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Siemens snaps up Aimsun in deal agreed at Intertraffic

Intertraffic was the venue for the announcement of one of the biggest deals of the year as electronics giant Siemens acquired Barcelona-based mobility modelling specialist Aimsun for an undisclosed sum. Initially spun out from a university research lab team, TSS-Transport Simulation Systems, as the company was initially known, has spent 20 years developing its microsimulator into a multi-level integrated modeling platform. Aimsun systems and algorithms use real-time traffic data to optimise traffic flows
March 22, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

Intertraffic was the venue for the announcement of one of the biggest deals of the year as electronics giant 189 Siemens acquired Barcelona-based mobility modelling specialist Aimsun for an undisclosed sum.

Initially spun out from a university research lab team, TSS-Transport Simulation Systems, as the company was initially known, has spent 20 years developing its microsimulator into a multi-level integrated modeling platform.

Aimsun systems and algorithms use real-time traffic data to optimise traffic flows and identify future problems before they become apparent – and it was this ability that attracted Siemens. The German conglomerate is working on an urban mobility operating system, which requires the ability to predict traffic problems. “We should not wait for problems to occur before taking action to mitigate the effect – otherwise this is too late,” said Marcus Schlitt, CEO of Siemens Intelligent Traffic Systems.

This is important for our digitalisation strategy. Aimsun has software that can predict traffic problems and we can’t easily duplicate this technology. We are closing a portfolio gap,” he said before adding that Aimsun will continue to function as a separate and wholly-owned entity. Aimsun has grown substantially over the past few years with 4,600 users in almost 80 countries; its CEO, Jaime Ferrer, said: “Siemens will give us the scale that we need to continue growing – we share a lot of views, our culture fits very well and our software will be a key piece in future mobility systems. [The deal is] a mixture of the best of all worlds – the scale of Siemens and the agility of Aimsun.” Siemens said it expects to close the deal next month.

Stand: 12.308

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