30 Sep Austrian Chamber of Commerce and ALP.Lab launch cooperation to advance automated driving

Automated driving is an important component of the mobility of the future. With know-how from Austria, this form of transportation is to be intensively tested and professionalised. For this reason, the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKÖ) has now entered into a cooperation agreement with ALP.Lab as part of its “Neues Ermöglichen” initiative (Enabling New Things).

“With this innovation lab, we have an essential test infrastructure in Austria for applications in the field of automated driving and thus the possibility to test and verify the demand in diverse and complex scenarios,” says Philipp Gady, Vice President of the WKÖ at the signing of the cooperation agreement between the WKÖ and ALP.Lab.

ALP.Lab, the Austrian test region for automated driving, is an innovation laboratory for the development and testing of driver assistance systems up to highly automated vehicles.

“We support all companies as well as R&D institutions that are involved in the development or approval of automated driving systems. The core of our activity is to perform and support safe testing of automated mobility by providing equipment, infrastructure and services,” says Gerhard Greiner, Managing Director of ALP.Lab.

According to the “Digital Auto Report 2021”, the technological development of automated driving has progressed rapidly. However, there is still room for improvement in the interaction between hardware, software, infrastructure and regulatory framework conditions, as these are still complex.

“This is precisely where we see potential. With our ‘Enabling New Things’ initiative, we create awareness for such problems and network relevant stakeholders with each other in order to support the design of helpful framework conditions for more innovation,” says Gady.

Above all, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) should receive the framework conditions they need to try out their innovative ideas.