The Areal Böhler owned by the company voestalpine in Meerbusch-Büderich is an industrial park for fairs, exhibitions and other events with a clear focus on the promotion of innovative business ideas. The location offers excellent conditions for start-ups to present themselves and, thus, achieving a value added for their companies. The Areal Böhler is open to new technologies as well as ecological and sustainable business approaches.

For a company giving priority to innovation, sustainability and technological progress like the company Schweers/PanStreet in Meerbusch-Osterath the importance of the long-standing co-operation with the Areal Böhler is not to be underestimated. Being on the pulse of time, Schweers/PanStreet has just started a pilot project in the field of innovative mobility technologies with the company EasyMile at the Areal Böhler. An autonomous electric bus of the company EasyMile is now driving at the site of the industrial park and offers a shuttle service between the exhibition halls for visitors.

On 19 April 2022 the Minster for Finance and Environment of the German federal state of North-Rhine-Westphalia Lutz Lienenkämper visited the Areal Böhler. The pilot project attracted his great interest, because it fits very well with the ideas of the federal government of North-Rhine-Westphalia giving technological progress, the promotion of the power of innovation of the enterprises in North-Rhine-Westphalia and sustainability highest priority on its political agenda. Lutz Lienenkämper did not miss the opportunity to drive with the electric autonomous bus. It was a very pleasant driving experience for him. "Based on the biography of Minister Lienenkämper, who has already been Minister of Transport in North Rhine-Westphalia, I am particularly pleased that he is very familiar with the field of innovative mobility technologies. We succeeded very well in demonstrating to Lutz Lienenkämper the synergy effects of the co-operation between Schweers and the Areal Böhler," emphasized Michael Schweers, Owner and Managing Director of Schweers/PanStreet.

As current Minister of the Environment and former Minister of Transport, Lutz Lienenkämper also noticed the green background of the electrically powered buses very positively. The minister also stressed how important it is to think about the future already today. The Level 4 operation planned for the end of the year is the first project of this kind in Germany.

Lutz Lienenkämper also found the technology of Schweers/PanStreet very remarkable, in particular the software Politess Go, introduced by the Director of the Development Department of PanStreet Hecham Haykal. This software is used to scan parking spaces by means of smartphones or body cameras while walking, biking or driving. Politess Go can be used for parking-space analyses. And here is a bridge to the electric autonomous buses from EasyMile, which make a lot of sense insofar as the trend is increasingly towards neighborhood parking and direct shuttle connection to the final destination. Regarding the products of Schweers/PanStreet, Lutz Lienenkämper noted that these products were such a normality for him that one wondered why this has not already been invented. Today's smartphones are now so sophisticated that even complex AI processes, such as those developed and integrated by PanStreet, can be used efficiently.

Apart from this, the Areal Böhler makes use of the Parking Lot Manager of Schweers/PanStreet, a software issuing parking tickets at the industrial park.

Author: Christian Dick