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AI agents for inclusive mobility: Success for HSRW in the Next.in.NRW innovation competition

A major success for HSRW in the competitive innovation contest NEXT.in.NRW: From 140 submissions, the project “CoSiMo – Concierge System for Inclusive Mobility” was selected in a two-stage process as one of 25 projects to receive €1.1 million in funding, of which €320,000 will go to HSRW. The project is a joint project between the Ostwestfalen-Lippe University of Applied Sciences (consortium leader), HSRW, and the Herten-based software company XignSys. The HSRW sub-project is coordinated by Prof. Dr. Ulrich Pfeiffer and carried out in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Christian Ressel (Faculty of K&U).

The CoSiMo research project is creating an open, secure, and data protection-compliant communication system for virtual agents, which will be tested for the first time in the innovative MonoCab monorail vehicle. The aim of the project is to advance the mobility transition through a trustworthy, multimodal, and inclusive digital concierge while strengthening Europe's digital sovereignty. CoSiMo combines technological innovation with user-centered design and practical application. The project has three central objectives:

  1. Development of an open communication standard: A secure, decentralized standard is intended to enable the interoperability of various virtual agents and assistance systems and to strengthen data protection and digital sovereignty in the long term.
  2. Development of an inclusive virtual concierge agent: The digital assistant acts as a personalized, embodied interface between users, their environment, and other systems. The focus is on barrier-free, multimodal interaction design and the consideration of social, legal, and ethical requirements.
  3. Prototype implementation in the MonoCab: Suitability for everyday use, user experience, and safety are examined in a real-life mobility scenario. The results provide important insights for future applications in public transport and other everyday situations.

CoSiMo thus represents a groundbreaking approach to accessible, trustworthy, and interoperable digital mobility solutions—an important step toward an inclusive and sustainable transport system of the future.