Blog – Taxi2Via

Our Story

Aviation made in Berlin/Brandenburg.

SEP 2022

Speaking future

Autonomous driving is a heavily discussed topic and to us, it looks like society hasn’t made up its mind yet, whether to accept it or not. We believe that if we see autonomous driving in the near future, it will start within a gated area like an airport or port. Sebastian Pfirrmann, a student from Applied Science University in Darmstadt, started his research on autonomous airport vehicle and requested an interview to gather more information about the potential of autonomous driving on the apron. We believe there is a huge potential for airport vehicles to fulfill certain tasks autonomically. Therefore the Safe Ramp algorithm could become a trusted software to provide needed data in the background, providing future systems with information about car and aircraft traffic.

JUL 2022

Data and testing

Starting from scratch is like finding the fist two puzzle pieces that fit together. On the software side, Alexander Kleinsorge developed a plan to build an independent BER database fully loaded with aircraft time stamps and location data. Having a first package of data, his team started to code the base algorithm. To get more reliable data in the future, we ordered Rasberry Pi chips, to attach ADS-B receivers. On the operational side, it was not so easy to see the start line. After some weeks without finding the right contact person, we asked the BER Airport for help and received a friendly response from the airport safety team. They offered us a ride in their company car, so we could test the Safe Ramp Code live on the apron. Currently, we are waiting for final permissions and hope to start the fist test sessions in December 2022.

MAY 2022

Safe Ramp meets Wildau

Imagine: A giant building in the middle of a town with crazy big windows! Do you see it in front of you eyes ? Okay, now, let`s draw it! Every person would draw it differently. That`s because everyone has a different understanding of „a building“ or „windows“. If you want to build an aviation product from scratch, you will face the same problems. The majority of airport operations personal cannot code or control software, neither does the majority of software engineers have a real idea about airport operations. In order for the project to be a success, however, it is very important to define the project roadmap in detail and to understand the mindset of the people you are working with. After presenting the Safe Ramp Project to the University of Applied Science in Wildau, a first meeting took place with Professor PhD. Stolpmann, Professor PhD. Schlingelhof, Professor PhD. Kleinsorge and the Business Transfer Team. Shortly after the meeting, Professor PhD. Alexander Kleinsorge, an IT expert for telematics, joined the Safe Ramp Project.

DEZ 2021

Snowhoho

Being trapped in a wall of snow on the street is no fun at all, but being trapped in a snow wall on a street in the middle of an active apron, is just panic mode! With Safe Ramp, the tower controller or airport officials could easily warn all drivers trough push messages or blocking roads in the system. The traffic could be rerouted trough the App.

OCT 2021

Now your costumer

Understanding why and how drivers are using streets on airports, was one of our main tasks throughout the research period. Noise, perspective, radio, equipment or bad weather could all be factors, why drivers behave differently than expected. To understand things in detail, we filmed with 360 cameras in Follow-me-Cars, fire trucks, busses and tow trucks.

2021 - research o´clock

Feasibility study by Jan Jupitz, Technical University Braunschweig

In April 2021 the Safe Ramp concept was presented to the head of invention and research of Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS), Jörg Buxbaum. He then suggested the project as a master thesis. Jan Jupitz from Technical University Braunschweig researched the Safe Ramp concept as a feasibility study from May 2021 until November 2021. The results were promising!