The manufacturer of electric vehicles e.GO Mobile is breaking new ground in many areas. In its modern production and assembly in Plant 1, for example, it is fully committed to the concepts of Industry 4.0, using mobile assistance systems, for example. As far as the networking of these systems is concerned, the company, together with Vodafone, Ericsson and SEW-Eurodrive, is now launching data communication via a mobile network that is completely isolated from the public mobile network. The companies are using the standards and protocols of the upcoming 5G technology that are already available.

Network slicing, for example, creates a self-sufficient, tailor-made network for e.GO - precisely optimized for the requirements of series production of the small electric car. In future, 36 mobile radio antennas will guarantee bandwidths in the gigabit range and low latency times of just a few milliseconds in the 8,500 square meter production hall. The companies involved are thus replacing WLAN communication and are already building up a valuable wealth of experience in the use of cellular-based communication.

In mobile networked production, all production substances and materials are automatically and contactlessly identified immediately after delivery via a special RFID interface and recorded in the online system in real time via mobile radio. The same RFID technology is used to identify vehicles at the start of production. Once the vehicle has been identified, the assembly process for the required materials and software begins in accordance with customer requirements. As the number of assembly processes and the need for production materials increases with the series production of the e.GO Life, the systems have to process more and more data at the same time. 5G technologies are needed to handle this mass of data safely, reliably and quickly in the future.

The mobile assistance systems installed by SEW in the production plant are equipped with sensors and independently record all environmental information. Because the recorded data is evaluated directly in the production hall in small real-time data centers (mobile edge computing), it is sent back to the vehicle in real time via mobile communications. Based on the analyzed data, the vehicle adjusts the direction of travel and steers, brakes and accelerates autonomously. In the near field, a mobile assistance system can of course navigate autonomously using the built-in, reference-free navigation or another positioning method.

In the future, autonomous forklift trucks and small trains will also be used to automate the transportation of materials between warehouses and production halls. In addition, torque tools and robots, among other things, will communicate constantly with the central control system via mobile radio.