Background information and objectives

The field of Commercial Vehicle Technology

The commercial vehicle industry is one of the most important innovation drivers in Germany, in Europe and all over the world. Germany is Europe‘s leading commercial vehicle manufacturer. A concentration of manufacturing plants and suppliers is found especially in the southwest of the country. These enterprises as well as experts and researchers established a communication and cooperation platform, the Commercial Vehicle Cluster.

The University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU) is located in the heart of this strong cluster, and promotes research, innovation and technology transfer to this sector. The University, its graduate schools, research centers and partnering research institutes are Europe’s leading network with regard to graduate education, doctoral studies, research and technology transfer in the field of commercial vehicle technology. This science network sets the pace for the R&D in the surrounding industries. The commercial vehicle industry sector develops and produces a broad variety of high-tech products ranging from trucks, buses, agricultural vehicles and construction vehicles to a large scope of specialized machines.

Commercial vehicle technology and its fields of application are generally much more complex, demanding and extensive compared to the automotive sector.

Experiences of CVT students

"A Mechanical Engineer at heart embarking upon a career in Software Development and Artificial Intelligence for Mobility - the Masters program in Commercial Vehicle Technology can make it possible !“ Rohan Gugale

"The CVT Master program is challenging and really opens my horizon to see vehicles from different Point of views.“ Lucero Florez Ibañez

Objectives of the study program*

This international and interdisciplinary study program focuses on teaching students a sufficiently comprehensive knowledge in the fields of mechanical and process engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and computer science. The main objective is to deal with interdisciplinary issues in the area of commercial vehicle technology, which can be difficult even for interdisciplinary teams, and to close the communication gaps in classical teams. This includes the teaching ...

  • … of skills to think in at least three engineering disciplines simultaneously and of a high level technical and methodological knowledge, both research- and industry-related, from all disciplines
  • … of an interdisciplinary way of thinking and thus of high interdisciplinary problem-solving skills
  • … of basic knowledge in the field of economics and organization
  • … of general soft skills, such as teamwork or communication skills
  • … of skills for social and cultural engagement, especially by the course offerings in the area of social and economic sciences. This enhances the students' sense of reflection and responsibility in terms of a democratic community. This includes, for example, offerings in the area of ethics or psychology

A detailed list of objectives and the competencies can be found in the Objectives-Module-Matrix for the study program.

* The objectives described at this page refer to the examination regulations for the CVT master program of 2022.

Research and innovation are crucial with regard to

  • Air pollution & environmental protection
  • Comfort & convenience
  • Cost reduction
  • Harmonization & standardization of variations and types
  • Availability & reliability
  • Safety & minimization of risks