The Mobility, Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Centre (MOBI) is nested at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and is a leader in e-mobility and socio-economic evaluations for sustainable mobility and logistics. The multidisciplinary team of 65 specialists addresses the challenges that the transport value chain faces, by integrating engineering, economic, social and environmental sciences and policy issues. It delivers social, economic & environmental impact studies, decision-making support, modelling & simulation, engineering and standardization. Over the past 5 years the group participated in 21 EU projects, 59 projects with the industry and 61 projects funded by national organisations.

From a technological perspective, the centre has a leading position in e-mobility, thanks to its experience of over 40 years in electric, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles R&D. The centre possesses state of the art infrastructure and models for the testing, development and design of components – batteries, supercapacitors, power converters -, vehicle power trains, and inductive and conductive charging infrastructure. Simulation techniques have been developed to define energy-efficient and low-emission power control strategies in hybrid propulsion systems. It offers a unique LCA methodology for the entire automotive sector to analyse the environmental, economic and societal impacts caused by the development and implementation of new vehicle technologies, components, materials and policy measures.

MOBI has an international reputation in the field of EVs standardization and is involved in several standardization commissions such as IEC TC69, ISO TC22 SC21, IEC TC21, IEC SC23H, CENELEC TC69X and NATO RTO-AVT-166.

VUB is the coordinator of the ACHILES project and will be also involved in modelling, simulation and development of components regarding battery thermal management, including the interaction with the rest of sub-systems of the vehicle.

TECNALIA is the first leading private and independent research and technology organization in Spain and the 5^th largest in Europe, employing more than 1,300 experts and international personnel and over 4,000 clients.

TECNALIA operates in the following market sectors: Industry and Transport, ICT, Sustainable Construction, Energy and Environment, Innovation Systems, and Health and Quality of Life, and it is very active in FP7, participating up to December-2013 in 377 projects and coordinating 81 of them. TECNALIA is participating in H2020 in 131 projects and coordinating 29 of them. TECNALIA is also participating within the launching of the main KIC’s of the EIT, the KETs, the FET Flagships initiatives, towards the Horizon 2020 Programme, where TECNALIA is actively involved, as well as in the definition of other EU Work Programmes, through CDTI, EC, etc.

TECNALIA has also key alliances with the main EU research centres through the EUROTECH, EARTO, JIIP, and ERANET AERTO. TECNALIA belongs to the previous Artemis Steering Board, and now ECSEL Board, and belongs to ENISA NIS Groups of Experts on Security, PPP-Green Vehicles (EGVI), PPP-Big Data, EARPA, ERTICO, SEF – Stakeholder Engagement Forum on Micro & Nanoelectronics.

In ACHILES TECNALIA will coordinate the work package dedicated to the integration activities (first virtual and later physical) and the calibration of components into demonstrator.

TTTech Auto provides solutions for the challenges of future vehicle generations. The company specializes in safe software and hardware platforms for automated driving and beyond, applicable in series production programs. With our leading technology solutions, we ensure safety and electronic robustness for a more automated world.

TTTech Auto operates under the umbrella of the TTTech Group, a technology leader in robust networking and safety controls, with cross-industry experience from more than 20 years of operation. TTTech Auto’s MotionWise is a vital part of the Audi A8 computer architecture, the first series-production car capable of automated driving level 3.

The TTTech Group is headquartered in Vienna, Austria and also present in several locations in Europe, the United States and Asia.

As a company in the field of deterministic networks and systems, TTTech will actively work in ACHILES on bringing deterministic networking to distributed control architectures and making the configuration and scheduling of such networks easy to use. TTTech is a relevant player in the industrial, automotive, aerospace and off-highway market. Beyond its R&D capacities centred on communication architectures, systems and (integration) platforms, the company will bring in its market perspective and representative customer viewpoints and requirements that shall drive the future developments of solutions bridging the gap from small static networks to large complex architectures and to ease-of-use in terms of scheduling and configuration.

CONTINENTAL develops pioneering technologies and services for sustainable and connected mobility of people and their goods. Founded in 1871, the technology company offers safe, efficient, intelligent and affordable solutions for vehicles, machines, traffic and transport.

