Every second year, the IAA becomes the Mekka of the automotive world. Since the IAA moved from Frankfurt to Munich in 2021, it also showcases other mobility solutions, not just cars. Much has been written in the last days about the cars, and here I want to give an overview about the other mobility options that were on show.
Autonomous Busses and Logistics
As in the last years, multiple companies showed their autonomous public transportation vehicles. While the overall design has not changed too much since last time, they are progressively coming closer to leave the evaluation stage and entering real-life applications.
The MiCa 2.0 by Estonian company Auvetech has already been showcased in many places all around the world. It does not look as cute as other designs, but its impressive array of sensors gives me confidence in its ability to navigate all kinds of situations.
This apparently Chinese company showed multiple small autonomous busses. I do not know how to google the company, as I cannot figure out how to spell their company name (see picture). Yet their small busses looked sleek and the interior was cosy. But the software was not quite ready yet, as we could see the Linux desktop instead of the intended user interface…
This little fella is not a bus, but an autonomous goods transporter by the Suiss company Loxo. This company does not build hardware, they do the software stack for autonomous driving in logistic use cases. Their first customer in Germany is the supermarket chain REWE. They plan to use autonomous transporters, made by Volkswagen and powered by the Loxo software. The use case is to transport goods from the logistics centers to the supermarkets.
Not fully autonomous, but still impressive are the AHEAD vehicles by the German DLR. They are based on the SHERP vehicles. The World Food Programme uses them to deliver goods where boats or trucks cannot go. The DLR added remote operation capabilities, so no human lives need to be risked in dangerous territory.
eVTOLs
Something always present at the recent shows but never in the limelight are eVTOLs. What looked futuristic a few years ago is now more realistic. As reported earlier, some companies in China got their models approved for public operations, and soon you can apparently buy them. Will it be a transport revolution? Not sure about that. Yet it is certainly fascinating!
This eVTOL by Chinese company GAC can be ordered starting 2026. The future, it seems to be around the corner.
I just wonder, if you use it to fly to the city, where do you park it? It does certainly not fit into an underground parking garage…
XPENG also showed their eVTOL, but you could not have a closer look as it was suspended from the ceiling. Not sure when it will be available…
Public Transportation
Some interesting ideas were shown at the Open Space in the city center.
The Deutsche Bahn showed a mockup of the new generation of their suburban trains for Munich. The mockup attracted long queues, showing that people were very interested in the future of public transport.
One important fact about the new trains is their length. With about 200m, they are almost as long as three of the current class 423 trains. This will give them additional capacity, which is sorely needed in the ever growing urban area of Munich.
Another innovation is the growing number of displays that inform passengers inside the train and on the platform about the next stops and other travel related information.
The city of Munich presented their research project MINGA. It plans to show how autonomous busses could improve public transport in Munich. They are looking both into fully autonomous busses and in “virtually coupled” busses, where one bus follows the other without any mechanical connection. The latter use case, also called “platooning”, was already presented at the last IAA. Apparently the approach was not ready that time and the project went back to the drawing board.
Micromobility
This year, their was almost nothing to see in terms of micromobility. I only found one exhibition of transport bicycles. Maybe this is due to the fact that they have already become mainstream? At least in Germany, you can see many of them around nowadays, shipping parcels for UPS and others.
And what about cars?
Well yes, I have also had a look at the cars. Here I saw many trends continuing we could already see in the last years.
- Everything electric. A new car has to be electric to be noteworthy nowadays. Just looking at the exhibition, the days of the combustion engine are already over, which is of course not the reality outside of the fairgrounds. Range and charging time of EVs have improved so much now that in my opinion there is no real argument for an combustion engine any more. What can come in the future? Batteries do not need to get any bigger, cars not any more powerful for any practical purpose. In my opinion, the next step is to make them more efficient, to reduce the total weight of the cars and use less material. And the material that is used should be recycled, to empower the circular economy.
- Everything display. Displays are growing in size and numbers. Also here I think we have reached the end of the line. Many cars have displays that span the whole front, and also passengers have displays for the entertainment system that are so huge they can’t see anything else. To make them any bigger now, they would need to build larger cars. But is this really the right approach? At least the driver should be able to get the information she needs and focus on the road.
- Everything software. Wherever you went on the fairgrounds, you would see supplier companies touting their “software defined vehicle” solutions. It is the new buzzword of the industry. Yet is this really a new thing? After all, software has been a major factor in the car industry for the last 15 years at least and growing in importance ever since – why is it now a new trend? To me it looked like all companies had to jump on the “software defined something” bandwagon to fit in the crowd, which led to interesting new words like “software defined insurances”. At least they did not sell any software defined hotdogs on the fairgrounds…
All in all, no really new trends, just the existing ones becoming more and more pronounced.
Miscellaneous
Last but not least a few tidbits that were not about mobility but still noteworthy.
The official mascot of the IAA. What has a squirrel got to do with the theme of the exhibition? The only thing I can faintly connect to cars is the bushy tail – yet I had hoped the era where people put bushy tails on their cars was long gone.
What about this guy? Not sure what the company wanted to tell us with this exhibition. To me it looks like a live performance of the band Kraftwerk.
Several companies showcased humanoid robots – yet none of them was moving. Maybe they went on a sympathy strike with the ones working in the Tesla Diner?
Conclusion
This year’s IAA brought relative few surprises. Existing trends like electric vehicles, autonomous transport and also eVTOLs are progressing and becoming more commonplace. The overall variety of novel ideas was further reduced, as I already noted in my report of the IAA 2023. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily, as there are only so many ideas that will work out in the end. If the current trends continue and electric vehicles finally become widespread, it will make our cities much cleaner. But is this already the end of the line? I hope it is not, and I am curious what new trends will develop in the coming years. I will keep you posted.