on the available digital twin model and transmitted to the vehicle. The vehicle, relying on its own control mechanisms, follows this planned path, avoiding a collision. In the EUREKA Central System project, a demonstration of such a function, provided by the central system, was carried out at the ZalaZONE test track with the participation of Hungarian and Austrian experts. The Austrian Virtual Vehicle is a leading international R&D center for the automotive and railway industry, focusing on advanced virtualization of vehicle development.

Testing was carried out at speeds of 20-50 km/h, and the next step will be to test the system at higher speeds.

The development work will enable the automatic testing of advanced driver assistance systems in particular, as well as providing an efficient solution for the control of vehicles from the control center in logistics centers.

Project title: Central System, Testing and verification methods for driving functions and environmental perception systems; Project ID: 2020-1.2.3-EUREKA-2021-00001; Funding: National Research, Development and Innovation Fund

Our article on bme.hu

We participated as a speaker in an international internal training for Bosch development engineers

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The Department of Automotive Technologies of BME was a speaker at the in-house training of engineers involved in the development related to artificial intelligence, organized by Bosch for a Hungarian and international audience at the Bosch Budapest Innovation Campus of Robert Bosch Ltd.

The Bosch Summer School, a two-day program for the advanced training of development engineers, was held on 6-7 November this year, with over 100 participants.

This was the first time that a university participant was also involved in the program, which is now in its 4th year. Under a strict confidentiality agreement, our research engineers were able to gain insights into Bosch’s research into artificial intelligence and learn about the current challenges in development.

“It is a great pleasure for us and we are proud that, building on the mutual trust established over many years of cooperation and the expertise of our researchers, we were the first university to participate in one of the major training events of such a significant and prestigious multinational industrial partner,” said Zsolt SZALAY, PhD, Head of the Department of Automotive Technologies after the event.

In the field of camera-lidar fusion based environment detection Mihály Csonthó, in the field of reinforcement learning based motion planning and control at dynamic limits Hunor Szilárd Tóth, and on the investigation of the operation of neural networks in the light of known/unknown, correct/incorrect evaluation criteria, our colleague Dr. Árpád Török gave a presentation.

Dr Zsolt Szalay, head of the department, gave an interview to Index news portal

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The topic of the interview goes beyond the scope of the departmental activities, as Zsolt Szalay, Associate Professor of the Department of Automotive Technologies at BME, as a member of the MIT REAP Scale Up Hungary team, together with András Nemeslaki, Professor of the Department of Management and Business Economics at BME, discussed it, how the University of Technology has already started to put into practice the proposals developed for the Hungarian government during the international program led by Boston University to release the Hungarian economy from the trap of mediocre development.

For years, the Department of Automotive Technologies has been focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship as a key principle in its operating philosophy, but the MIT program will also support the correct and successful implementation of the model change at the University of Technology, and the proposal package developed by the Hungarian team during the program could also provide a turning point for the innovation-driven development of Hungarian higher education as a whole.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (MIT REAP) is a global initiative to accelerate growth in participating countries and regions by supporting innovation-driven entrepreneurship. The program involves a team of participants from a country (or region) working with MIT experts to develop a realistic and detailed package of proposals and roadmap for the government of the country that can be implemented in the short to medium term. The implementation of this proposal is expected to lead to a substantial improvement in the openness to start-ups, productivity and innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises. Hungary is the first and so far only Central and Eastern European participant in the 10-year history of the program. BME is also part of the Hungarian Scale-up Hungary team.

The Index article can be found via this link.

3D metal printing presentation at the Researchers’ Night in 2023 as well

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The department’s 3D metal printing lab was also presented this year in the Night of Researchers program. The announced dates were quickly filled and those interested had the opportunity to see the various steps of production preparation and printing. This year, we presented the printing of a specially designed lattice structure, which was prepared for the validation of the construction design.

The new BME Spinoff, iMotionDrive, also presented in Sweden

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This year, for the second time, we had the honor to participate in the WARA-PS event in Gränsö Slott, Sweden, one of the WASP research arenas.

On behalf of BME, Dr. Zsolt Szalay, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Automotive Technologies, gave a presentation on the research results of the BME Automated Drive Laboratory, and Dr. Ádám Bárdos, Head of the Vehicle Dynamics and Control Research Group of the Department, Managing Director of iMotionDrive Ltd., participated in the prestigious scientific event.

The event was also the occasion to announce a collaboration between ABConnect, a spin-off from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and iMotionDrive, a spin-off from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.  ABConnect is a start-up company specialising in cooperative networking and communication solutions. Together, the two new companies will develop remote vehicle control and automated vehicle management based on next generation communication solutions.

“We are honored to have been invited to participate in Sweden’s largest research program and I am proud to have spoken at this prestigious innovation event in Sweden, which is at the forefront of innovation in Europe and the rest of the world.” – summarized Dr Zsolt Szalay after his presentation.

Dr Ádám Bárdos concluded – “We look forward with great excitement to working with ABConnect and to future joint demonstrations.”

The WASP (Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program), Sweden’s largest ever individual research program, promotes industry-relevant international research excellence in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and software development.

WARA-PS stands for “WASP Research Arena for Public Safety”, a cross-disciplinary arena that supports research on cooperative systems for public safety. Public safety and security research is gaining interest and importance both nationally and internationally, and requires new technical solutions that can showcase the achievements in autonomous systems and software research.

