BMW 2002 Annual Report Download - page 144

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Thinking the new
Intelligent solutions for traffic and the environment.
Congestion is no immutable natural phenomenon.
Petrol and diesel are not the only realistic energy
sources.Two examples of many for the future of
mobility: here and in numerous other fields, the
BMW Group is developing new solutions.
24 per cent shorter journey times are feasible. In Ger-
many alone, congestion entails an annual economic
cost of euro 100 billion. The BMW Group has been
researching innovations to optimise existing traffic
systems for more than a decade now. Latest high-
lights include ACCEZZ (Adaptive and Coordinated
Control of Entrance Ramps with Fuzzy Logic), an intel-
ligent system designed to reduce or avoid congestion.
ACCEZZ s Ramp Metering controls a traffic
light that regulates the flow of cars driving onto a
motorway so that ramp traffic and motorway traffic
merge smoothly to form an even stream. Simulations
have demonstrated that in this way, total journey
time can be reduced by up to 24 per cent, with wait-
ing time at ramps reaching no more than just over
two minutes.
As part of the key MOBINET project supported
by the German Federal Ministry for Education and
Research, the system is undergoing testing at a
number of traffic hotspots in the Munich area and
has delivered very promising first results.
CleanEnergy conserves resources. With a strategic
policy of introducing hydrogen as a sustainable
energy source for the future, the BMW Group is
resolutely following this goal in order to ensure i ndi-
vidual mobility for tomorrow. It will be during the
lifetime of the current BMW 7 Series that the BMW
Group will deliver the first variant to be powered by a
hydrogen-powered engine to customers. Indepen-
dent specialists have confirmed hydrogens huge
potential. In recognition of its contributions towards
introducing hydrogen as an alternative power source,
the BMW Group was awarded the National Hydrogen
Associations Robert M. Zweig Memorial Public
Education and Outreach Award in June 2002 at the
14th World Hydrogen Congress in Montreal.
The future of mobility. At the end of 2002, the BMW
Group, Lufthansa and German Railways presented
traffic scenarios for the year 2020 as part of the
research project Future of Mobility, which is backed
by the German Federal Ministry for Education and
Research. Under the direction of the Institute for
Mobility Research (ifmo), a research institution at the
BMW Group, some 50 experts from different scien-
tific disciplines and companies worked out how mo-
bility and traffic could develop in Germany by the
year 2020. Their conclusion: political, business and
community leaders need to start today to create the
necessary structural conditions  and not wait until
they have come under the pressure of the events.
The aim is to use this joint research project for
an extensive dialogue between the major players in
Germanys transportation economy and to elaborate
a useful guideline for necessary future decisions on
traffic policy.