- Kick-off of the Car Repair 4.0 third-party funded project: Consortium partners launch project for networking and digitalisation of car repair shops
- German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) hands over notification of grant for the funding project with a funding amount of around Euro 7.5 million
- Car Repair 4.0 is one of the first practical use cases to connect to the data ecosystem Gaia-X
On 24 February 2022, the Car Repair 4.0 project received the official grant notification for funding. Dr. Franziska Brantner, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), formally approved the funding for the Car Repair 4.0 consortium at a virtual kick-off event. The eight consortium partners are jointly developing a data exchange platform for car repair shops, measurement system operators, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the automotive industry. The platform is designed to enable independent car repair shops and SMEs to use AI-based diagnostic procedures to repair and maintain vehicles.
Build a platform for trustworthy data exchange
The project aims to drive digitalisation forward, particularly in SMEs in the automotive industry. Car repair shops, measurement system providers, and AI startups will be linked to form an innovation and value creation network. Here, automotive oscilloscopes and AI-assisted methods are expected to help improve and refine repair and maintenance. More than 5,000 independent car repair shops in Germany are intended to participate in the project and provide, exchange, and mutually use their vehicle data. Intelligent AI methods can thus emerge from the data. “The automotive industry is one of the most important application areas for the Internet industry. There is enormous potential here for digital transformation,” says Andreas Weiss, Head of Digital Business Models at eco – Association of the Internet Industry, which is developing the project with various industry partners.
Eight consortium partners develop the platform by end of 2024
Various measurement system providers, AI startups, the automotive industry, and research institutes are working together in the Car Repair 4.0 consortium. LMIS AG is now managing the project as consortium leader. In addition, seven other consortium partners are involved, taking on various tasks in the project: Auto-Intern GmbH, DEKRA DIGITAL, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence GmbH, Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, Georg Agricola University of Applied Sciences, Vergölst GmbH, and eco – Association of the Internet Industry.
Last year, the consortium was successful in the funding competition “Innovative and practical applications and data spaces in the Gaia-X digital ecosystem” (only available in German) of the BMWK and won the contract for the funding project. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) is now funding the Car Repair 4.0 project with around 7.5 million, thereby supporting the digitalisation of SMEs. The implementation and realisation will be supervised by the German Federal Network Agency (BNetzA).
Car Repair 4.0 is one of the first use cases with Gaia-X connectivity
The project is one of the first use cases to be developed within the framework of the European data ecosystem Gaia-X. During the implementation, the bridge and connection to the open-source software modules of the “Gaia-X Federation Services” (GXFS) will be created. “We are looking forward to bringing the Car Repair 4.0 project on the road in the next three years and to building a sovereign and trustworthy data platform for enterprises,” said Andreas Weiss, who is also the project manager coordinating the implementation of Federation Services at Gaia-X. In cooperation with the Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences and LMIS AG, the association is working on the connection to Gaia-X. In the project, therefore, various Gaia-X principles have to be taken into account. For example, data collection, use, and analysis comply with certain data standards and values such as interoperability and interconnectivity.
You can find out more about the Car Repair 4.0 project in the one-page project description (PDF) and at the (German-language) online introductory information event on 10 March 2022. The link to the registration for the event is here.