WARA-PS provides a framework for researchers to apply their competences in different areas of security, such as trajectory planning, augmented reality, optimal control and sensor fusion. The research carried out under the project is supported by relevant industry players such as Saab Kockums, Saab Aeronautics, Saab Surveillance, Combitech and Ericsson, to name just a few.

The 8-year WASP program has a total budget of SEK 6.2 billion, of which SEK 4.9 billion is funded by the Wallenberg Foundation (KAW), and the companies themselves provide industrial resources and expertise, as well as opportunities for cooperation between science and industry.

The research for the development presented at the event was funded by the European Union under the National Laboratory for Autonomous Systems (RRF-2.3.1-21-2022-00002).

iMotionDrive-ABConnect

X-Challenge Urban Micromobility Competition

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Dear X-Challenge Applicant,

Are you ready to revolutionize urban mobility? Or perhaps shape the future of sustainable transportation, fundamentally changing the way urban transportation is known in the heart of Budapest, in the 10th district?

Join us in the X-Challenge Urban Micromobility Competition and actively contribute to creating a greener district and achieving a more sustainable way of life by changing transportation habits with your concept.

The micromobility innovation challenge aims to engage forward-thinking high school students, university students, entrepreneurs, thinkers, and urban enthusiasts to develop creative concepts, visions, and concrete action plans. These plans may take into account the different mobility needs of various generations or utilize different micromobility tools and create mobility hubs to make the future sustainable and green district accessible.

The main theme of the idea competition is micromobility, so the ideas and solutions proposed by participants should be related to at least one of these areas:

  • Revolutionizing urban mobility
  • The future of sustainable transportation
  • Creating a greener district
  • Changing transportation habits
  • Establishing mobility hubs
  • Any other idea or solution related to micromobility

Now is the time to rethink and reshape urban transportation, either on your own or as part of a team! We are accepting submissions until October 16, 2023, at midnight.

You can find more details about the competition and the application process here: https://xgain.hu/x-challenge/

There are no bad ideas; every concept is valuable!

The X-GAIN Team

https://xgain.hu/

 

The Tipo EV conquered in front of half a million audience

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Visitors to the IAA International Motor Show were impressed by the brilliant engineering combination of classic design and cutting-edge technology.

The IAA MOBILITY 2023 international automotive exhibition took place in Munich from 5-10 September, showcasing more than 300 industry innovations and attracting over half a million visitors. At the invitation of HIPA, a racing car jointly developed by Mouldtech Ltd., Robert Bosch Ltd. and the BME Competence Centre for Innovative Vehicle Technologies – electric, but at the same time reminiscent of the 1950s – was also on display. To improve the vehicle’s electric powertrain, the chassis, the drive system and the body were redesigned through the coordinated efforts of the partners. Hundreds of visitors stopped and took photos every day to admire the results of this value-creating Hungarian engineering achievement. Many of them asked how to get their own vehicle like this. The good news is that the factory in Zalaegerszeg is ready to produce not only electric but also petrol models.

Prof. Máté Zöldy, Head of the Competence Centre for Innovative Vehicle Technologies at the Department of Automotive Technologies of BME, said, “I am proud that the work of my colleagues and our students and the cooperation with our partners has resulted in one of Hungary’s flagship projects at the International Motor Show. Sharp industrial projects accelerate the transfer of knowledge between the university and partners, which helps us to become even better!” The completed vehicle is not only a marketable product, but also serves the teaching and research activities at the university.

A young business at a prestigious event

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A newly-formed spin-off company from BME also got the chance to showcase its innovations at the prestigious motor show.

The IAA MOBILITY 2023 international automotive exhibition took place in Munich from 5 to 10 September, where more than 300 industry innovations were presented to over 3,700 journalists from 82 countries and more than 500,000 visitors. At the invitation of HIPA, BME Automated Drive Lab also presented its innovations at the event.

Visitors could try driving a real car from 500 km away from the Munich exhibition. The guests were seated in a specially designed driver’s cabin and the steered vehicle moved on the ZalaZONE automotive test track in Zalaegerszeg in accordance with the signals from the steering wheel in Munich.

Teleoperation

The other demonstration was a smart intersection, where passers-by were given a glimpse of how the real environment is mapped into digital information using digital twin technology and how this can help in everyday life. The development of the detector algorithms presented here was supported by the European Union within the framework of the National Laboratory for Autonomous Systems (RRF-2.3.1-21-2022-00002).”

Smart intersection

In addition to education, Budapest University of Technology and Economics is a leading centre of innovation. The results of scientific research projects also have market value. Based on this, DriveByCloud Kft. was established in May this year to develop and exploit existing technology into a marketable product. The business is off the ground and is working to introduce itself and the technology it has developed to potential customers as much as possible.

DriveByCloud Ltd. staff were under constant siege from visitors at the demonstrations throughout the week. As a result, 16 negotiations were conducted that could lead to further cooperation opportunities. They hosted a number of engineers and managers from some of the largest European car manufacturers and suppliers. They and many others expressed their appreciation of the innovations on show.

Zsolt Vincze, CEO of DriveByCloud Ltd, the new BME spinoff company, stressed after the event:  “I can’t imagine a greater opportunity to introduce a technology with great potential for the automotive industry to as many relevant stakeholders as possible. I am very grateful for the support of both HIPA and BME, which made this special presentation possible for us.”