Immendingen has a key role in the development of the mobility of the future: this is where Mercedes-Benz Cars is consolidating its worldwide vehicle testing, including the further development of alternative drives such as hybrids and electric vehicles under the product and technology brand EQ. Future assistance systems and automated driving functions are also tested here. The Test and Technology Center Immendingen was officially opened in September 2018 after a construction time of around three and a half years. Immendingen is located in Baden-Württemberg, 130 kilometres to the south of Stuttgart and 40 kilometres to the north of Radolfzell on Lake Constance.
Mercedes-Benz is currently creating around 300 new jobs in Immendingen. Already now, around 250 employees are working on more than 30 different test stretches on which different driving conditions can be simulated. A particular focus is placed on the four strategic areas for the future, Connected, Autonomous, Shared and Electric. Daimler has grouped these under the acronym CASE.
“High-tech vehicles require high-tech testing. Our Test and Technology Center in Immendingen has numerous facilities for testing and perfecting new technologies, including alternative drives and driving assistance systems. At the same time we can relieve traffic congestion, for example by relocating our endurance testing to our test site,” says Markus Schäfer, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, responsible for Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development.
“Steep, narrow pass roads as in the Alps, wide, multi-lane highways as in North America, tedious stop-and-go traffic as in a southern European city: many traffic situations can be realistically simulated on the test site. A great deal can be calculated by computer, but in the end test drives on proper roads are indispensable. In the process we repeatedly find that reality always has surprises in store which the computer has not considered,” says Reiner Imdahl, Head of the TTC. “The municipality of Immendingen was a real stroke of luck for us. We and the Test and Technology Center were made welcome from the start, and we were received with open arms.” The TTC was constructed on a former exercise ground owned by the German army. When developing the route layout, intensive use was made of the impressive topography with its different levels and altitudes from 660 to 880 metres above sea level[1].
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SOURCE: Daimler
