VI-grade announces Official Review of 2019 International Conference

242 engineers, managers, and simulation experts from over 100 automotive and transportation companies, universities and research centers gathered from 20 countries from all over the world to discuss the latest simulation trends and to exchange their experience with other partners and users of the VI-grade technology. The event took place on May 14th-15th, 2019 at Congresspark conference center, located in the city of Hanau, Germany (in the outskirts of Frankfurt).

The event, characterized by the motto “Bridging the gap between testing and simulation”, was rated “very good” to “excellent” by 97% of the participants and offered a very comprehensive agenda, featuring 35 presentations from renowned international companies such as 3D Mapping / Applus+ IDIADA / Automobili Lamborghini / Automotive Simulation Center Stuttgart / Benteler / BMW Motorrad / Brüel & Kjær / Concurrent Real-Time / Danisi Engineering / FCA Latam / FEV / Fraunhofer ITWM / Hyundai Motor Europe / Konrad Technologies / MAGNA Steyr / Maserati / Mercedes AMG / MegaRide & Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II / Michelin / Millbrook Proving Ground /  MSC Software / Multimatic / Politecnico di Milano / Pontificial Catholic University of Minas Gerais / Roborace / Rescale / Showa / Smart Eye / TODEMA & Rebel Dynamics / Transpolis / Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia / University of Catania / Virtual Vehicle / Volvo Cars / WIVW.

Michael Bidlingmeier (Mercedes AMG) presented a paper – which also was selected by the audience as “IC2019 Best Presentation” – titled "Team Up the Simulator: Development of an HyperCar", related to the installation and application of VI-grade’s dynamic driving simulator DiM250 in the development process and toolchain at Mercedes-AMG, with particular reference to the example of the “project one” Hyper Car.

Lucas Di Grassi, professional racing driver and CEO of Roborace gave a keynote speech about “The Future of Motorsport” focusing on the future value of Motorsport and especially  how changing industry priorities and new technologies like artificial intelligence and autonomous driving will reshape this sector.

Fabio Gerbino (Maserati), Luca Dusini (Maserati) and Rutger Uil (Goodyear) presented a paper about the new tire development approach using a driving simulator in order to predict and to maximize tire performance. Since competition in automotive industry is fiercer than ever nowadays, these tools are becoming increasingly important to withstand the ever-shorter development times and the drastic reduction of experimental tests.

During the conference, the VI-grade team also had the chance of awarding the “Dynamis PRC – Politecnico di Milano, Italy" and the “Cal Poly Racing, California, USA” with the First Prize of the 2019 edition of the Virtual Formula competition, respectively in the Internal Combustion and the Electric Vehicle categories. The teams have been awarded with a full software package from VI-grade and with a one-day session at Maserati’s Driving Simulator located in Modena, Italy.

Additionally, the 2019 event also featured an Ice Breaker social event at Honda Europe R&D center in Offenbach in the evening of May 13th, where all customers/partners informally got together to see the world’s first fully installed DiM250 driving simulator live and in action. In a relaxed atmosphere, guests had the opportunity to discuss the latest and forthcoming driving simulation technologies and also to network among the industry.

“Very good as always.”; “Organization second to none. Excellent attention to detail!”; “Nice variety of presentations. Informative and interesting aspects of engineering covered. Well done!”; “Always a success”; “This was a great experience as my first time at the VI-grade Conference.”; “I’m satisfied and the event met my expectations. Thanks for a great event! See you next year! …” are just some of the comments left by selected attendees.

The event was organized with the collaboration of Saginomiya, Danisi Engineering (Platinum Sponsors), MSC Software, Sim.Co.VR, Concurrent Real-Time, FEV, TODEMA, Barco, domeprojection, Millbrook, Brüel & Kjær (Golden sponsors), MegaRide, Horiba Mira, SmartEye, rescale, 3D Mapping, Konrad Technologies, Virtual Vehicle, Multimatic, BE CAE& Test, Solize, Applus+ IDIADA, Fraunhofer ITWM (Silver Sponsors) and Flow The Kitchen as technical sponsor.

For more information about the event, to view all pictures or to download selected proceedings please visit https://conference.vi-grade.com.

Dates and location of the 2020 edition of our international event will be soon announced.