Project ‘UPSCALE’ receives funding from the European Commission for the implementation and integration of artificial intelligence in the development process of electric vehicles

• Applus+ IDIADA coordinates a consortium of 11 companies and European entities of the automotive, software, engineering and research sectors

• The UPSCALE project will foster the R+D activities in the European Union over the next three and a half years within the Program Horizon 2020.

• The project has received a €4 million grant (grant agreement nº824306) to improve the development of electric vehicles and to increase their performance.

• A major goal is to boost the competitiveness of the European automotive industry in the electric vehicle sector.

• A reduction of the development time of electric vehicles by approximately 20% is expected. To reach this target, artificial intelligence methods andand reduced order modelling will be applied to aerodynamic and crash simulations.

• F. Iniciativas held the kick off meeting at its headquarters in Barcelona, where representatives of the partner companies met.

Barcelona, 21 February 2019. The UPSCALE consortium has obtained a €4 million grant from the European Commission for the implementation of artificial intelligence in the development process of electric vehicles. The project is to be carried out by a consortium of 11 companies and European entities of the automotive, software, engineering and research sectors. Applus+ IDIADA, a company dedicated to automotive engineering, testing and homologation, is the project coordinator.

The UPSCALE project (Upscaling Product development Simulation Capabilities exploiting Artificial intelligence for Electrified vehicles) will take place over the next three and a half years within the Horizon2020 R+D incentives program of the European Union. The consortium is comprised of: Algorithmica Technologies GmbH (Germany), Applus+ IDIADA (Spain), Centro Ricerche Fiat SCPA (Italy), École Nationale Supérieure d’arts et métiers (France), Engys Ltd (United Kingdom), ESI Group (France), F-Iniciativas (Spain), Kompetenzzentrum – Das Virtuelle Fahrzeug Forschungsgesellschaft mbH (Austria), Volkswagen AG (Germany), Volvo Personvagnar AB (Sweden), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium).

Estimated 20% time saving for the development of electric vehicles

The project is intended, on one hand, to reduce the development time of such vehicles and, on the other hand, to upgrade their specific features. Specifically, the project will enable a 20% reduction of the development time for electric vehicles by applying new artificial intelligence / machine learning and reduced order modelling solutions to aerodynamic and crash simulations. The European Union, by funding the UPSCALE project through the Horizon 2020 grant, seeks to foster electric vehicle development in Europe and thus promotes the compliance with new European environmental laws and emissions standards.

The UPSCALE project kick-off meeting was held at the F.Iniciativas headquarters in Barcelona, bringing together representatives of the project partners.