ZalaZone, an automotive test facility located in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary, has selected AB Dynamics as the exclusive supplier of automotive testing equipment for use at the 265-hectare site. The company has placed a “substantial order” for test equipment including driving robots, ADAS platforms and a drive-by-wire system which will facilitate the creation of complex testing scenarios for the validation of safety systems, including those used on autonomous vehicles.
When complete, ZalaZone is intended to be the largest urban proving ground in Europe, featuring a highway, a high-speed oval track, a Smart City Zone, along with a 1.2-mile handling course for testing stability, steering and lane-keeping assist functions.
The test facility selected AB Dynamics’ SR60 Orbit steering robots and combined brake and accelerator robot (CBAR) so that vehicles can be controlled to drive accurately and repeatedly to create desired scenarios. ADAS targets included the Guided Soft Target (GST) for representing real vehicles along with Soft Pedestrian Target (SPT) and LaunchPad platforms for representing Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) in test scenarios. The Flex-0 drive-by-wire control system was selected as a cost and time-effective solution for populating regular cars as other ‘background’ traffic with minimal risk of collision.
The equipment will help ZalaZone achieve its intent of creating an all-round test environment focussing on connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), but also including EV testing and vehicle dynamics testing of conventional vehicles.
Jeremy Ash, sales director at AB Dynamics commented, “ZalaZone will play a vital role in the testing of active safety systems and CAVs, and we are delighted to be contributing key technologies which will broaden its vehicle testing capabilities. We look forward to a long relationship with ZalaZone as we continue to develop technologies to suit future testing requirements.”
