Torslanda, Sweden – Swedish car maker Volvo is saving time and money on tires, among other things, with the help of a €3-million chassis simulator.
In an interview with ERJ’s sister publication Automotive News Europe,Volvo officials said the simulator, which uses software from Germany’s VI-Grade and hardware from Japan’s Saginomiya, will allow it to halve times required for development projects.
“Another time- and money-savings advantage comes from being able to try out a myriad of different tires in the simulator,” said Egbert Bakker, Volvo’s technical leader for vehicle dynamics.
“You don’t need multiple rounds of prototype tires, which cost a lot,” Sandberg said.
“Then there is the time factor because you would need to bring the tire company to the proving ground, and if the weather doesn’t cooperate on the day of the planned test, the cost would just keep rising,” he added.
With such a high percentage of the trial-and-error work being done in virtual reality, Volvo says the proving ground can be used more for fine tuning.
“All the time we save can be put into developing better cars in less time,” Bakker said.
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