A combination of extreme weather testing and artificial intelligence (AI) is speeding up the design, engineering and development process for new vehicles.
Near the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden, many of the world’s automakers have testing facilities where their research and development teams decamp to Monday through Friday for weeks on repeat during the winter months.
The area, known for hitting near zero degrees Fahrenheit daily during January, and warming up only slightly into February, provides the harsh weather conditions needed to prove out vehicle capabilities under extreme stress.
Before the teams get to Sweden, they spend days, months and years in laboratories developing next-generation systems and refining those already in place. The use of artificial intelligence and augmented reality is speeding up those processes, but it is not a substitute for time behind the wheel.
Mercedes-Benz
With fresh snow on steep mountains, thick ice on lakes and miles of smooth, low traffic roads between the two, a mid-winter journey to Swedish Lapland reveals what’s next for companies like Polestar, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
A Polestar 5 prototype using a Tesla charger in a hotel parking lot, a BMW XM’s tires being outfitted with chains for a trail run in deep snow and upcoming Mercedes models donning fresh camouflage—all are testing there.
The Mercedes team is focused on testing its Van Electric Architecture (VAN.EA), battery-electric GLC SUV and battery-electric and hybrid versions of the forthcoming CLA sedan. Every week presents a new challenge for the research and development team members as they work to refine components based on the previous week’s findings.
Over 500 individual tests, two-thirds of which are on electric motors and charging, are conducted as part of the research and development team’s trial program for each new Mercedes-Benz electric vehicle.
The Mercedes brake control system team is responsible for more than just brake pads and rotors. The company’s future braking system is highly integrated into the vehicle and performs nearly 100 functions. “These 100 functions support the driver and assist the driver in nearly every driving situation,” one of the team’s leaders told Newsweek.
The Arctic Circle is one of the locations where the team tests the functions. Two weeks prior they were in Spain working on high friction testing. “We are finishing the winter test campaign this week, heading to the airport afterwards [to fly back to Stuttgart] to prepare the next test campaign,” he said.
The Mercedes team isn’t just using their dedicated testing facility outside Arjeplog, Sweden, this season. They have rented the 2,500-meter long runway at the Arvidsjaur Airport for high-speed testing.
“In the last phase of development, we go to the public roads,” the team leader said.
Mercedes-Benz
The variety is important. “We cover all the real-life driving situations that our customers will have [by testing here]. At least as important, is the variety of winter conditions, winter testing, and not just volume. You have fresh snow, powder snow, compacted snow, peak ice, or like this week, it was quite warm this week, the ice is very weak. It’s very slippery this week. Our customers will also experience all these conditions, and [the cars] have to [be able to] handle them,” the Mercedes engineer said.
The braking control system that Mercedes is testing is new and it will be employed in the new CLA and GLC. The company’s braking system in its EQ product line (EQE and EQS sedans and SUVs) has been heavily criticized as feeling unnatural and having fundamentally flawed pedal positioning during braking events.
This new system is designed to eliminate traditional pedal feel, with it primarily controlled by software rather than a direct correlation between the pedal and friction brakes. The brake pedal position is not moved based on regeneration, but ebbs and flows more traditionally during slowing and stopping.
Battery-electric vehicles use regenerative braking technology that captures and stores energy during deceleration. The switch between regenerative and friction braking during a single pedal movement can cause a vehicle’s brakes to grab differently resulting in a slow or stop that is not smooth. The new system aims to refine that motion.
Even as the company prepares to unveil the new CLA to the world this week, Mercedes engineers continue to work to refine it. “Believe us, we are engineers. We are never finished. We are always looking for the next improvement on the systems,” he said.