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Federal-Mogul Powertrain reveals new modular electrification strategy for CVs

Knight Foundation devotes $5.25 million to studying last-mile autonomous car service

Autonomous car technology is progressing at a rapid clip. Google spinoff Waymo’s fleet has racked up more than 8 million real-world miles, and Cruise, the driverless car division of General Motors, managed in one year to reduce its cars’ disengagements from once every 35 miles to once every 1,250. But when self-driving vehicles hit the road… Continue reading Knight Foundation devotes $5.25 million to studying last-mile autonomous car service

IAA Commercial Vehicles 2018: Mercedes-Benz Vans plans new range for autonomous driving – announces far-reaching mobility

19.

September 2018

Stuttgart

Vision URBANETIC – autonomous driving platform with cargo or people-mover body Expansion of adVANce strategic future initiative with “ AUTONOMOUS@VANS” field of innovation Plans for a new range of autonomous vans Far-reaching cooperation with BASF in electric mobility, digitalisation and autonomous driving
At the IAA Commercial Vehicles 2018, Mercedes-Benz Vans is presenting Vision URBANETIC, a revolutionary mobility concept that goes way beyond existing ideas on autonomous vehicles. Vision URBANETIC removes the separation between people moving and goods transportation. The concept reduces traffic flows, relieves city-centre infrastructures and contributes to a new quality of urban life.
One part of this vision, which was revealed for the first time on 10 September in Copenhagen, is set to become reality in the not too distant future. Mercedes-Benz Vans is planning a new range of autonomous vehicles. The new member of the Mercedes-Benz Vans family will be based on an all-electric chassis. Depending on the configuration, the new van will either move people or transport goods. Mercedes-Benz Vans is forming a new organisational unit to bring the new autonomous model range to fruition.
Far-reaching cooperation with BASF in electric mobility, digitalisation and autonomous driving
“Vision URBANETIC is a mobility platform in the truest sense of the word. We have developed a vision that makes commercial sense for companies and that can make the city of the future more liveable for its inhabitants. Exactly these principles make Vision URBANETIC a symbol of future mobility. Together with our customers, we are field testing technology elements of Vision URBANETIC. We will work closely with BASF in electric mobility, digitalisation and autonomous driving to learn from one another. It will enable us to focus the holistic mobility solutions of Mercedes-Benz Vans even more on individual customer needs”, explains Volker Mornhinweg, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans.
In a first step, BASF will shortly introduce an on-demand ridesharing system at its Ludwigshafen facility. It features technology from ViaVan, a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz Vans and US startup Via. Further projects are set to follow in the years ahead, including an electric, fully connected and autonomous shuttle on the factory site. “The aim of our far-reaching cooperation with BASF is to expand our ridesharing service with autonomous components and thereby make logistics at the Ludwigshafen plant even more efficient as well as more convenient for employees”, continues Mornhinweg.
Vision URBANETIC – autonomous driving platform featuring interchangeable people-moving and cargo modules
The Vision URBANETIC mobility concept addresses the urban challenges of the future and offers innovative solutions. The visionary vehicle is based on an autonomous, electrically powered driving platform that can carry different interchangeable bodies for people moving or goods transportation and is embedded in a self learning IT infrastructure. As a ridesharing vehicle, Vision URBANETIC can carry up to twelve passengers, while the cargo module can accommodate up to ten EPAL palettes. It offers a load length of 3.70 metres in an overall vehicle length of 5.14 metres. The concept also incorporates an IT infrastructure that analyses supply and demand within a defined mobility space. The result is an autonomous fleet operating on routes planned flexibly and efficiently based on current transport needs. All this makes Vision URBANETIC a groundbreaking concept for future urban mobility.
