We demand more and more from our mobility and logistics. It must be safer, more efficient and cleaner. This requires advanced, integrated mobility solutions, in which everything is connected, and where digitization and automation are central. This is only possible with cooperation and innovation. That is why in 2024 a brand new innovation and research center for smart mobility will arise on the Automotive Campus in Helmond: MARQ.
Worldwide, priorities in government and R&D agendas are shifting towards the development of smart mobility ecosystems in which digitization and automation are central. This is only possible if traditional parties in the automotive industry work closely with the ICT sector, the traffic industry, and national and regional governments.
That is why TNO is working with the Province of Noord-Brabant and the Municipality of Helmond on the development of MARQ, a dynamic and open innovation center for smart mobility. With MARQ, TNO makes its collective knowledge and advanced test and research facilities and simulation models available in an accessible innovation and research center. The open character encourages cooperation and the sharing of knowledge and resources.
Virtual and physical validation
MARQ offers partners the opportunity to optimally test solutions under real-life conditions. Vehicles are viewed in the context of their environment. Not only functionally, but also to test the social impact. For this, data and scenarios from 'the real world' are used, in combination with 'digital twins' and 'hardware in the loop' setups. This allows us to test and investigate many scenarios in a short period of time, even if they cannot yet be tested in practice. Moreover, the simulation environments in which we test virtually are becoming increasingly reliable, because they are fed with practical data.
