Cars – whether powered electrically or conventionally – ought to transport people from A to B. This means that at a certain point in the development process, tests also need to be conducted to find out how the automotive technology works when interacting with people. To achieve this, FKFS undertakes volunteer studies on behalf of our customers: either by driving test vehicles on the public roads, or in the Stuttgart driving simulator. The aim is firstly to find out whether people use the technology constructively, and secondly to discover how the technology reacts, for example, to incorrect use. The human factor is also important from another perspective: depending on individual operation, the thermal loading of components during the journey or the energy consumption and range can vary wildly, even for identical vehicles.

Studies performed by FKFS are of a particularly high quality. For example, our volunteers represent the demographic average of the (driving) population. Route parameters can be defined and driven depending on our customers' needs – from journeys on motorways and country roads through to driving in urban areas. FKFS also plays to its strengths when preparing for this type of customer-related driving, or when doing the follow-up work afterwards: from equipping the vehicles with sensors through to evaluating the results using statistical methods.

Road testing is a well-established tool for evaluating driving dynamics both subjectively and objectively. But road testing can also be used to usefully investigate numerous other vehicle properties. Depending on the project, FKFS can provide the right support: for example with specialist instrumentation, conducting and evaluating the trial, right through to representative volunteer studies. Examples of investigation topics are

• Driving dynamics
• Crosswind behavior
• Soiling studies
• Benchmarking
• Energy efficiency