But Vision URBANETIC goes one step further. Thanks to full connectivity, the use of local information and intelligent control, not only can the system analyse current needs, it can also learn from them, making it capable of anticipating and reacting to future needs. This can optimise processes, shorten waiting or delivery times and avoid traffic jams. For instance, the overall system can use the data captured in the Vehicle Control Centre to identify a gathering of people in a specific area. Based on this, it can proactively send vehicles there to directly address the increased need, satisfying it quickly and efficiently. The system can thus respond flexibly and is not based on rigid routes or fixed timetables. As a fully networked vehicle, Vision URBANETIC is part of an ecosystem in which commercial and private mobility wishes are transmitted digitally. Vision URBANETIC collates these needs and fulfils them with a highly flexible fleet, facilitating a considerable improvement in the use of resources.
Expansion of the adVANce strategic future initiative
Vision URBANETIC marks the expansion of the Mercedes-Benz Vans adVANce strategy with the AUTONOMOUS@VANS field of innovation. The company is thus underscoring the crucial importance of autonomous driving to the future transportation of people and goods – and thus, above all, its role as a gamechanger for existing business models. For Mercedes-Benz Vans, the addition of AUTONOMOUS@VANS is another important and determined step on the path to becoming a holistic mobility provider.
The adVANce future initiative concentrates on fields of innovation that are key to the future success of the transport and logistics sectors. The eDRIVE@VANS innovation field deals with electrification of the van portfolio. In “connectivity and the internet of things (IoT) applications”, the focus is on optimum integration of diverse digital technologies into Mercedes-Benz Vans products (DIGITAL@VANS). “Innovative hardware solutions” (SOLUTIONS@VANS) pursues the aim of continuous improvement of load-space logistics and adaptation to the changing demands of the transport industry. Mercedes-Benz Van Rental marks the first time a brand has focused exclusively on van rental (RENTAL@VANS). An initial example of the development of innovative sharing products is the joint venture with US startup Via (SHARING@VANS), which successfully launched in Amsterdam in April 2018. ViaVan is now also up-and-running in London and, since the start of September, in Berlin with BVG. Further cities will follow.
Further show highlights across all model ranges
Alongside Vision URBANETIC, the stage on Hanover 2018 also belongs to the new Sprinter. Be it Panel Van, Tourer, Chassis Cab, front-wheel, rear-wheel or all-wheel drive, low-emissions diesel engine, all-electric or Concept Sprinter F-CELL with fuel cell drive – the Sprinter has the right answer for all today’s and tomorrow’s questions. From its attractive design to new safety and assistance systems, connectivity as standard or its completely new cockpit with groundbreaking infotainment system, the Sprinter continues to build on its leading role in the 3.5-tonne GVW class.
The new Sprinter is flanked on the exhibition grounds by the Vito and V-Class, Citan and X-Class, which celebrates its IAA Commercial Vehicles premiere. The Vito boasts a new infotainment system with touchscreen and integrated navigation. Its dynamic character is underscored by the optional Vito Line Sport equipment line with an attractive and extensive package of features.
Customer deliveries of the electric eVito will commence at the end of the year, with the eSprinter following in 2019. Mercedes-Benz Vans is thus pushing forward with the electrification of its commercial model range, incorporating tailormade total-system solutions as well as comprehensive consultancy services, charging infrastructure, bespoke digital services and more.

