Bruce Falls, the center's director of engineering, says the facility will be used for the development of prototypes and proof-of-concept work. What comes together in the Lake Forest Center will then be shipped in the company's mother country, in Graz, or at the other center operated by AVL in the US, in Plymouth, Michigan.
"We're technology neutral. We're a facilitator. Systems engineering has always been the bottleneck," Falls was quoted as saying by Autonews. "We're seeing how refined a concept car can go with mechanical integration, so that it's more than just a show car."
The center officially opened yesterday, but it has been in operation for almost a year. If you're wondering what AVL does, you should know they helped Chrysler with the ENVI program. Now, being fully equipped with a battery development test cell, auxiliary power unit development cell, electronic equipment for quantifiable, real-world road testing, with accelerometers, ride-and-handling equipment and audio recording gear, the center is ready to receive full-time customers.
The all-in-one test bed that integrates a chassis tester and wheels-off dynamometer with drive-by-wire wheel-slip simulators is the pride of AVL's tech center and it can handle vehicles ranging in size from a small car to a tractor trailer. Ten engineers work, for now, at the center. AVL plans on hiring some 15 more.
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