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Press Release28 September 2022Siemens AGMunich
Digitalization and automation for driverless regional trains
Climate action and railway attractiveness
The transportation sector plays a crucial role when it comes to meeting targets
for climate action. As part of the German federal government’s climate-action
program, Germany is aiming to achieve – compared to the 1990 levels – a 40 percent
to 42 percent reduction of CO2 emissions to 95 million to 98
million tons of CO2 by 2030. Reaching this goal will require making passenger-rail
offerings more attractive. Building new railway lines – which requires some 20
to 30 years from planning to commissioning – takes an extremely long time and
is very costly. As a result, the digitalization and automation of train operation
within the existing rail network is a key lever for rapidly achieving
successful outcomes. The improvements being targeted range from shorter headways
– and thus more flexibility for passengers as a result of more frequent
intervals between trains – to greater cost efficiency, and they extend all the
way to a clear increase in the availability of rail transportation.
Artificial intelligence and functional safety
in harmony
Based on the state of the art, conventional automation technology alone
will not be enough to enable fully automatic railway operation. Artificial
intelligence, however, offers major potential in this area. The challenge that
has remained unresolved to date is that of finding a practicable way to link AI
methodologies to the requirements and approval processes that apply in railway
environments. This is where Germany’s government-subsidized safe.trAIn project comes
into play. This project aims to lay a foundation for safe use of AI for driverless
operation of rail vehicles and to thus address a key technological challenge
hindering the adoption of driverless rail transportation.
Expanding driverless rail transportation
For several years now, solutions for completely driverless and
unattended operation of trains have been successfully established on the market
and in operations. Until now, however, these systems have been operating exclusively
in controlled and closed environments, such as subway tunnels. Now, the safe.trAIn
project is focusing on applying this technology for use in regional trains. Such
trains operate in more open environments in which it is necessary, in
particular, to reliably recognize obstructions – such as people on the lines as
well as fallen trees or mudslides on the tracks, etc.
Project goals
The project
goals are to perform integrated development of testing standards and of methods
for using AI to automate rail transportation and to use example applications to
verify the suitability of test standards. Focal points here will be on AI-based
methods for driverless regional trains, approval-relevant validation of the product
safety of the AI components, as well as testing processes and testing methods. Safe.trAIn
will build on the results from the latest research and development activities and
will continue the development of those activities in line with the new requirements.
Important projects in this area are Shift2Rail, BerDiBa, ATO-Sense and ATO-Risk,
and KI-Absicherung (“AI safeguarding”).
The participating project partners would like to use the project’s
outcomes to launch automation solutions onto the market that enable highly
automated and driverless operation of rail vehicles. In addition, relevant
results from the safe.trAIn project are to be integrated into standardization
activities in the areas of AI and rail transportation.
About the safe.trAIn project
Project period: January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2024; total budget:
about €23 million; 17 partners: Siemens AG (consortium leader),
Siemens Mobility GmbH, BIT Technology Solutions GmbH, Bridgefield GmbH, Edge
Case Research GmbH, ITQ GmbH, Merantix Labs GmbH, SETLabs Research GmbH, TÜV NORD
Systems GmbH & Co. KG, TÜV Rheinland InterTraffic GmbH, TÜV SÜD Rail GmbH,
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e. V.,
Hochschule Düsseldorf – University of Applied Sciences, Otto von Guericke
University Magdeburg, the German Institute for Standardization (DIN), and the
Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies (VDE); the
German Federal Office for Information Security is associated with the project
and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action is
subsidizing the project as part of its specialized program for “New Vehicles
and System Technologies.”
For this press release
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Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, transport, and healthcare. From more resource-efficient factories, resilient supply chains, and smarter buildings and grids, to cleaner and more comfortable transportation as well as advanced healthcare, the company creates technology with purpose adding real value for customers. By combining the real and the digital worlds, Siemens empowers its customers to transform their industries and markets, helping them to transform the everyday for billions of people. Siemens also owns a majority stake in the publicly listed company Siemens Healthineers, a globally leading medical technology provider shaping the future of healthcare. In addition, Siemens holds a minority stake in Siemens Energy, a global leader in the transmission and generation of electrical power.
In fiscal 2021, which ended on September 30, 2021, the Siemens Group generated revenue of €62.3 billion and net income of €6.7 billion. As of September 30, 2021, the company had around 303,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.
Contact
Bernhard Wardin
Siemens AG
Werner-von-Siemens-Straße 1
80333 Munich
Germany
80333 Munich
Germany
+49 (173) 3270510
Eva Haupenthal
Siemens Mobility GmbH
Otto-Hahn-Ring 6
81739 München
Deutschland
81739 München
Deutschland
+49 (152) 01654597