Brose and Schaltbau subsidiary Bode to jointly develop boarding systems for automated minibuses

People movers, i. e. autonomous shuttle busses for up to 15 passengers navigating intelligently, are to form tomorrow’s passenger traffic. In order to help drive this trend, suppliers Brose and Bode jointly develop innovative boarding systems for these new mobility concepts. The companies signed a corresponding cooperation agreement today.

This is what the future could look like: A few minutes after ticket purchase via app, an autonomous minibus comes by. A door sensor system recognises the passenger and provides access, and the journey can start – without driver, but instead with other passengers travelling in the same direction.

Ulrich Schrickel, Executive Vice President of the door business division at Brose, explained: „The global demand for automated and electrified minibuses will increase significantly over the next couple of years, particularly in cities. With the development of innovative boarding systems for these people movers, Bode and Brose jointly want to assume a pioneering role. Our jointly developed system will digitally manage vehicle access, and at the same time detect any obstacles to the doors and react accordingly. With this, we support the vehicle manufacturers to establish new mobility services.”

Under the agreement, Brose contributes its global market leader competence in developing mechatronic systems for passenger car doors, comprising mechanics and electrics as well as sensors and electronics. Bode, a Schaltbau Group company, contributes its in-depth knowledge for bus and train boarding systems.

Dr Albrecht Köhler, Spokesman of the Executive Board of Bode’s parent company Schaltbau Holding AG, commented: "The cooperation opens an interesting growth market for us. With the growing use of digitisation, new mobility concepts gain in importance. Pooling the competencies of Brose and Bode enables us to develop a boarding system with new digital functionalities. This way, we increase passenger convenience and contribute to road traffic safety.”

From 19 to 23 October 2019, Bode and Brose will jointly present a first study of this innovative boarding system at the major trade fair Busworld in Brussels, Belgium.

About Schaltbau

With annual sales in the region of 500 million euros and around 3,000 employees, the Schaltbau Group is an internationally leading supplier of components and systems in the field of transportation technology and the capital goods industry. With Schaltbau, Bode and Pintsch as their core brands, Schaltbau Group companies develop a wide range of high-quality technologies and customer-specific solutions for rolling stock, rail infrastructure, road vehicles and a range of other industrial applications.