vehicle engineering
D E C EMB E R 2 0 1 8 1 3
MIXING CAPABILITIES FOR MAXIMUM RESULTS
Our know-how in this area is significant. By combining the appropriate
products and processes, such as AVL-DRIVE™ and AVL VSM™ simulation
technologies, and the Global Vehicle Benchmarking Program – along
with the global network of extremely qualified and experienced experts –
OEMs are offered a one-stop-shop to gain a clear image of the final vehicle
before it has been built. These simulations can be used again later in the
development process to test real prototypes or components on the testbed,
in combined virtual and real testing activities.
The next step is to take the results of the simulations and apply them to
the driver simulators. This gives OEMs the opportunity to experience the
concepts modelled in the previous two phases for themselves.
“We have the opportunity to give the customer, their test drivers and
engineers, a tangible impression of the potential driving characteristics
of their vehicle,” explains Oswald. “They can explore driving attributes
such as handling, comfort and driveability, and experience the difference
for themselves.”
Using simulation tools this way to build a virtual car in the computer, can
aid with choosing which technologies are required and if it is even feasible.
For example, so many of the vehicle’s attributes – such as electric range,
performance, handing and comfort – are dependent on the HV battery
technology that is chosen. Yet developing battery technology can take up
to 40 months, and so to find out that it is not capable of supporting the
marketing goals of the vehicle at a later stage can have huge implications
in the vehicle development cycle. But the use of virtual prototypes can
support decision processes early in development, to find the best solution
before the first prototypes are built.
Virtual vehicle development reduces the need
for costly and time-consuming prototyping.
Additionally, to be able to actually experience the driveability characteristics
of a vehicle that doesn’t exist yet, gives the OEMs the chance to quantify
the emotional impact of their future vehicle. And despite the technology,
the efficiency, the emissions reduction and global legislation, what is
fundamentally most powerful about this process is that it puts the driver’s
demands at the heart of it.
“The attention that we pay to these driving attributes ensures that the vehicles
we help our customers develop not only meet legislative targets,
but also provide an attractive product to the end user,” explains Oswald.
“And that is true whatever technology we’re working with, whether it’s
the conventional internal combustion engine, or future technologies such
as electrification, hybridization, fuel cell or battery. The driver is always
considered at the heart of our solution.”