Daimler research team reached the final round at the "Deutscher Zukunftspreis" award

The "Deutscher Zukunftspreis", or German Future Prize, is the Federal President’s prize for technology and innovation and is acknowledged as the country's most prestigious award for technical and scientific innovations. In the anniversary year of the automobile, a team from Daimler was again among the three teams of researchers nominated for the prize by Federal President Christian Wulff. With their 6D-vision technology, which can make a vital contribution to the avoidance of accidents, the researchers won through against other potential candidates and are now nominated for the final selection.

Enlarge   Prof. Dr. Thomas Weber, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development "Road safety for all road users has always been a major area of focus and a core competence at Mercedes-Benz." Prof Dr Thomas Weber, Member of the Board of Management Daimler AG, responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development, continues: "The 6D-Vision project represents a milestone along the road to accident-free driving and will form the basis of our future safety systems. I am absolutely delighted that this unique technology has been honoured in this special way by being nominated for the ”Deutscher Zukunftspreis” in our 125th anniversary year."

Specifically named in the nomination were Dr Uwe Franke, Dr Stefan Gehrig and Dr Clemens Rabe, who are responsible for this pioneering project as part of their work in Daimler AG's Research and Advance Development department for Assistance Systems and Chassis Systems.

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from left: Dr Clemens Rabe, expert in real-time implementation, Daimler AG’s research and development unit; Dr Uwe Franke, Head of the “Image Understanding”, Daimler AG’s research and development unit; Dr Stefan Gehrig, expert in stereo vision, Daimler AG’s research and development unit

The ”Deutscher Zukunftspreis” of the country's Federal President has been awarded annually since 1997. As well as recognising scientific achievement, the award takes account of the marketability of a particular development. The award is given for projects that improve people's lives, create new employment opportunities and sustain the country's prosperity. Those organisations entitled to make nominations submit possible projects to an eminent jury made up of independent experts from both academia and industry. The jury then selects the three teams of researchers who, in their view, have the most innovative and marketable projects.

Daimler has been nominated for the award four times previously in the following areas:

The presentation of the award by German Federal President Christian Wulff took place on 14 December 2011 in Berlin.