Mercedes-Benz Vision URBANETIC: Mobility for Urban Areas

10 SEPTEMBER 2018

With Vision URBANETIC Mercedes-Benz presents a revolutionary mobility concept that goes way beyond existing ideas on autonomous vehicles. Vision URBANETIC eliminates the separation between people moving and goods transport. It enables on-demand, sustainable and efficient movement of people and goods – and applies an innovate approach to fulfil the needs of cities, businesses from diverse sectors as well as city dwellers and travelers. The concept reduces traffic flows, relieves inner-city infrastructures and contributes to an improved quality of urban life.

The visionary concept is based on a self-driving, electrically powered chassis that can take different switchable bodies depending on the intended use. As a ride-sharing vehicle with a people-mover body, Vision URBANETIC offers space for up to twelve passengers.

The cargo module serves as a classic goods transporter. Thanks to its variable load floor, it can be divided into two levels and transport up to ten EPAL palettes. With a total vehicle length of 5.14 metres and a load space length of 3.70 metres, Mercedes-Benz Vans has suceeded in maxing maximum use of the available space.

The battery-electric drive of Vision URBANETIC delivers zero-local-emissions mobility, thus making it the perfect vehicle for city centers and areas subject to legal access restrictions. The electric drive and autonomous driving open up additional options for late or night delivery and it becomes possible to drive into urban areas without noise pollution and CO2 emissions.

Vision URBANETIC is a completely new mobility concept configured specifically for actual needs as well as efficiency and sustainability. During the rush-hour traffic of early morning and late afternoon, the fleet can be equipped with more people-mover modules. During other times, the system would mainly be used for goods transport with the cargo module.

With Vision URBANETIC Mercedes-Benz developed a mobility concept that embedded within an intelligent, self-learning IT infrastructure. The system architecture of the autonomous Vision URBANETIC ensures continual route adaptation using real-time traffic information. The operator’s fleet management is also part of the IT system. The result is a self-driving fleet, with routes planned flexibly and efficiently on the basis of current transportation needs. Using an app, customers, whether private individuals or companies, can easily and intuitively register their transport and moving needs.