The Chassis & Safety division develops and produces integrated active and passive driving safety technologies as well as products that support vehicle dynamics. The product portfolio ranges from electronic and hydraulic brake and chassis control systems to sensors, advanced driver assistance systems, airbag electronics and sensorics as well as electronic air suspension systems all the way to windscreen washer systems and headlight cleaning nozzles. The focus lies on a high level of system competence and the networking of individual components. Thus products and system functions are developed along the Sense Plan Act chain of effects. They form the foundation for automated driving.  Information management in and beyond the vehicle is at the very heart of the Interior division. The product portfolio for different types of vehicles includes: instrument clusters, multifunctional and head-up displays, control units, access control and tire-information systems, radios, infotainment systems, input devices, control panels, climate control units, software, cockpits as well as services and solutions for telematics and Intelligent Transportation Systems.

The Interior division employs more than 46,000 people worldwide. The Powertrain division develops and produces efficient system solutions for vehicle powertrains to optimize fuel consumption. The comprehensive range of products includes gasoline and diesel injection systems, engine management and transmission control, including sensors and actuators, exhaust after treatment technologies, fuel supply systems, and components and systems for hybrid and electric drives. Powertrain employs over 40,000 people worldwide.

In ACHILES CONTINENTAL will support on requirements specification, on architecture and control function definition, will contribute to environmental impact monitoring as well as validation and testing and will lead the exploitation and business case development.

IKERLAN is a private non-profit Technological Research Centre in the north of Spain, with a vocation for public service. It is a point of reference for innovation and comprehensive product development (mechatronic systems).

IKERLAN works closely with companies to improve their competitiveness, through the application of technological knowledge to develop innovative products and new tools and methodologies for implementation in design and production processes. It has a staff of more than 250 qualified researchers and engineers, with experience in interdisciplinary work and capable of tackling complex problems. From its creation 1974 in the fold of what is the Mondragon Group, Spain’s seventh-largest corporation, IKERLAN has maintained close relations with companies from the machinery and capital goods, domestic appliance, electronics and computing, automotive and energy sectors; where IKERLAN’s developments go until the materialisation of final products. As a centre of excellence in the transfer of technology, more than 800 R&D projects were completed so far in cooperation with companies developing new products and implementing customised systems in design and manufacturing processes.

IKERLAN has a long experience on deep knowledge on different certification standards (IEC-61508, EN-5012x) and specifically on the automotive standard (ISO-26262) for which several research grade safety concept have been developed on multiple EU projects (SAFEPOWER, PROXIMA, DREAMS, etc.). Besides, IKERLAN has demonstrated its experience on product design, multi-physics modeling, testing and correlation on different industrial sectors (industrial machinery, elevation, railway, etc.), and  NVH testing and consultancy according to different standard test procedures for the automotive industry (GMW14178; GMW14173; ASTM E90; ASTM E336; ESKB3C-3D677-AA; SAEJ1400; ASTM E2249).

In ACHILES IKERLAN is the leader of the task on the safety analysis and technical compliance with safety standards of the ECU-centric approach from the requirement phase.

Elaphe Propulsion Technologies Ltd was established in 2006 with the focus on the development of in-wheel motors for electric and hybrid vehicles. Today Elaphe is among the most experienced companies in this field – the company boasts more than 12 years of research, development and sales experience in the field of electric vehicles with propulsion power up to 440 kW, over 40 different electric vehicle types converted and more than 15 different successfully completed in-wheel motor projects. Elaphe direct-drive high-efficiency motors are designed to fit into the wheel of a vehicle without compromising performance and form. The high-end Elaphe in-wheel propulsion system brings, among other things, performance, efficiency, design and space saving advances compared to existing propulsion system while advanced electronic systems enable increased vehicle control, safety and user-friendly infotainment.

Elaphe’s main commitment is to bring new environmentally friendly technologies to the vast automotive market. Its innovative potential has been proven in the past by four great patents and completed projects, where products provided up to 20% higher specific torque compared to competitive solutions. With 8 EU-funded projects and over 75% of revenue from industrial projects, Elaphe has proven to be a reliable partner and an expert in the emerging electric vehicle industry.

Elaphe is represented by a young but experienced and ambitious development team consisting of physicists, electrical and mechanical engineers.

Within ACHILES, ELAPHE will use its competences in development and validation compact electric motors and control electronics as well as previous industrial and international research projects in this field.

