Continental acquires stake in Kopernikus Automotive, AI Specialist for automated parking 

By OEM Update Editorial August 5, 2021 3:16 pm IST

Collaboration between Continental and Kopernikus will be demonstrated live in action for the first time at IAA Mobility Munich 2021.

Technology company Continental is investing in Leipzig-based start-up Kopernikus Automotive with a minority stake. The two companies have agreed not to disclose the size of the investment. As a specialist in autonomous driving technologies, Kopernikus develops solutions for infrastructure-based manoeuvring of vehicles. The technology is based on sensors permanently installed in the infrastructure and artificial intelligence-based algorithms that centrally move the vehicles. The first two use cases of this technology are automated parking in parking garages, also known as Automated Valet Parking (AVP), and autonomous manoeuvring of, for example, newly produced vehicles at vehicle manufacturers or in logistics areas.

The first vehicles are already being steered through vehicle factories without a driver, based on infrastructure – this technology will also decisively change parking in the near future. With Automated Valet Parking, drivers get out, for example at an airport terminal, hand the vehicle over to the infrastructure via an app, and the car parks autonomously. The vehicle is guided by the infrastructure installed in the parking garage. Cameras are used as sensors here.

“In the future, cars in factories, logistics centres and parking garages will be moved autonomously. Kopernikus and Continental are working together to develop a safe, comfortable and affordable solution. At Continental, we are working on both solutions, an autonomous parking procedure based on vehicle sensor data and a solution based on intelligent infrastructure – similar to intelligent intersections. For us, the stake in Kopernikus is the logical next step in moving forward with both topics, while at the same time offering a timely and marketable solution,” says Ralph Lauxmann, head of Strategy and Future Solutions for the Autonomous Mobility and Safety business area at Continental.