DEKRA, the German Motor Vehicle Inspection Association and research and testing organization, has officially opened its connected car evaluation area in Malaga, Spain, as part of its international network for trialling connected, automated and electric driving technologies.
At the opening, DEKRA’s experts organized two live connected car demonstrations using BMW vehicles and showed some of the scenarios the organization has developed to test V2X (vehicle-to-everything) technologies. These technologies allow vehicles and other road users to receive the position and movement data of all the other road users and infrastructure in their vicinity. BMW made three conventional and two electric vehicles available for a demo of emergency electronic brake lights (EEBL) and road work warning (RWW) scenarios. Other technologies that DEKRA will test include: left turn assist, blind spot warning, forward collision warning, green light optimal speed advisory, red light violation warning and control loss warning.
The new connected car test area at the Andalusia Technology Park in Malaga will join DEKRA’s worldwide network of evaluation facilities, including a race track at Klettwitz in Germany, which is the largest independent automotive test area for connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) in Europe, and in the world for automotive systems, whole vehicle and infrastructure testing. The organization has recently obtained the ISO 17025 accreditation for car safety technology eCall, ERA/GLONASS for testing in the lab and at customer premises, WAVE (wireless access in vehicular environments) and IEEE802.11p. In addition DEKRA was recognized to provide testing and type approval services for the pan-European eCall emergency communications system in accordance with EU 2017/79 regulations.
“The Malaga test area, part of our global testing network, will allow us to smartly combine safety and connectivity testing, enabling automotive manufacturers and suppliers to gain a competitive edge,” said Ivo Rauh, member of the DEKRA board and head of industrial activities. “Manufacturers can start future proofing right now.”
Bert Zoetbrood, CEO of DEKRA’s global product testing and certification division, added, “The hub in Malaga will focus, among other things, on R&D validation and early production testing, while the existing DEKRA testing oval and the recently acquired Lausitzring race track in Klettwitz, Germany, will be able to host a much larger volume of tests and multiple projects simultaneously.”
