FTM Institute of Automotive Technology TUM

What FTM Institute of Automotive Technology TUM does

The Department of Mobility Systems Engineering (MOS) at the Technische Universität München (TUM), also referenced under its historical designation FTM Institute of Automotive Technology TUM, is an academic unit within TUM's School of Engineering and Design. Founded as part of TUM (est. 1868) and active in its current departmental form since 2000, it consolidates six professorial chairs covering Autonomous Vehicle Systems (Prof. Johannes Betz), Vehicle Technology (Prof. Markus Lienkamp), Sustainable Mobile Propulsion Systems (Prof. Malte Jaensch), Rail Transport Systems Planning and Operations (Prof. Norman Weik), Urban Structure and Transport Planning (Prof. Gebhard Wulfhorst), Traffic Engineering (Prof. Klaus Bogenberger, also Department Head), Transportation Behavior (Prof. Qin Zhang, interim), and Connected Transport Systems (Prof. Constantinos Antoniou). Research spans traffic simulation, transportation modeling, human factors analysis, agent-based simulations, autonomous driving algorithms, electric/hydrogen/fuel-cell propulsion, railway operations, and data analytics for transport systems.

The department delivers two Master of Science programs (Transportation Systems, Automotive Engineering) and operates an active doctoral training pipeline, including through the EIT Urban Mobility Doctoral Training Network. Its research output is organized under projects such as AgiMo, MINDMAP, PROMETHEUS, AUTOSUP, PANAMERA, PHOEBE, and SEE-FAr, and is disseminated at conferences including NECTAR (Network on European Communications and Transport Activities Research), MT-ITS, mobil.TUM, and hEART. The 2026 NECTAR26 conference hosted in Munich drew participants from 26 countries, and the department runs an annual Summer School in Beijing with Tsinghua University.

As a state institution under the Bavarian Higher Education Innovation Act (BayHIG), the department is supervised by the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts. Income derives from public university funding, competitive research grants (DFG, EU, EIT Urban Mobility), industry partnerships, and minor conference/event fees. The department operates from Munich's Arcisstraße campus (main) and a Garching research location (Parkring 37), with approximately 200+ staff and researchers across its six chairs. There is no commercial revenue model and no equity ownership structure; the entity is not investable in the conventional PE/VC sense.

Name

FTM Institute of Automotive Technology TUM

Legal name

Technische Universität München

Website

https://mos.ed.tum.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1868

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Department of Mobility Systems Engineering (MOS) at the Technische Universität München conducts research and graduate education across eight professorial chairs covering autonomous vehicles, sustainable propulsion, rail systems, urban planning, traffic engineering, transport behavior, and connected transport systems.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education & Mobility Research

NAICS

Support Activities for Transportation (488)

SIC

Transportation Services (4700)

akta.pro primary industry

Ground Transportation & Local Transit Coordination (EDAIANAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Corporate Mobility & Ground Transport Management (THALANAI)

Keywords

• Automotive engineering education
• Transportation systems research
• Mobility systems engineering
• Autonomous vehicle research
• Sustainable propulsion research

Headquarters

HQ city

Garching, Bavaria

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Public University Funding: Technische Universität München operates as a public corporation under German law, funded by Bavarian State Ministry for Science and the Arts
2. Research Grants and Projects: Funding from DFG (German Research Foundation), EIT Urban Mobility, European Union research programs, and industry partnerships for specific research projects
3. Conference and Event Revenue: Hosting academic conferences such as NECTAR26, mobil.TUM, and summer/winter schools with registration fees

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Department of Mobility Systems Engineering (MOS) at TUM delivers graduate-level education through Master of Science programs in Transportation Systems and Automotive Engineering, and conducts applied research across six professorial chairs covering autonomous vehicles, vehicle technology, sustainable propulsion, rail systems, urban transport planning, traffic engineering, and transport behavior. The department hosts international academic conferences, workshops, and PhD colloquia, and collaborates with industry and government partners on funded research projects.

