As the innovation agency of the state of Baden-Württemberg in the automotive and mobility sector, e-Mobil BW GmbH has set itself the goal of promoting and supporting the introduction of sustainable and climate-friendly mobility solutions.

The project was prompted by the continuous growth in package delivery, particularly in urban areas, which has placed increasing pressure not only on courier, express, and package (CEP) services but also on local governments. In addition to regulatory frameworks aimed at making deliveries to city centers emission-free, local governments also have the option of offering incentives. However, local governments often lack both the personnel capacity and the legal authority to assess the feasibility of alternative delivery methods and innovative logistics concepts. As a result, only a few innovative logistics concepts have been piloted or implemented in Germany and Baden-Württemberg to date. To support both local governments and the state government of Baden-Württemberg in examining and evaluating innovative logistics concepts, the LOGWERT Institute at Heilbronn University was commissioned to conduct this logistics study.

The aim of the study was to identify the fundamentals of sustainable logistics concepts in the field of CEP services in Baden-Württemberg, which would serve as the basis for developing a guide for municipal decision-makers. The guide outlines various logistics concepts and examines their legal feasibility in Baden-Württemberg, providing guidance on their implementation.  Furthermore, the accompanying final report uses the study’s findings to derive concrete recommendations for action addressed to the state government, which are intended to support the initiation of logistics projects in Baden-Württemberg.

Completed in April 2022

The final guide can be found among the publications of e-mobil BW GmbH.

Prof. Dr. Tobias Bernecker

Prof. Dr. Jens Hujer

M.Sc. Jonas Heinzelmann

M.Sc. Leonie Lesemann

The “MoblitätsWerkStadt 2025” project was a research study conducted for the municipality of Untergruppenbach. As part of the accompanying scientific research, concepts for sustainable mobility and strategies were developed and experimentally tested in collaboration with residents and relevant stakeholders from the business and academic communities. The goal was to develop innovative solutions for the municipality’s transportation situation through the participation and collaboration of relevant stakeholders. A key component was a forward-looking assessment of the mobility situation in the municipality of Untergruppenbach, which included the design, implementation, and scientific monitoring of a mobility survey. Based on the survey results, sustainable mobility measures were developed and evaluated for public acceptance during a workshop organized by the client and attended by residents.

Completed in March 2021

The final report, prepared by the municipality of Untergruppenbach, can be found on the municipality’s website.

M.Eng. Sabrina Pletz

As part of the project “BUGA: log – Local Logistics in Urban Areas Using Automated Transport Units as Part of the 2019 Federal Horticultural Show with Neighborhood and Urban Development in Neckarbogen,” scientists from the LOGWERT Institute collaborated with Bundesgartenschau 2019 GmbH (BUGA 2019) and the City of Heilbronn to develop the urban logistics of tomorrow. The focus was on an autonomous delivery vehicle that, during the Federal Horticultural Show, supplied residents of the urban exhibition, restaurant patrons, and guests with goods and was also capable of disposing of certain types of waste.

The city exhibition served as a test bed for researching and testing innovative logistics solutions and assessing their societal benefits and acceptance. The focus was on pilot operations and investigating the fundamental suitability of driverless, electrically powered transport vehicles for supplying and disposing of waste at the city exhibition during BUGA 2019 in Heilbronn. BUGA thus symbolizes the typical future challenges of urban last-mile logistics.

BUGA:log aimed to reduce traffic in urban neighborhoods and meet residents’ transportation needs in the medium to long term by increasing efficiency and consolidating services, thereby fostering the sustainable development of these neighborhoods. In the BUGA:log project, the LOGWERT Institute was responsible not only for project management but also for developing and implementing the logistical use cases and establishing an interaction concept between vehicles and their surroundings.

The BUGA:log real-world laboratory was designed as a participatory technology development process. Particular emphasis was placed on citizen participation and engagement, as well as on the interaction between autonomous vehicles and their surroundings. A key priority was to address the diversity of the population in urban areas. Ideas were developed and discussed in advance through workshops and informational events, and targeted qualitative interviews were conducted with specific individuals. During the Federal Horticultural Show, comprehensive accompanying research was carried out, including various acceptance studies. The results were used to develop sustainable approaches to fostering acceptance and to design these approaches in a way that ensures they can be replicated.

Prof. Dr. Tobias Bernecker

As part of the GUIDE research project, the current LOGWERT Institute, on behalf of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), investigated and developed a completely new organizational and financing model for a multimodal redesign of transportation infrastructure planning and financing. The guiding principle behind the model development in GUIDE was the integration of key environmental goals—in particular, achieving climate-neutral transportation by 2050—into an infrastructure model. To this end, the researchers proposed and developed an innovative three-pillar model that, for the first time, placed demand assessment, financing, and the organization of transportation infrastructure within a comprehensive, multimodal framework. As part of a project expansion, the work carried out in the baseline project was supplemented with analyses of inland waterway transport and the digitalization of the transportation sector, and combined transport was subjected to detailed modeling.

Completed in November 2021

The final report can be found among the publications of the Federal Environment Agency.

M.Sc. Matthias Bramme