DLR

Transporting passengers in the morning, delivering packages at noon, and operating as a mobile service unit in the evening—the U-Shift II research project further developed an automated vehicle concept that transports people, delivers goods, or provides mobile services as needed.

Matthias Balk

At HAICON 2026 in Munich, Marc Neu from the ITIV doctoral research team presented his work on deploying graph neural networks on FPGA-based hardware platforms. The research was carried out in collaboration between ITIV and ETP at KIT.

On June 19, 2026, the ITIV welcomed numerous alumni and staff members to Alumni Day at KIT. Read our event report and check out the photo gallery featuring the best moments of the day.

We warmly congratulate Daniel Grimm on successfully defending his dissertation. The dissertation was awarded the highest grade of 1.0 with honors.

Daniel Grimm was a doctoral candidate in the research group led by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Eric Sax. His research interests lie primarily in the divisions of cybersecurity for vehicles, machine learning, and automotive software architectures.

Two electric buses for the mobility of tomorrow: Two 12-meter electric buses have arrived at KIT’s Campus East to serve as test vehicles for the “Minga” research project. In collaboration with the FZI, they will be used in the future to develop and test automated bus platoons. Funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport, the project aims to make a significant contribution to efficient, safe, and low-emission mobility by 2027. Further insights into the testing will follow this summer.

The Daimler and Benz Foundation's Annual Report 2025 presents our "MoRaU" project on pages 36-39. The focus is on new approaches to modelling urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa, including with the help of sensor data and digital twins.

We warmly congratulate Yi Zhai on the successful defense of his dissertation, which was supervised by Prof. Dr.-Ing. His thesis, titled "Production-Optimized Software Architecture for the Automotive Industry Based on AUTOSAR Classic," focuses on production-optimized software architectures for the automotive industry based on AUTOSAR Classic. We wish Yi Zhai all the best for his future professional and personal endeavors, much success, and continued exciting projects.

As part of the KIT Chipdesign House (KCH), which bundles and represents the chip design activities of the entire KIT, ITIV will be represented at the microTEC Cluster Conference 2026 with a stand and will provide insights into its current work.
In the context of chip design, KCH also cooperates with initiatives such as Chipdesign Germany (CDG) and Chip Connect BW. We look forward to the personal exchange at our booth.

After a strong start last year, TECHgrow is now continuing - with a clear focus on Africa. This edition will take place in Kenya and is aimed at Kenyan students. It brings together young talents, researchers and partners to actively live innovation, entrepreneurship and international cooperation. Interested parties from KIT are welcome to request further information.

At Girls' Day at the ITIV of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, participants discovered the world of microcontrollers in a hands-on way. Under guidance, they developed their own circuits, programmed LEDs for plant monitoring and even implemented an automatic irrigation system. This made technology tangible - and awakened their enthusiasm for mathematics, informatics, natural sciences, and engineering, MINT, but also explained facilities like STEM colleagues.

VAG is looking for motivated Master's students for three practice-oriented theses in cooperation with ITIV. Help shape the future of intelligent local transportation.

By signing an MoU in Addis Ababa, the partners are sending a strong signal for digital innovations in the Ethiopian electricity distribution grid. Building on previous projects, new technologies, modeling approaches and local expertise will be developed to promote a resilient and data-driven energy infrastructure

With the successful defense of his dissertation "Methods for determining the significance of a logical scenario in the validation and release process of a highly automated driving function" Julian Fuchs reached an important milestone on March 20, 2026. The thesis was written in the research group of Prof. Eric Sax. Congratulations on this achievement!

After intensive research work, Jannis Erz successfully defended his dissertation "Agile life cycle process for the model-based assurance of the operational safety of highly automated driving functions" on 09.03.2026. The work was carried out under the supervision of Prof. Eric Sax. Congratulations on this important step!

The two‑day meeting at ITIV brought together the Rigoletto partners to align technical integration steps and define the roadmap for advancing the collaborative RISC‑V‑based NPU architecture.