What we do
CARNET bases its
activity on four pillars:
Founded in 2007 on the basis of a long term collaboration between both organizations, in order to gear its activities towards education, research and technology transfer in the field of excellence in innovation and sustainable mobility in the automotive sector.
Training & Education
Structuring and adapting to the industrial and societal needs for the education and training of automotive engineers and scientists.
One main focus of CARNET is to identify and support talent and to bring talented individuals and knowledge to the automotive sector. To achieve this, we carry out activities in two areas. Find out and take part in the areas that most interest you and fit your background.
Education
CARNET wishes to increase the interaction between universities and society, and strengthen ties with the socioeconomic environment. Therefore, specialized training and master modules have been created with the industrial partners as a first step towards integrated education. The courses are supported by lectures of industry experts and are open for postgraduates.
PhD
Program
CARNET helps students to undertake doctoral theses associated with research projects of industrial interest that are proposed by industrial partners and supervised by academic partners.
Research &
Innovation (I+D)
Promoting a highly applied research and innovation in automotive technology through close cooperation between industrial and academic research institutes.
CARNET aims to solve the challenges of urban mobility, and focuses on innovative technologies and new mobility concepts and needs, which arise from potential future urban lifestyles. In order to create new product solutions, CARNET wants to transform traditional concepts of the automotive product and technical development methods into cooperative approaches that bring together vehicle manufacturers, communities and potential service operators. CARNET’s general approach to urban mobility contributes to the vision of becoming a “lighthouse” region for the development and demonstration of future mobility technologies.
CARNET is focusing on the following research areas:
Urban areas are currently characterized by an increase in traffic, pollution and parking challenges. In order to improve mobility, many local governments are developing plans to influence the mobility mix, and encouraging mobility providers to use suitable technology for urban areas. In addition to new mobility concepts, the design of future vehicle concepts is a key aspect for today’s OEMs. This research field focuses on new types of vehicles that are designed to meet urban requirements. Special attention should be paid to integration of the requirements of governments (electrification), customers (road safety) and OEMs (modular construction strategies).
The Mobility Software & Apps research field focuses on customer-centred applications of mobile online services, and the creation of accessible driver assistance functions for urban scenarios. The group evaluates new concepts for intelligent routing principles for urban navigation, and develops innovative user interface ideas that enable users to deal with highly dynamic and complex systems in an intuitive way.
This research field is focused on the biggest challenges for the future transport of people and goods. Vehicles should be integrated into the mobility system as tools. Sensors, connected vehicle technologies, and smart traffic regulation systems will improve the efficiency of mobility by managing public transport, private and shared vehicles. A constant flow of data to improve the entire system will also provide data for fields related to quality of life, such as the environment, health and safety. New car concepts will be needed.
The research field of Business Design for Urban Mobility focuses on creating new ways to solve transport-related challenges faced by the world’s towns and cities today. To achieve this goal, Business Design for Urban Mobility tries to creatively solve problems by assessing their economic, environmental and social impacts. This research field is characterized by a human-centred approach in which multi-disciplinary collaboration with other fields and experimentation are key.
Networking
Participation in national/European/International networks and competitive calls. Creating a world-class automotive research environment in Catalonia.
Recruitment
In the area of industry-university collaboration, CARNET acts as a bridge between industry and students. Parts of its cooperative work in this area involves the provision of recruitment placements.
Scouting
Scouting activities for Volkswagen Group Innovation and our industrial partners in the south of Europe, exploring new technological trends in urban mobility
