PressClub Latin America, Caribbean · Article.
BMW Group launches proving ground for automated driving and parking in Sokolov.
01.08.2023 Press Release
+++ BMW’s largest test site in the world at 600 hectares +++ Ongoing development of highly and fully automated driving and parking +++ 300 million Euro investment +++ 100 new jobs +++ 100 percent green electricity and the highest sustainability standards +++
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Edgar Tellez
BMW Group
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Author.
Edgar Tellez
BMW Group
Sokolov/Munich. The BMW Group celebrated the launch
of its new test site in Sokolov (Czechia), the Future Mobility
Development Center (FMDC). With Petr Očko, the Deputy Minister for
Industry and Trade in Czechia, and Petr Kulhánek, the Governor of the
Karlovy Vary region, in attendance, Ilka Hortsmeier, BMW Group’s Board
Member for People and Real Estate, and Frank Weber, BMW Group’s Board
Member for Development, officially opened the test site for fully
automated development and test drives.
As the first development location of its kind in central Europe,
the FMDC, in which 300 million euros have been invested, will play a
key role in the company’s future mobility development. The former
mining region has transformed into an innovation hub employing more
than one hundred skilled workers. The surrounding terrain offers the
best real-world conditions for testing of highly and fully automated
driving and parking to supplement the virtual simulation of driving
situations. Through this combination of virtual simulation and
real-world testing, the BMW Group meets the highest safety
requirements of its customers. The FMDC in Sokolov rounds out BMW’s
existing group of test sites in Aschheim near Munich, Miramas in
France, and Arjeplog in Sweden.
“With our new Future Mobility Development Center, we have
created a one-of-a-kind test site, designed exclusively for the highly
demanding testing of automated driving and parking up to level 4. On
600 hectares of land, we test all possible driving conditions with
maximum flexibility and tremendous efficiency: city, countryside,
freeway, as well as automated parking. The special thing: We can run
our test modules one after the other without stopping. This makes our
testing as realistic, reliable, and customer-oriented as possible,”
said Frank Weber, BMW Board Member for Development.
The new test site not only enables the testing and further
development of technological innovations, but also stands as an
example of how the highest environmental protection and sustainability
standards have been consistently integrated in concept and
implemented. Throughout the planning and establishment of the proving
ground, BMW worked in close cooperation with specialized ecological
construction monitoring.
“Making mobility electric, digital, and sustainable goes beyond
our vehicles at the BMW Group. We look at the entire value chain,
including our own sites. Together with our partners, we were able to
develop a former surface mine site here in Sokolov into a modern and
efficient test site and create new, attractive jobs,” said Ilka
Horstmeier, BMW Board Member for People and Real Estate. “The Future
Mobility Development Center and its charging infrastructure are
supplied with one hundred percent green electricity from renewable
energy sources. This is another step toward the decarbonization of our
sites globally.”
In addition to the use of green electricity, the site is
equipped with an innovative water management system that
systematically collects rainwater and uses it for track irrigation.
The protection and promotion of the local biodiversity were also
considered throughout the planning process: amphibian control systems
were installed throughout the site to ensure the safe crossing of
animals across the proving ground. 2.2 million cubic meters of soil
previously excavated by nearby mining were used to build the site.
Thus, no additional land was sealed, but rather an area that had lain
fallow was recycled for forward-looking technological development.