The AUDI AG is one of the world’s leading automotive premium brands and builds high quality, technologically progressive cars. With a business volume of  1.90 million produced vehicles, AUDI is amongst the most successful automobile manufacturers in the premium segment worldwide. Innovative technology, visionary design and superior quality led to the rise of AUDI to an acknowledged manufacturer of premium vehicles.

In the business year 2016, AUDI invested 7.5 % of its total sales revenues in research and development activities. In the center of all activities is the development of ground-breaking and sustainable vehicle concepts in order to satisfy completely the high demand of the customers. We place our customers’ wishes at the very heart of our unceasing quest to find ever better solutions. This philosophy is reflected in our brand claim “Vorsprung durch Technik”. This philosophy means developing and producing new technologies for automotive usage. Clear goal is bringing new technologies at high quality to the customer first.

AUDI will contribute with all its experience and knowledge to the definition of requirements and specifications as well as to the development of the test program including the necessary test procedures. AUDI also supports the project with a vehicle demonstrator.

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (FhG) is the leading organization of institutes for applied research in Europe, undertaking contract research on behalf of industry, the service sector and the government.

At present, Fraunhofer maintains more than 80 research establishments at more than 40 locations throughout Germany. A staff of some 23000, predominantly qualified scientists and engineers, works with an annual research budget of about 2.3 billion Euros. Of this sum, approx. two billion Euros are earned through contract research. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft participates in ACHILES with its institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability (Fraunhofer LBF).

Fraunhofer LBF (www.lbf.fraunhofer.de) looks back on 80 years of experience in the field of structural durability and expanded this core competence over that past 20 years with expertise in adaptronics and system reliability. Since 1 July 2012, the German Institute for Polymers (DKI) became a division of Fraunhofer LBF. Thus, the competences of the Fraunhofer LBF have been extended further by synthesis, processing, analysis and testing of functional and engineering plastics. With its overall competences, customised solutions for safety relevant products are being developed, evaluated and realised by the LBF with a team of about 450 employees together with the associated Chair of System Reliability, Adaptive Structures, and Machine Acoustics SAM of the TU Darmstadt. In doing so, the full added value chain is considered, from the idea to the product, from the material to the system and over the full life-cycle. For the customised solutions, the LBF provides versatile test facilities on more than 17.000 m2 which are complemented by the Virtual Test Lab for numerical simulations and testing.

In ACHILES, Fraunhofer LBF will validate the rim design and perform testing and validation of the integration of the electronics, will perform FMEA to assess the functional safety of the overall system architecture and will be involved in component development.

IDIADA, as a global partner to the automotive industry, provides complete solutions for automotive development projects worldwide. IDIADA’s Technical Centre is located 70 km south of Barcelona (Spain), having subsidiaries and branch offices in several European, American and Asian countries with a total work force of more than 2,000 employees worldwide in 26 countries. The core services IDIADA provides are: Engineering, Proving Ground and Homologation. Main fields of engineering activity are power train, emissions, noise & vibration, vehicle dynamics, electronics & communications, fatigue & durability and active and passive safety. The core services of IDIADA are:

1) Vehicle Test and Engineering where the main fields of activity are: Design Engineering (CAS / CAD / CAE); Passive Safety; Active Safety; Powertrain & Emissions; NVH development and validation (Noise, Vibration and Harshness); Fatigue & Durability; and Electric system and Electronics development and validation

2) Homologation: Applus IDIADA is an accredited technical service designated by several European approval authorities and also recognised or accredited by other national authorities around the world.

3) Proving Ground: IDIADA’s proving ground is recognized as one of the best facilities in the world, and is renowned for the quality of its customer service. As a multi-user facility, safety and confidentiality are of the highest priority.

IDIADA is member of the EARPA (European Automotive Research Partners Association) Executive Board, ERTICO (Europe’s Intelligent Transportation System organization) and research board representative in the EGVIA (European Green Vehicle Initiative Association) board.

IDIADA’s task in ACHILES is to perform vehicle level testing in order to provide an independent validation to the developed tools. In the frame of a multiplatform application of the selected architecture, it is clearly key to have a testing partner, acting with independence with respect to component or vehicle suppliers. IDIADA acts as engineering provider in the project consortium, providing necessary expertise to support the development and vehicle integration of all different systems developed on the new prototype vehicle.