APTS Appoints Altran to Deliver Innovative Engineering for New Guided Bus
Altran, the European leader in innovation consulting and high technology, has been appointed by APTS, a division of Netherlands-based industrial company VDL Group, to develop the
safety-critical guidance control system for a new virtual guided vehicle.
The project was awarded to a 40-strong team of engineers from Altran Netherlands and Altran Praxis, based in the UK, following a competitive tendering process. VDL Group selected Altran because of its ability to provide an integrated, international engineering solution for the safety-critical guidance system, with particular expertise in safety-critical software and hardware development. Altran has an enormous range of skills in all aspects of embedded and critical systems engineering, and securing this project demonstrates that Altran is able to integrate this capability across international teams for the benefit of customers.
APTS develops, produces and sells high-quality public transport systems. It required a team of industry specialists to develop a cutting-edge safety-critical system for use in the operation of a new fleet of guided buses. The first deployment of the vehicle will take place in Douai, northern France. The multi-million euros contract covers the development and management of a safety critical system for the bus. The project will be a collaborative effort between engineers from APTS, Altran Praxis and Altran Netherlands.
The new vehicle, which will behave in a similar manner to a traditional tram, will follow a pre-designed route guided by magnets in the road. Through use of the magnets, travel routes can be easily rolled out and changed with minimal disruption.
"The development of this project requires the highest level of expertise to ensure the successful and safe delivery of this exciting transportation system," said Ruud Bouwman, APTS. "Altran was able to provide us with the right combination of skill, capability and a team with local knowledge to make this project a practical reality."
Keith Williams, Altran Group Executive Director – Embedded & Critical Systems, added: "This is a great win for the Altran Group and a reflection of the unique expertise we’re bringing to the global engineering market. The transport sector is an exciting field to operate in today with technology providing huge scope for innovation and development. Altran understands the importance of this project to APTS and I’m delighted that Altran has been given the responsibility to deliver this turnkey safety-critical system."
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About Altran Group
Altran is the European leader in innovation consulting and high technology. The Group’s 17,150 consultants, operating worldwide, cover the entire range of engineering specialties, including electronics, information technology, quality and organisation… They assist corporations throughout the innovation process, from technological monitoring, applied basic research and management consulting to industrial systems engineering and information systems, in most sectors, such as: automotive, aeronautics, space, telecommunications. Founded in 1982, Altran operates in 20 priority countries. In 2010, it generated a turnover of €1,403.7 million.
About Altran Praxis
Altran Praxis is a specialist systems and software house, focussed on the engineering of systems with demanding safety, security or innovation requirements. Altran Praxis leads the world in specific areas of advanced systems engineering and innovation such as: ultra low defect software engineering, Human Machine Interface (HMI), safety engineering for complex or novel systems, systems engineering and methods/tools (such as SPARK). Altran Praxis offers clients a range of services including turnkey systems development, consultancy, training and R&D. Key market sectors are aerospace and defence, rail, nuclear, air traffic management, automotive, medical and security. The company operates globally with active projects in the US, Asia and Europe. The headquarters of Altran Praxis are in Bath (UK) with offices in Sophia Antipolis, London, Paris, Loughborough and Bangalore. Altran Praxis is an expertise centre within the Altran Group.
Press contacts:
Matthew Watson
Speed (for Altran Praxis)
altran-praxis@speedcommunications.com
Leena Chauhan
Altran Praxis
press@altran-praxis.com
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