The Future Mobility Award 2021 has been awarded to a start-up from Munich – cogniBIT. The winner was announced at a ceremony during the 4th Regional Conference Mobilitätswende on July 7 2021. This is the second time that sustainable mobility solutions have been honored with this award.
The jury of the Future Mobility Award also recognized the start-up Routago with a unique sponsorship award for their contribution to tackling a mobility-relevant social challenge. Dr. Frank Mentrup, Lord Mayor of the City of Karlsruhe, and Steffen Bilger, MdB, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, presented the trophy and a check for €5,000 at the virtual regional conference Mobility Turnaround.
cogniBIT (cognition and behavior in traffic) enables manufacturers of autonomous vehicles to test the safe interaction of their vehicles with human road users efficiently and safely in simulation. The young tech start-up develops algorithms that realistically simulate the behavior of people in traffic (e.g. drivers, cyclists or pedestrians). The simulation models of cogniBIT are based on neuroscientific and sensorimotor research results as well as artificial intelligence methods. In particular, the focus is on the characteristic properties and limitations of human behavior, such as a limited field of vision, variable attention and reaction times. This enables critical traffic situations, such as accidents or near-accidents, which are particularly important for the development of safe autonomous vehicles, to be simulated and analyzed under realistic conditions.
The award was presented by AEN (Automotive Engineering Network), Messe Karlsruhe, the trade journal Nahverkehrs-praxis and the City of Karlsruhe Economic Development Agency. The submitted projects were evaluated by a jury of experts with business and scientific backgrounds. In the end, cogniBIT was the winner.
“We are extremely pleased about this award, which gives us a great motivational boost to continue working on our contribution to the safety of autonomous vehicle technologies,” says Dr Isabelle Garzorz of cogniBIT. “Public transport and urban life will benefit enormously from autonomous technology. cogniBIT’s vision is to drive efficient, safe and environmentally friendly mobility of the future. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the organizers and sponsors of the Future Mobility Award once again for their great support.”
Routago, which was given a unique sponsorship award, is a start-up company from Karlsruhe and research partner of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). With Routago Assist, the start-up offers a worldwide safe pedestrian navigation to support blind and visually impaired people on their journeys. The unique pedestrian navigation determines routes specifically for pedestrians and thus differs significantly from other common navigation systems which focus on the road network for cars.
