ULTIMO – A deep dive into Deutsche Bahn’s IT operations in Frankfurt for the final stage of the project

As part of the European ULTIMO project, Mattia visited the IT headquarters of Deutsche Bahn in Frankfurt. The objective? To structure the final phase before the one-year pilot deployment in Herford, Germany.

As a reminder, Dexio’s role within the ULTIMO consortium is crucial: we develop the Pulse Dashboard, the supervisory platform that allows the safety driver to be removed from an autonomous vehicle with confidence while maintaining an optimal level of service and safety for public transport passengers.

 

A major challenge: centralising multi-manufacturer management

The Deutsche Bahn site presents a particularly complex use case that was at the heart of all discussions. The deployment involves three different models of autonomous vehicles, each using its own software stack.

To address this, Pulse provides a single solution through a centralised, multi-role interface:

• The Supervisor: monitors technical alerts and the proper functioning of the vehicles.
• Customer Service: handles passenger comfort-related requests in real time.
• The Site Manager (Team Chief): has a macro view and control of overall supervision.

The main challenge of this integration in Frankfurt was to report all anomalies via a single platform, and then to link the resolution of these incidents to DB’s existing back-office tools, processes and policies. Pulse thus acts as a gateway for managing the fleet (using the Padam orchestrator) and for carrying out in-depth analysis (drill-down) into other third-party systems (vehicle software) to resolve issues.

 

The importance of the ULTIMO partner ecosystem

The Pulse Dashboard does not operate alone. To orchestrate this on-demand transport service, our solution integrates directly with the fleet management platform from Padam Mobility. On the traveller interaction and onboard safety side, Pulse connects natively with the artificial intelligence modules developed by our partners Certh and Capgemini.

Many thanks to Deutsche Bahn for organising these highly productive workshops in Frankfurt, and to all the partners for the quality of the exchanges.

Next stop Herford for the continuation of the adventure!