The future now: Continental reveals new indoor brake testing facility

Continental hopes to cut braking distances and prevent accidents on the road, after launching its advanced indoor tyre testing facility.

Like a scene from a cinema blockbuster the Volkswagen Golf careers through an industrial unit in Hannover without a driver at the wheel. It might look Hollywood but it’s actually the first car to be tested at Continental’s new purpose-built and fully-automated indoor testing facility in Germany.

The multi-million pound development, called the Automated Indoor Braking Analyser or AIBA, is the first of its kind to allow tyre testing irrespective of weather conditions. It represents Continental’s commitment to setting the standard for tyre research and development.

Cars can be ‘driven’ along a rig built inside a 300-metre long hall, at speeds of up to 75mph. Because it’s indoors the road surface can be soaking wet, bone dry or pretty much anything in between, regardless of the weather conditions outside. This allows uninterrupted testing 365 days of the year, and offers the capacity for over 100,000 individual brake test procedures a year.

Why is this significant? It’s important because it will allow Continental’s engineers to accelerate the development of new tyre technologies. And that means the tyres fitted to cars of the future should perform better under braking, reducing stopping distances and potentially preventing crashes.

The AIBA supplements Continental’s existing and comprehensive research and development processes and facilities, and will help the German tyre company ensure its tyres continue to set the standards others try to follow.