In May 2024, R_Lab Mobility was opened as a pioneering real-world laboratory that underlines Regensburg's commitment to smart and sustainable urban development. (Side note: A real-world laboratory is a test space that is limited in time and often in space or scope, in which smart solutions such as innovative technologies, business models, or sociocultural concepts are developed and tested under real-world conditions. In this context, business, science, administration, and civil society work together in a new form of cooperation—experimental, open-ended, and flexible—and thus benefit from mutual learning and reflection.)
As part of the municipal project REGENSBURG_NEXT, which is part of the nationwide smart city funding program “Model Projects Smart Cities,” the R_Lab Mobility, managed by the Mobility & Logistics cluster, offers a practical testing ground for innovative mobility solutions.
The R_Lab Mobility enables companies, universities, and municipalities to test new technologies under real-world conditions. The focus is on applications in the fields of sensor technology, artificial intelligence, transmission technology, and traffic engineering. The aim is to store all data collected in the R_Lab centrally and make it available to project participants for research and development purposes.
The first pilot projects include the “environmental sensor boxes.” AVL Software and Functions GmbH uses these to collect environmental data, thereby creating a basis for adaptive mobility concepts. Other projects, such as “Digital Analysis of Stationary Traffic (DARuV)” by DCX Innovations GmbH and “ReSense3D” by digitalwerk GmbH and NewSense Engineering GmbH, collect and analyze data on parking behavior and people/traffic flows in order to make future traffic planning and control more efficient.
Close cooperation between the city administration, public utilities, business, and science is a key success factor for R_Lab Mobility. In workshops with the Regensburg city administration and companies, further project ideas were developed, which are being evaluated by the project management.
With R_Lab Mobility, Regensburg is creating a space for testing, encounters, and participation, thereby supporting the development of a green, fair, and productive smart city. The real-world laboratory will run until the end of 2026 and is open to other interested parties who want to test innovative mobility solutions under real-world conditions.