Press Contact

Florian Hofmann

Product Communications Mercedes-Benz Vans, Van Technology Communications

florian.hofmann@daimler.com

Tel: +49 711 17-46643

Fax: +49 711 17-79071936

Andrea Eberhardt

Product Communications Mercedes-Benz Vans

andrea.eberhardt@daimler.com

Tel: +49 711 17-84020

Fax: +49 711 17-1779097330

Thomas Christian Rosenthal

Product Communications adVANce and Future Transportation

thomas_christian.rosenthal@daimler.com

Tel: +49 711 1740286

Fax: +49 711 1779029941

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GM shuffles EV, global strategy leaders ahead of EV push

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‘Marketing can’t be made up’: Volvo’s brand chief wants communications to mean something

We've all seen glossy advertising campaigns that seem a world away from the reality of the product.

But for Volvo, marketing must reflect what is actually happening inside the company.

“I think one of the major things is marketing cannot be about making stories. It has to be genuine and real. So you need to actually, do change, not say you are changing,” Bjorn Annwall, the car company's senior vice president of strategy, brand and retail, told CNBC's Willem Marx.

The car manufacturer organizes the Volvo Ocean Race, a round-the-world sailing contest, and this year used the event to collect data on the concentration of harmful microplastic in the sea in different parts of the world.

“Rather than just show the Volvo name in conjunction with a race like that, you make something meaningful about it… We focused in on the problem with plastic and micro plastics in the ocean and then we start(ed) to think about how can we affect this, from a Volvo perspective, and say how can we design cars with a higher content of recycled plastics?” The company is aiming for 25 percent of the plastic in its cars to be recycled by 2025.

CNBC
Volvo's Senior Vice President Strategy, Brand and Retail Bjorn Annwall (left), speaks to CNBC's Willem Marx

Marketing that has a higher purpose has been fashionable for some time (a laundry detergent campaign might encourage men in the developing world to do their share of household chores, for example), but Annwall said that such initiatives must be led by a company.

“If you're (doing) purpose-based marketing, that's kind of fake, that's icing on the cake. The cake has to be about purpose and then marketing is just the icing on that cake on how you convey that and how you interact with your consumers,” he said.

While Volvo, like others, is shifting more of its marketing spend away from TV and towards digital and direct communication, it is also likely to increase what it does in PR. “The real breakthrough is not going to be a marketing mix question,” Annwall said. “(It) is going to be the messages that you're sending. A: are they relevant? And B: are they genuine? Are you really making changes that you're stating you're making and how you make that credible?”

“You talk to journalists, you talk to the society around you and what you do and you get the message to the consumer through that way, which you don't have to pay anything for,” he added.

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Moving away from big car events, such as the Geneva Motor Show, to find new ways of communicating with consumers is another method Annwall endorses. “Why stand in a crammed hall together with all the competitors shouting when you can have a more intimate relationship and discussion with the relevant journalist at home?”

Volvo is trying to move the perception of its brand as simply about safety to one that is more premium. “There are other aspects around safety that we are focused more on, without giving up safety. We are a brand for people who care about people. As we move into premium, we do that in a way that is not an exclusive bling extrovert type of premium, but rather an inclusive type of premium, understated, refined,” he said.

To that end, Volvo has launched the XC40, which is “furthest away from what people would traditionally would think about Volvo,” to a “slightly more edgy, slightly more chic-y” model, according to Annwall, that is aimed at a younger audience, with a $600-a-month subscription option. In May, the company announced expanded production of the XC40 after selling almost 80,000 vehicles and said that 90 percent of those subscribing were new to Volvo.

Volvo
Volvo's hybrid cars. The XC40, aimed at a younger audience, is in the center

This is set to continue. By 2025, Volvo expects 50 percent of cars coming off its production line to be sold via subscription. “Their car is going from (an) investment (of) capital goods in to a consumption per month and that consumption we call, really, is the freedom to move, which is really the beauty of a car. You can move wherever you want, whenever you want, but it has, of course, to be in a sustainable, personal and safe way,” Volvo President and Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson told CNBC. The company is also working on a model that could drive itself in most environments, expected to be on sale within three years.

New, Scandinavian-focused designs have helped the company double car production in less than a decade, and Chief Design Officer Thomas Ingenlath said inspiration can come from outside the industry.

“The car industry should not detach itself from the other areas where people live in. The development of a phone industry. The development of furniture. We are a little less focused around everything that is around (the) car and a bit more everything that is around, you know, people,” he told CNBC.

Volvo is facing potentially bigger concerns, however. It announced a 29 percent increase in operating profit in the second quarter of 2018 to 4.2 billion Swedish crowns ($474 million), but delayed a planned initial public offering (IPO) because of rising trade tariffs, it said last week.

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