At a time of creation and evolution that has been in the foreground, there are many brands that have opted to generate new workspaces and development where they can exhibit their new models and future prototypes with the intention of writing the first lines of the next generation. At BMW they wanted to be at the forefront and now have presented their next major work center, which will be in Sokolov, and will allow the next models to be in the foreground to check their qualities.
The BMW Group has created a centre that will feature new areas that will be responsible for continuing to evolve in the area of autonomous driving. Among other aspects, the first deployment of two work and test areas, which will be pioneers in Central Europe, where the company hopes to generate a new business model.
Now, the company has unveiled the first two sections of the circuit for testing of autonomous vehicles and assistance systems. In the new center, the company will continue to advance in current issues such as electrification, digitalization and autonomous drivingto. This centre is about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from the main R&D centre (FIZ) in Munich.
With an initial investment of 300 million euros, it is estimated that this work center will be operational during the summer of 2023 with more than 100 employees. The new technology area with approximately 90,000 m2 of approved surface area and three independent acceleration circuits provide ideal conditions for testing cross-traffic assistance and behaviour systems, as well as emergency braking and evasion situations
Bmw hopes to continue working on the development of new models that will be on sale in Europe in the coming months. To this end, according to Andreas Heb, head of the Sokolov site: “With the early deployment of the two test areas to prepare for the official vehicle tests in Solokov, we are testing new assistance systems from the point of view of driver safety and advancing the future development of test scenarios”. To do this, they will have a 6 km autonomous driving highway, a road that simulates a functional highway and has a straight of more than 1km.
