Siemens starts pilot project in Berlin to test radar-based parking space detection

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 165 years. The company is active in more than 200 countries, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world's largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is No. 1 in offshore wind turbine construction, a leading supplier of combined cycle turbines for power generation, a major provider of power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment – such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2014, which ended on September 30, 2014, Siemens generated revenue from continuing operations of €71.9 billion and net income of €5.5 billion. At the end of September 2014, the company had around 343,000 employees worldwide on a continuing basis. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.

With its wide range of responsibilities, the Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment is the central State of Berlin authority contributing in many areas to the future development of the city. It is organized into diverse sections covering the topics city planning and building culture, housing and rents, mobility, environment and climate protection and monument conservation. It also includes subordinate agencies such as the Berlin Monument Authority, the forestry agency Berliner Forsten, the Plant Protection Agency, and Berlin Traffic Control. The Senate Department is led by the Senator, two Permanent Secretaries and the Director of Urban Development/Permanent Secretary, who pays special attention to urban design.

Founded in November 2009, the Institute for Climate Protection, Energy and Mobility (IKEM) is an independent, non-profit organization that has the status of an associated institute to the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University in Greifswald. The organization concentrates on the three key topics of a sustainable economic and social order: climate protection, energy and mobility. The appropriate legal and political framework is examined from an interdisciplinary, integrative and international perspective. Since it was formed, the IKEM has worked on scientific projects for public sector and private customers and funding bodies. In the City 2.e 2.0 project, the institute guides the technical/industrial research endeavor by presenting, analyzing and evaluating the relevant economic and legal framework necessary to introduce the environmental protection system. More information can be found in the Internet at www.ikem.de.

Since January 1, 2003, the VMZ Berlin Betreibergesellschaft mbH has operated the traffic information center (VIZ) in Berlin, which was initially set up as a traffic management center (VMZ) from 1999 to 2003. The VIZ provides current information on the road system in Berlin, which is used, for example, by the traffic control center to optimize traffic control in the city. The VIZ also operates several intermodal information services (www.viz-info.de, 33 dynamic information signs, text services and information services for the media). With its research activities and central operation, the VMZ Berlin GmbH has extensive experience in traffic information system pilot applications, the preparation and evaluation of measurement data from different sources (detection, FCD), the analysis of accident data, the planning of traffic measures to reduce traffic-related environmental pollution, the generation and maintenance of comprehensive digital networks with traffic, environmental and infrastructure data, the creation of concepts, the technical implementation and operation of information services for the administration, the public and the media, and e-mobility consultation.

The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) GmbH was founded as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in 1988. It has research facilities in Kaiserslautern, Saarbrücken, Bremen and a project office in Berlin. In the field of innovative commercial software technology using Artificial Intelligence, DFKI is the leading research center in Germany. As a research section of the DFKI, the Robotics Innovation Center headed by Prof. Dr. Frank Kirchner, develops mobile robotic systems that are capable of solving complex problems on land, in the air, on water and in outer space. This requires a design based on the latest discoveries in mechatronics as well as programming using complex, massively parallel embedded system solutions. Further information is available on the internet at www.dfki.de/robotik.