Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the board of management of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Thomas Strobl, Deputy Prime Minister Baden-Wuerttemberg at the opening of the Daimler Test and Technology Center in Immendingen.

Daimler has invested more than €200 million in the Test and Technology Center at Immendingen in Germany.

“Immendingen will play a key role in developing the mobility of the future: Here, we are bringing together our worldwide vehicle testing and will, among other things, further develop alternative drive systems such as hybrids and electric vehicles of the EQ product and technology brand, as well as testing future assistance systems and autonomous driving functions,” said Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the board of management of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.

The new centre will create about 300 jobs, with 170 employees already developing and testing on more than 30 different test tracks. A particular focus is placed on the four strategic future areas of connectivity (connected), autonomous driving (autonomous), flexible use (shared) and electric drive (electric). Daimler has summarised these under the term ‘CASE‘.

With the Bertha Area, engineers have a test module of 100,000 square metres specially designed for automated driving. In the Urban District module, driver assistance systems, car-to-x communication and autonomous driving will be tested under real conditions on 1.5 kilometres of urban roads across various intersections.

Automated testing allows safety-critical manoeuvres to be tested in enclosed areas with maximum accuracy. In the near future, these manoeuvres will also be possible without a driver on the Bertha Area, with appropriate safety measures and radio communication.