Press Release: NUVE Project

NUVE Project & Mevea

World-class NUVE Project combines physical vehicle testing and virtual test drive with help of Mevea’s real-time simulation software for research, development, and testing of autonomous heavy-duty vehicles.

  • NUVE Project – Nordic Platform for Development of Autonomous Utility Vehicles aims to create a Nordic research platform for the development of autonomous heavy-duty vehicles.
  • The project involves the use of Mobilab, a project developed by the Oulu University of Applied Sciences and the University of Oulu. Mobilab enables drive cycle testing through a set of dynamometers which receive data from a virtual test drive.
  • By connecting the virtual test drive in a physics-based real-time simulation environment and Mobilab’s physical testing, heavy-duty vehicle testing can be conducted under repeatable conditions resulting in a significant reduction in development lead-time and prototype costs.

NUVE Project – Nordic Platform for Development of Autonomous Utility Vehicles, is an international cooperation project of Oulu University of Applied Sciences (FI), the University of Oulu (FI), SINTEF (NO) and Luleå University of Technology (SE). The project’s objective is to create a Nordic platform for research, development, testing and innovation of autonomous heavy-duty vehicles as well as for graduate and higher education.

Energy-efficiency and sustainability are keystones in securing continued competitiveness in a growing number of industries. The NUVE Project’s importance is highlighted particularly in the northern regions of Finland, Norway, and Sweden, where the key industries generating regional economic growth, namely forestry, agriculture, mining, and logistics, all make use of heavy-duty vehicles.

NUVE Project & MeveaOne of the key components of the NUVE Project is Mobilab, another project developed by the Oulu University of Applied Sciences with the University of Oulu. Mobilab is a heavy-duty vehicle test bed with absorber active dyno that uses a permanent magnet motor-generator, operated by a fully programmable computer control unit. This technology allows drive cycle testing, consisting of power measurement and loss testing in order to simulate realistic operating conditions. By connecting virtual test drive data to the dyno controller, it is possible to conduct tests with specific use scenarios including the vehicle operator in-loop.

NUVE bridges the gap between virtual testing and physical prototypes. Using a virtual test drive, it is possible to stress and realistically test the components of a real vehicle. The benefit of testing with a combination of physical and virtual components is that the tests are repeatable, and they will result in a significant reduction in development lead-time and prototype costs.
The process requires physics-based real-time simulation, which is why Mevea’s expertise forms one of the cornerstones in taking the NUVE Project forward.

For more information, please contact:
Petri Junttila
Project Manager of NUVE Project
Senior Lecturer, Mechanical engineering team, OAMK
Tel. +358 40 671 3858

Raimo Nikkilä
Director, Sales, Marketing and Business Development, Mevea
Tel. +358 40 024 9213