The developers ofMersedes Benzpresent their vision for innovative transport of the future with interchangeable car bodies. The project is called “Urbanetic” and its autonomous concept for mobility eliminates the separation between transporting people and goods through on-demand activation. It is a very practical and sustainable idea that allows efficient movement.
Modern transport truck with mobile car body
The Urbanetic variant can be equipped with a car body or a people mover module to reduce traffic, relieve pressure on inner-city infrastructure and contribute to a better quality of urban life. As part of a holistic system, the car with a sporty body is based on an electrically powered chassis that can change body as needed. The concept car offers space for up to twelve passengers as a ride, while the cargo module can hold up to ten pallets.
The Vision Urbanetic is a completely new mobility concept for the smart city, in which widespread, fully automated and driverless transport exists or purely autonomous zones are defined, says Volker Mornhinweg, head of Mercedes-Benz Vans. He adds that through its intelligent design and interchangeable car body for passenger and freight transport, the new project will relieve a lot of pressure from city centers. Vision Urbanetic is part of a holistic ecosystem that analyzes the transport needs of people and goods and creates a highly flexible, needs-based fleet.
Less traffic and more mobility
With Vision Urbanetic, Mercede-Benz plans to transport more people and goods with fewer vehicles in order to enable a better quality of urban life. The evaluation of local information, such as traffic conditions due to concerts or events, as well as intelligent control can analyze current needs and identify future ones. For example, if the system identifies a crowd gathering in a certain area, it can send vehicles with the appropriate car body there quickly and efficiently to meet the demand.
In order to achieve this level of flexibility, the car developers have equipped the Vision Urbanetic with various interchangeable bodies, depending on the intended use, which can be switched automatically or manually within a few minutes. The autonomous chassis can even get to its next location without the car body.
The lack of a driver's cabin creates space internally for interior design and leaves out the steering wheel, pedals, dashboard and the entire cockpit. The space is instead used for additional passengers or a higher volume of goods. The electric drive of the future transport trolley ensures zero-emission mobility on site, is almost silent and offers new options for nighttime deliveries.
Finally, since many people still view autonomous vehicles with some skepticism, Vision Urbanetic uses multiple cameras and sensor systems to observe and communicate with the environment. A large-format display on the front of the vehicle also informs pedestrians that it has noticed them.
