Automotive sector and smart mobility
Luxembourg is not just an important location for suppliers in the automotive industry, but also an innovation hotspot for smart and sustainable mobility. The collaboration between all stakeholders in the sector plays a key role in advancing research and creating a dynamic environment. For this reason, and thanks to its modern infrastructure, world-renowned companies such as Goodyear and IEE use the Grand Duchy as the base for their development centres.
The advantages of the Grand Duchy
Luxembourg's top-class digital infrastructure and excellent ICT ecosystem provide a solid foundation for the future development of the sector. The Luxembourg AutoMobility Cluster, a Luxinnovation initiative supported by the government, also takes advantage of this environment.
The Cluster's mission is to support innovation and business development by promoting cross-sector collaboration. It enables companies, research institutions and investors to find the necessary partners to initiate and execute their projects. With a focus on future challenges, the cluster also takes care of supporting startups during their incubation phase.
But collaboration is not only seen as important at national level. From 2018 to 2022, Luxembourg was part of the European Automotive Cluster (PAE) project, working alongside Germany, France, and Belgium to improve collaboration and competitiveness in the automotive industry within the Greater Region.
Likewise, the Grand Duchy fosters international partnerships to drive the development of next-generation mobility solutions. The cross-border digital test bed for autonomous and connected driving, which extends 215km across France, Germany and Luxembourg, is a perfect example. It offers industry and academia the opportunity to test innovative mobility solutions on public roads under a wide range of conditions.
A bright future
Luxembourg has set itself ambitious digitalisation targets for the future, that do not stop at the automotive industry. The expansion of 5G, the adoption of artificial intelligence and the implementation of innovative policies geared towards developing a data-driven economy are essential for a reliable and high-quality future of mobility. Accordingly, in the new 2023 coalition agreement, the Luxembourg government has set the goal of making the country the leading EU centre for research into driverless vehicles.
The AutoMobility Campus in Bissen will play an important role in realising this vision. Goodyear and IEE have already set up their development centres here. As a true open-air laboratory, the site encourages the establishment of research and innovation activities, providing unused spaces and shared infrastructures (parking, conference room, offices). With a long-term capacity of 4,000 people, the campus offers ample space for future projects. In addition, the planned business incubator is set to open its doors before the end of 2024.
Projects and partnerships
Whether local projects or international partnerships – Luxembourg is sparing no effort to stand out in the industry:
Pony.ai
At the beginning of 2024, Luxembourg established a partnership with Pony.ai, a leader in the field of autonomous driving. The California-based company develops and markets autonomous driving technologies worldwide, with a strong focus on safety.
Through this partnership, Pony.ai aims to enter the European market, with Luxembourg serving as the ideal launchpad. The company plans to collaborate with leading players in the local mobility sector to potentially launch its autonomous vehicles on Luxembourg's roads as early as next year.
"We aim to bring to this partnership our cutting-edge AV technology, comprehensive training programmes, and a commitment to establish a regional hub in Luxembourg as we continue our global expansion."
Dr. James Peng, CEO and co-founder of Pony.ai
CFL
One of the projects of the national railway company CFL (Société des chemins de fer luxembourgeois) is the development of an autonomous shuttle service. To this end, a partnership has been established with HMI Technologies, a New Zealand manufacturer of shuttles and connected vehicles.
Initial tests on public roads under everyday conditions have already been conducted in May this year in Belval. The official launch is scheduled for 2024 and aims to complement CFL's existing services.
UBIX
At the University of Luxembourg, research in intelligent mobility is also underway. Specifically UBIX, based at the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT), focuses on autonomous vehicles.
The research is focused on how vehicles communicate with one another and with the surrounding traffic infrastructure. Here too, tests have already been conducted on public roads. The research team even provides an open-source version of their software and the collected data online.
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