“It’s here where much of the technology that will end up in self-driving trucks has been tested,” enthuses Dr Eduard Gerum, retired head of engineering and one of the pioneers of Knorr-Bremse’s commercial vehicle testing facility in the subarctic.
He believes the industry is probably still a decade away from autonomous trucks as widely accepted alternatives to driven vehicles.
However, he continues: “Here’s where we can test just how well electronic support systems [such as ABS, EBS, ASR, ESP and RSS] interact and find out at which point physics beats technology.”
The Knorr-Bremse test facility comprises a land test track next to a workshop, as well as an area nearby on a frozen lake.
At the heart of the land test track is a long straight, half of which is heated concrete and the other half polished ice.
“The truck comes down a hill and has to come to a standstill with one side on ice and the other on concrete. It’s the biggest possible deviation in friction, and is a real challenge for the braking system.”
A similar scenario for a hill start – referred to as µ-split – has been created on an adjacent hill, with one side of the vehicle offered virtually no grip.
“Nowhere else can you recreate these conditions in such a low risk environment,” says Gerum.
“Now we are at a point where the electronic systems can help you stay in control by making thousands of calculations every second, taking into account everything from µ-split to the vehicle’s centre of gravity,” he adds.
“What we do here in the snow every year is invaluable for commercial vehicle safety in general. It might not look like much, and it certainly is a very dark and cold place, but what our work here does for the people out on the road is worth every hardship.”