Project partners

IOV Omnibusverkehr GmbH Ilmenau

As a municipal transport company in the Ilm district, IOV Omnibusverkehr GmbH Ilmenau is a practical partner in the "autonomous driving" project. In order to ensure that the project runs as smoothly as possible, IOV will contribute its daily know-how in the field of local public transport. The tasks in the project amount to: Operation of the vehicles with the help of an "operator", maintenance of the vehicles, monitoring of the operational processes (adherence to the timetable, troubleshooting), preparation of the operational planning (Ilmenau city transport line D), ticket sales and providing information.

In the course of the project, IOV hopes to be able to gather findings on the practical suitability of autonomous vehicles in public transport. For example, on the charging and discharging of battery systems in daily public transport use and the maintenance of vehicles with high-voltage systems.

Ilm district

As the public transport authority, the Ilm district initiated the pilot project for highly automated driving in local public transport and commissioned an initial feasibility study for the implementation of the pilot project at the end of 2019, 50% of the costs of which were borne by the Thuringian Ministry of the Environment. As part of the feasibility study, suitable routes were examined for their technical and legal feasibility and a recommendation was made for the implementation of the route from Ilmenau station to the university campus.

The district transport company, IOV Omnibusverkehr GmbH Ilmenau, which purchased and operates the highly automated vehicles, was supported by the Ilm district in 2020 with a grant of 289,000 euros to finance the necessary investments to implement the pilot project.

In addition, the Ilm district supports the implementation of the pilot project in 2022, 2023 and 2024 with an operating subsidy to the district transport company of 150,000 euros per year.

City of Ilmenau

The creation and maintenance of close-knit mobility services of various kinds is a task for the future, especially here in rural areas. Our region will only remain attractive if the people who live here remain mobile. The city of Ilmenau, as a university city and a modern medium-sized centre with strong rural districts, is facing up to these challenges at an early stage. We are open to innovations and want the people here to benefit from them. The CAMIL project is one piece of the puzzle. CAMIL can be a step on the way to a future-oriented public transport system that increases mobility and thus the quality of life of the people – soon hopefully also outside the core city.

Thüringer Innovationszentrum Mobilität & Technische Universität Ilmenau

The Thüringer Innovationszentrum Mobilität (ThIMo), based at the Technische Universität Ilmenau, coordinates numerous research and development projects in the future field of mobility in association with industrial partners and municipal institutions. The scientific monitoring of the CAMIL project means the development and application of innovative technologies from the very beginning. This is how the prestigious project differs from a multitude of other application projects with automated minibuses.

The spectrum of topics covered by ThIMo research ranges from vehicle technology problems for pilot line operation to radio technologies for highly automated and connected driving, reliable and efficient test procedures for safe driving to acceptance research, science communication and transfer from science to industry.

As the innovation centre of the Free State of Thuringia and a cross-faculty institute of the Technische Universität Ilmenau, the Thüringer Innovationszentrum Mobilität benefits in the CAMIL project not only from the tireless inventiveness and the great know-how of its own scientists, but also from the partner network it has built up around highly automated and connected driving in public transport.

Büro autoBus

Büro autoBus is a network of independent offices from the world of public transport working on projects to establish automated vehicles in public transport. The network partners MOBILE ZEITEN, owned by Christoph Marquardt, and the Fahrplangesellschaft B&B mbH have been involved in planning and investigations for the introduction of automated buses in the Ilm district for quite some time.