More than 700 researchers work for the Group Research of Volkswagen AG in Germany, the USA, China and Japan. They are continually striving to network the car more intensively to its environment, to other vehicles and finally – via intuitively operated human-machine interfaces – to the drivers themselves. The Group showcases a lineup of its latest innovations once a year on the occasion of what is known as "Research Day" :
VW Parking assistants
Parking assistants. The "Park Assist Vision" guides a Passat prototype with millimeter precision into so-called diagonal parking spaces. Often arranged too narrowly, they force car occupants to thread their way between doors and cars with snake-like movement when entering and exiting the vehicle. "Park Assist Vision" will put an end to this – and in the not too distant future.
Lane Assist. This lane-keeping assistant that is being introduced to production on the Passat CC was initially presented at Research Day 2004; back then it still carried the name "Lane Departure Warning".
DCC adaptive chassis control. This system offers 3 different chassis and steering characteristics at the press of a button. Functions like these were presented on a Passat prototype named CARmäleon at Research Day 2007.
PyroBrake. The pyrotechnically ignited "PyroBrake" becomes active when nothing else will work and an accident is about to happen. Key data: the system can initiate emergency braking within 80 milliseconds – that is well in advance of an accident – and it can thereby reduce the impact velocity by five km/h on average. In a crash this could make a world of difference. The "PyroBrake" is being presented on a Passat and a Golf.
KART. KART helps to perform certain driving maneuvers and reliably test pre-crash systems much more accurately and quicker than ever before. This optimizes test results and shortens development time.
AKTIV. A stereo camera, radar sensors and navigation data evaluation help to prevent the car from coming too close to either the roadway shoulder or opposing traffic. It has the ability to avoid one of the most frequent types of accidents.
Car-to-X communication. The car accesses information from other vehicles or the traffic infrastructure to analyze what is happening on its route in real time.
