The foundation stone for a new research center was laid at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg on Friday, July 15, 2022, in the presence of representatives of state and local politics. In the Center for Method Development CMD, up to 50 engineers from various faculties will establish new virtual development methods and processes for the sustainable mobility of the future across disciplinary boundaries in the Ostfalen Technology Park from 2023 onwards.

The competencies from the university fields of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, natural sciences and computer science will be intensively connected with one another. By permanently comparing real and simulation behavior, they will generate and test development methods. The aim is to significantly shorten the development times for sustainable forms of propulsion and to enable novel vehicle concepts and innovative components to gain faster access to markets.

The CMD will also be available to project partners from industry and cooperating scientific institutions. Transfer services are to flow primarily to regional SMEs in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

The total cost of the research center is 31 million euros. 11 million euros for planning, land acquisition and construction will be borne by the state. A further 20 million euros for furnishing and equipping the CMD will come from the European Regional Development Fund ERDF.

The development of the automotive industry is currently dominated by the topics of CO2 neutrality, networking, autonomous driving and new mobility business models, according to the rector of the University of Magdeburg, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens Strackeljan. Each task on its own is already demanding and tackling these challenges simultaneously requires efficient new methods. "Future vehicles with innovative drive systems and autonomous functions are highly complex systems. In such vehicles, a wide variety of development domains-engine, transmission, chassis, tires, brakes, steering, electrics/electronics and many others-intertwine. Other disciplines, such as artificial intelligence, will contribute to making technical systems ever more powerful. The development of these systems can no longer be viewed from the perspective of a single discipline." The established methods oriented to specialist disciplines reached their limits here because they did not sufficiently consider the interaction of all the areas involved.

The development of the automotive industry is currently dominated by the topics of CO2 neutrality, networking, autonomous driving and new mobility business models, according to the rector of the University of Magdeburg, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens Strackeljan. Each task on its own is already demanding, he said, and tackling these challenges simultaneously requires efficient new methods. "Future vehicles with innovative drive systems and autonomous functions are highly complex systems. In such vehicles, a wide variety of development domains-engine, transmission, chassis, tires, brakes, steering, electrics/electronics and many others-intertwine. Other disciplines, such as artificial intelligence, will contribute to making technical systems ever more powerful. The development of these systems can no longer be viewed from the perspective of a single discipline." The established methods oriented to specialist disciplines reached their limits here because they did not sufficiently consider the interaction of all the areas involved.

In the future, and this is where the CMD comes in, many system components will be simulated and simultaneously linked with real existing components. "This will create hybrid development environments in which the desired solutions can be found quickly through almost any number of parameter variations and, if necessary, supported by suitable methods. This absolutely requires the availability of different and, above all, networked test benches." In the future, release procedures according to the old pattern on the road will be too costly in terms of complexity, time and costs for the aforementioned subject blocks, the machine builder continues. "It is therefore important to develop agile development or project management methods for the future and then also to transfer these to industrial applications. We are very much looking forward to the intensive cooperation with business partners and will continue to develop the site together."