CAPTN Initiative and innocam.NRW formulate memorandum of understanding

Two initiatives for networked and automated mobility from Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia, CAPTN and innocam.NRW, want to work more closely together. Representatives of both organizations recently confirmed this with a memorandum of understanding.

The CAPTN initiative and the competence network for automated and networked mobility, innocam.NRW, want to further intensify their cooperation. Both organizations want to drive the traffic turnaround and develop sustainable, automated mobility chains. The initiative from North Rhine-Westphalia focuses on the four subject areas of intelligent modes of transport, intelligent transport infrastructure, intelligent traffic management and individual participation. CAPTN – the Clean, Autonomous, Public Transport Network – currently focuses mainly on maritime modes of transport. “Closer cooperation is particularly advisable when it comes to networking the different concepts,” explains Dr. Wiebke Müller-Lupp, scientific director of the Wissenschaftszentrum Kiel GmbH, where the CAPTN office is located. “Although the focus of the CAPTN initiative is currently on our research platform and the resulting ferry, we are also researching in the field of rail and clean fuels.” The cooperation could thus help to promote innovations and also supra-regional projects for the mobility of the future in to bring position.

“In particular, joint project approaches offer the opportunity, for example, to link automated and networked modes of transport more closely on the road and on the water. A regular exchange of experience is essential for this,” emphasizes Marcel Sonntag, project coordinator innocam.NRW. Among other things, he plans to draw attention to the offers within the CAPTN initiative – such as the test field on the Kiel Fjord and the floating test vehicle – also in NRW. In the long term, joint project plans are to be developed which, in particular, connect waterborne modes of transport with roads in order to develop and research holistic mobility solutions over the long term.

The networks have worked together in the past. At the ITS World Congress in Hamburg last autumn, innocam.NRW organized a round of talks on test fields for automated and networked mobility, bringing together the ACCorD test field (road) and the CAPTN project “Förde Areal” (water) for discussion became. In addition, the CAPTN initiative presented itself to interested parties at the innocam.Forum Niederrhein in March 2021.

About the CAPTN initiative:
The CAPTN initiative aims to develop, implement and market an environmentally friendly mobility chain for autonomous local public transport. In a first step, the CAPTN initiative is developing a system-integrated passenger ferry (the “MS Vaiaro”), which will commute independently between the east and west banks of Kiel. The basis for this is to be developed with the research vehicle “MS Wavelab” – a catamaran around 21 meters long and eight meters wide. Numerous projects within the initiative aim to optimize automation and the supply of clean fuels.

About innocam.NRW:
innocam.NRW is a competence network for automated and networked mobility in North Rhine-Westphalia and beyond. The competence network is the central and neutral contact point for all stakeholders in the mobility industry, science, administration, above all for municipalities, as well as from various social groups. The goal of innocam.NRW is to strengthen cross-modal and interdisciplinary cooperation to develop skills for intelligent specialization. Our activities support innovation capacities and the development of advanced technologies for the future movement of people and goods.