Volkswagen Group’s Bentley Motors said its new Compact Full Spectrum Driving Simulator would be installed at its factory in Crewe, northern England.
The innovative simulator offers a more sustainable alternative to physical testing for development of vehicle comfort and would dramatically cut the number of real-world road miles engineers would drive testing cars, the automaker said.
Among the elements the simulator can accurately assess are ride comfort, cabin acoustics and vibration, as well as supporting seat development. It will enable ride comfort evaluations over various emulated road surfaces, such as potholes and bumps, providing a valuable and time-saving representation of vehicle response, long before the reliance on physical prototypes would have previously enabled.
The pioneering technology will save around 85 tons of CO2 and up to 350 days of traditional road testing per vehicle prototype, Bentley claimed.
Developed in Italy by global simulator specialists VI-grade, the compact system will play a major role in the development of a forthcoming range of battery electric vehicles.
Engineering chief Matthias Rabe said: “Beyond its technical capabilities, the Dynamic Driving Simulator brings substantial sustainability benefits, reducing the need for both physical prototypes and extensive physical tests, the latter often involving cars and colleagues shipped to remote locations around the world.”
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By GlobalDataVirtual vehicle engineer Charlie Smith added: “This simulator is a strategic step towards accelerating our product development cycle, minimising reliance on physical prototypes and enhancing simulation capabilities.”