According to United Nations forecasts, two thirds of the world population will be living in cities by 2050. To offer personal mobility for people living in places where space is at a premium, Schaeffler (www.schaeffler.com) is working on technology concepts such as the Schaeffler Mover, for which it is developing new system solutions. These include Space Drive — “a technological milestone for autonomous driving”.

The company says autonomous vehicles require neither a steering wheel nor pedals for acceleration and braking. These are replaced by digital controls such as joysticks, notebooks or smartphone apps.

Control is no longer performed by mechanical means but through electrical impulses transmitted (in nano-seconds) via wires, which is why the technology is referred to as ‘drive-by-wire’.

The Space Drive technology installed in the Schaeffler Mover has previously proven its viability in vehicles for people with disabi-lities and has achieved more than 700 million accident-free km.

Now being further developed by Schaeffler Paravan Technologie GmbH, Space Drive is certified to the highest quality and safety standards (ISO 26262, ASIL D) and has TÜV and road approval.

In addition, it has been designed with triple redundancy: if one control unit fails, there are two more ready to take over.

Schaeffler says there is no comparable system anywhere in the world.

In combination with GPS, radar and other sensors, “Space Drive provides the basis even at this time for autonomous — fully automated and driverless — Level 4 and 5 driving.”