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Volkswagen, according to a recent study by the renowned German Centre of Automotive (CoA), 'is the automotive corporation with the greatest innovative strength of the year'.
The reason stated was, for the third year in a row, it was able to 'increase its innovative activities' relative to its competitors.
One of the focal points of these 'innovative activities' is Volkswagen Group Research.
The ideas for the world of tomorrow are developed here in cooperation with all of the group's brands.
One theme standing out more than ever as a central focus is the use of intelligent electronics. That is because it helps to improve the safety, dynamics, economy and ecological balance of automobiles.
Across the globe, more than 700 researchers work for the company 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 line-up of its latest innovations once a year on the occasion of what is known as 'Research Day'.
Just how vigorously research project findings flow into production development is well represented on the group's latest sedan: the Passat CC.
Upon request, this recently launched model can bring together more assistance and vehicle dynamics systems than any other model. Take the example of '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'. Or the example of 'DCC adaptive chassis control': this system offers three different chassis and steering characteristics at the press of a button.
Functions like these were presented on a Passat prototype named CARmŠleon at Research Day 2007.
'Park Assist' was also presented initially by Research at a driver assistance systems workshop it hosted in 2004; today it is offered on the Touran, Tiguan, Passat sedan, Passat Variant and new Passat CC. Also debuting as a research project was 'Adaptive Cruise Control'(ACC), which is used today as an 'automatic distance control system' on the Phaeton, Touareg and all Passat versions. The new Passat CC marks the first time that 'Lane Assist', 'DCC', 'Park Assist' and 'ACC' can be ordered together as bundled technology.
