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Stop on a 'euro'

Rick DeMeis, Senior Technical Editor -- Design News, July 2, 2001

Hanover, Germany —Continental Teves' 30-Meter Car Project is not a supersized SUV but a design effort to develop a car that can stop from 100 km/hr (62 mph) within 30m (98 ft), about a 20% improvement. Wolfgang Ziebart, head of Continental AG's Automotive Systems group, notes company engineers "learned how to design a car for improved braking without compromise in other areas." This has now been demonstrated on a specially equipped VW Golf.

Part of the electronic strategy of highly integrated systems on the 30-Meter Car is controlling brake damping in proportion to the applied pedal force. Systems featured on the car are electrohydraulic brakes (brake-by-wire), modified ABS control algorithms also tuned to tire adhesion, tires with optimized footprints, air suspension and adjustable shock absorbers, and force measuring sensors, including ones for tire forces. Stopping g-force goes from 1.02g at the previous 38.5-m (126-ft) record, to 1.31g when stopping at 30m. Future work could have the brake systems "talk" to the steering to optimize braking in turns.

Ziebart adds that U.S. automaker interest in the 30-Meter Project centers on SUVs, with European applications in performance cars.

For more information about automotive electronics from Continental Teves: Enter 534

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