European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 2, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Arc computed 50 times a second by 32 noise generators. The simulator s  is .1 computer capable of making 2,000 mathematical calculations every 10 milliseconds Speed needed o duplicate the actual Torch of driving. Delays Are intolerable Rosdol said and would defeat the purpose of the simulator. Mercedes spent the Money and took three years of construction on the dome to reduce research and development time and expenses of a Cal cars. We want to develop cars nor just train people to drive them Rosdol said. We want to learn about the Complete behaviour of the  Mercedes believes that cars of the future will be run by voice and in turn talk Back to Drivers. They might detect Drivers asleep at the wheel or those who be suffered heart attacks and safely halt the car. Futuristic cars might Tell Drivers they Are exceeding the engineering limits of the car and give instructions. The Driver needs to know what the car can and cannot do Rosdol said. The closer you Are to the physical limit the More danger there is. No matter How cleverly you design the Frame a car just can t go too fasl around a  blinking lights buzzers electronic voices or automatic devices like Sway bars Are being considered. But Mercedes needs to know which direction to head cheaply quickly and safely. Manufacturers today have two choices when engineers make Radical proposals for electronics audio and visual systems and parts. Executives can disregard the ideas arguing development costs too much. Or they can build devices to test theories. That takes time and Money especially when they Don t work and have to be tossed out. The simulator avoids much of that waste Rosdol said. Programmers create software for electronics and parts and feed them into the computer. We can test ideas with this simulator and then decide which direction we want to go Rosdol said. With the simulator we Don t need the hardware. There is no hardware. We can test prototypes by building them with  the computer is programmed a professional test Driver runs the car theories arc tested Analysed recalibrate and tested anew. Mercedes also uses Normal average Drivers to drive the simulator. They maintain fists of motorists who Wear glasses of people who drive a lot and those who drive a Little. Mercedes pays them 25 Marks $10 an hour. We can judge with reality How a change affects the handling Rosdol said. We read the data. We interview the Driver. We re working with problems that Well give solutions in 10 or 15 years. We re looking to the  the limits include the ability to program cars to remember certain routes and take those routes automatically. They also include the ability of an automobile to detect objects in its path and avoid them. Cars of the future should be even More Energy efficient than today Rosdol said. On Long trips motorists might want to travel in a caravan their cars tethered together by electronic beams. That s the theory of drafting which race Drivers use. The Lead car Breaks up the air which Means cars coming after it need less Energy to overcome wind resistance. If that s feasible cars might need to be redesigned Rosdol said so the front of one meshes with the rear of the one ahead of it. The simulator can test those new designs As Well As cars with three wheels or six wheels or any other design changes. Ironically the simulator is not patented because none of its components is unique. What makes it unique is combining hese components into one machine and the software program. Since May when it became operational More than 500 engineers and automotive executives have studied the simulator. Rosdol Hopes that by 1987, when Mercedes believes its in House workload will Slacken the company will be Able to rent simulator  said Mercedes wants other firms to Experiment with More efficient safer cars. If the simulator can help so be it. We need to work together for solutions Rosdol said. We just want to stay competitive. The cars in the simulator can be interchanged to provide a variety of testing experience. The car is sur Roum erf by loudspeakers to simulate � truer driving picture. The Hydraulic system can move in any direction and at any Angle and Over a Range of speeds. January 2,1986 stripes Magazine