Product overview

The Department of Mobility Systems Engineering (MOS) at TUM is an academic department offering Master of Science programs in Transportation Systems and Automotive Engineering. The department comprises six professorship chairs: Autonomous Vehicle Systems, Vehicle Technology, Sustainable Mobile Propulsion Systems, Rail Transport Systems Planning, Urban Structure and Transport Planning, Traffic Engineering, Transportation Behavior, and Connected Transport Systems. These chairs conduct research in areas including vehicle autonomy, electric mobility, traffic flow modeling, transport simulation, sustainable propulsion, and human factors in transport. The department also hosts research projects in collaboration with international partners and contributes to publications in transportation research.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Research presentations at international venues such as TRB Annual Meeting in Washington D.C.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Mobilizing Justice PartnershipcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2026Bilateral exchange with University of Toronto and Canadian-German collaboration on accessibility and mobility research. MoU signed between MCube and Mobilizing Justice Partnership formalizing shared commitment to international collaboration in accessibility research and knowledge exchange.
• University of TorontocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2026Academic partner in Canadian-German mobility research exchange, collaborating on accessibility measurement, transport poverty, and sufficiency-oriented mobility planning.
• MCube – Munich Cluster for the Future of Mobility in Metropolitan RegionscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2026TUM-based cluster coordinating mobility research in metropolitan regions. MoU with Mobilizing Justice Partnership formalizes international collaboration commitments.
• EIT Urban MobilitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2026EIT Urban Mobility provided support for NECTAR26 conference and hosts the Doctoral Training Network in which TUM researchers participate. Partnership enables early-career researchers to present work and connect with senior scholars within the international NECTAR community.
• ElsevierminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2026Commercial sponsor for NECTAR26 conference, providing publication support and research dissemination resources.
• PB Consult GmbHminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2026Consulting partner sponsoring NECTAR26 conference on urban mobility planning.
• BoltminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2026Mobility service provider sponsoring NECTAR26 conference on urban mobility transitions.
• Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-organizer of International PhD Colloquium on Urban Mobility, collaborating with TUM and McGill University to foster international approach to urban mobility challenges.
• McGill UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-organizer of International PhD Colloquium on Urban Mobility alongside TUM and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid for doctoral candidate presentations and discussions.
• Tsinghua UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-term partnership for annual Summer School Beijing on transportation engineering and logistics, with modules taught by TUM faculty and joint student recruitment.
• Northwestern UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Big Data for Future Mobility workshop collaboration on decoding big data and user generated content in transport.
• University of California Santa BarbaraminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Big Data for Future Mobility workshop on transport data analytics and user behavior modeling.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Chalmers University of Technology - Vehicle Engineering and Autonomous Systems: Chalmers' vehicle engineering and autonomous systems research covers automotive propulsion, autonomy, and transport electrification — directly comparable European technical university automotive research department to TUM MOS.
• MIT Transport@MIT: MIT's interdisciplinary transportation research hub covering autonomous vehicles, rail, urban mobility, and transport policy — a globally comparable academic transport research group with industry-partnered project model.
• UC Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies: UC Berkeley's long-standing transportation research institute spanning vehicle technology, urban planning, and transport behavior — closely comparable academic mobility research department with strong industry and policy linkages.
• Politecnico di Milano - Department of Mechanical Engineering (Transport Section): Italian technical university's mechanical engineering department with transportation research covering vehicle dynamics, propulsion, and transport systems — a comparable European technical-university mobility research unit.
• KTH Royal Institute of Technology - Transport Research: KTH's transport planning and mobility research covers rail, urban mobility, and sustainable transport systems — comparable Nordic technical university transport research department.
• RWTH Aachen - ika (Institut für Kraftfahrzeuge): RWTH Aachen's automotive engineering institute focusing on vehicle technology, autonomous systems, and electric mobility — a directly comparable German university automotive/mobility research department with overlapping chair structure.
• TU Delft - CiTG (Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Transport & Planning): Dutch technical university's transport and planning department covering mobility modeling, rail, and traffic engineering — comparable European technical-university transport research department with similar master's program and chair structure.
• KIT - Institut für Fahrzeugsystemtechnik (FAST): Karlsruhe Institute of Technology's vehicle systems technology institute — directly comparable German university department covering vehicle systems engineering, autonomous driving, and propulsion research adjacent to TUM MOS's chair portfolio.
• ETH Zurich - IVT (Institut für Verkehrsplanung und Transportsysteme): ETH Zurich's Institute for Transport Planning and Systems covers transport modeling, rail operations, traffic engineering, and transport behavior — a near-direct peer to TUM MOS's urban planning, rail, behavior, and traffic chairs.
• University of Michigan - UMTRI: University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute is a major US university mobility research center covering autonomous vehicles, sustainable propulsion, and transportation safety — closely comparable in scope and academic-industry model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ftm-tum

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about FTM Institute of Automotive Technology TUM