BMW's Active Steering System receives German Business Innovation Prize.

Frankfurt/Munich. The prestigious 2003 German business innovation award
was conferred to the BMW Group in the category 'major enterprises' for
the development and introduction of the active steering system. The
award ceremony took place in the Alte Oper in Frankfurt on Saturday
evening, January 24th, on the occasion of a gala evening with around
2,000 guests organized by the German industry. Edelgard Bulmahn, the
Federal Minister of Education and Research, gave the price to Professor
Dr. Burkhard Göschel, board member of the BMW AG and in charge of
research and development. The active steering system won the
much-vaunted innovation prize for enhancing motoring comfort, agility
and safety while providing driving pleasure at its best. For these
reasons the BMW active steering system was already given the Technology
Award of the Year 2004 by the American "Automobile Magazine"
and the Trophée d'Innovation 2003 by the French car magazine
"L'Automobile Magazine". The revolutionary active steering
system solves the trade-off between an agile, sports-oriented steering
system layout and a more comfortable design, thus fulfilling an old
dream of all suspension engineers. This system was developed by BMW in
cooperation with the ZF Lenksysteme GmbH, based in Schwäbisch
Gmünd. For the first time, this system does away with the fixed
ratio between steering-wheel angle and wheel deflection, offering the
ideal steering ratio at all speeds. The steering column incorporates a
planetary gearbox with servo motor, which increases wheel deflection at
low speeds and reduces it at high speeds. This concept increases the
car's agility on winding roads as steering is much more direct. The
driver needs to turn the steering wheel much less and with much less
effort. The system boosts not only dynamics and agility but also
comfort. Getting into a parking space, for example, requires no more
than two steering-wheel revolutions instead of the conventional three
to turn the wheels from right to left and vice versa. At high speeds on
the motorway small unintentional movements of the steering wheel (when
driving on a bumpy surface, for example) have a reduced influence on
directional stability due to the reduced steering angle. Thanks to the
somewhat more indirect steering, the car stays on track as if it were
running on rails. By communicating with the DSC Dynamic Stability
Control, the system identifies oversteering tendencies at an early
stage (in case of a sudden evasive manoeuvre, for example), correcting
this behaviour and stabilizing the car through automatic
countersteering, a process hardly noticeable to the driver. As an
option, the active steering system is also available in the new BMW 5
Series models and the 6 Series models. This system has immediately
achieved an equipment proportion of 40%. The bestowal of the German
business innovation award honours the fact that the introduction of the
revolutionary steering system makes BMW the first car manufacturer
world-wide to offer the optimum synthesis of agility, tracking
stability, comfort and safety. The German business innovation award was
introduced back in 1980 by the Rhein-Main e. V. business club and is
considered the most important prize of its kind in Germany. The award
is presented each year in cooperation with the expert magazine
"WirtschaftsWoche" and is awarded in three categories: major
enterprises, medium-sized companies and start-ups. In the category
'medium-sized companies' the Schollglas GmbH, based in Isenhagen, won
the prize for the development of a special-purpose glass for emergency
windows in coaches and track vehicles. When the glass is smashed, it
does not splinter. Instead, it breaks along a given seam and rolls up,
enabling passengers to get out of the vehicle without any risk of
injury. Among start-up companies the NaWoTec GmbH, based in Rossdorf,
finished first with the presentation of a nanotechnological procedure
which facilitates repair work on extremely expensive masks required for
the production of semi-conductor chips. In all, more than 320 firms
competed for an award in one of the three categories. High-resolution
photographic material is available from the BMW Group Pressclub at www.press.bmwgroup.com.