Evolution and Safety Concept of the modular U-Shift Vehicle for sustainable Mobility of People and Goods

Abstract

At the German Aerospace Center (DLR), new transport and vehicle concepts for sustainable and user-friendly mobility are being researched. The Institute of Vehicle Concepts of the DLR developed a concept study of a modular and fully automated transport system. The so-called U-Shift enables the transport of different capsules as load carriers and changing them during operation without requiring additional infrastructure. This paper describes the vehicle concept and its project landscape developed in cooperation with other partners in order to picture the evolution towards real life testing. The latest prototype, U-Shift IV, was presented in April 2023 as a new research platform. The first active use case of the U-Shift was decided to be within a public area, in which a research operation is implemented over half a year. Testing prototypes in public areas brings new challenges for DLR in applying legal safety requirements as well as following new processes of assigning automated vehicles in Germany. Due to its interfaces and interactive research, the U-Shift concept of the DLR strongly addresses several TRA themes like user-centered transport or transport safety.