“GHOST – feel it.” start-up wins Porsche innovation competition

The team thus came out top amongst a field of more than 150 submitted projects. Five teams from Germany, Switzerland, UK and the US took part in the finals last week at Porsche’s Digital Campus in Ludwigsburg near Stuttgart.

“GHOST – feel it.” was established in 2017 by neuroscientist Isabella Hillmer and engineer Laura Bücheler. The Berlin-based start-up deals in improving interaction between humans and machines. It focuses on technology for expanding human perception, for example giving amputees feeling in their prostheses. As part of the innovation competition, the winning team integrated this technology into Porsche seats. Consequently, drivers can feel in their backs how to drive their vehicle in the best and safest way.

“It was an honour for us to be able to showcase our product to so many decision-makers within the industry who actually shape the future of driving”, explains Laura Bücheler, co-founder of “GHOST – feel it.”. “We look forward to launching a project together with Porsche Digital Lab as soon as possible to meet the demands of Porsche drivers and see our technology in action.”

The “Porsche Next Open Innovation Competition” 2019 is the second edition of the open innovation competition for digital development, organised by Porsche in cooperation with Berlin-based technology start-up “High Mobility”. The theme this year was applications relating to the sports car of the future. The participants were granted access to more than 300 data sources and functions of a Porsche vehicle for two months to design, develop, virtually present and be able to test their own applications.

Around 750 participants from more than 50 countries

The competition was aimed at interested parties from around the world, particularly independent developers, start-ups and students, but also internal Porsche developers. In total around 750 participants from more than 50 countries signed up.  

“The “Next OI Competition” once again confirmed how valuable it is for a company to be open to new ideas and inspiration from the outside world. Thanks to initiatives like these we are further enhancing the Porsche ecosystem”, says Andy Grau, Innovation Manager at Porsche and “Porsche Next OI Competition” project manager: “We will continue to work with the top three teams.”

Top three teams develop their solutions further in collaboration with Porsche

Apart from the winning team, the teams finishing second and third will also have the opportunity to evolve their ideas together with Porsche. “Way Ahead Technology” by Roger Rueegg and Dominik Stocker from Switzerland finished in second place. Their app tracks, documents and visualises routes live and in 3D. It enables augmented reality functions for head-up displays and virtual cockpits: for instance, virtually extended lane markings you would otherwise not be able to see when driving at night.

A UK-based team finished in third place: Nikita Dedik, Alex Urbanovich, Valeriy Britaus and Kirill Khomko and their “Road.Travel for Porsche” app. The solution aims to complement the existing Porsche offerings. It consists of an online platform that combines planning and booking trips with exchanging travelling experiences.

Porsche will be attending the NOAH start-up conference in Berlin between 13 and 14 June. In line with the “Next Visions. Change the game – Create tomorrow“ slogan, the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer will be exchanging ideas with founders and other companies. Porsche intends to use this opportunity to continuously enhance its network of partners, so they can shape the future of the sports car together. The company and the winning team will also give an insight into the “Porsche Next OI Competition” 2019 in Berlin.