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Driving Innovations for 10 years: DaimlerChrysler Research and Technology North America, Inc.


November 2005
 Filed under: DAIMLERCHRYSLER CORPORATE Car News | DAIMLERCHRYSLER CORPORATE Headlines
Palo Alto/Stuttgart, Nov 04, 2005 -- The mission of DaimlerChrysler Research and Technology North America, Inc. (DC RTNA), which is located in Palo Alto, California, is to observe high-tech trends in Silicon Valley and assess their importance for the automotive industry. Here, in the heart of Silicon Valley, where ideas and data move faster than anyplace else, DC RTNA has developed into a widely renowned research center and an automotive industry trendsetter over the last ten years.
Activities at DC RTNA focus on the areas of vehicle IT, human-machine interaction, social and technological trends, and the study and testing of concept cars equipped with alternative drive systems. More than 50 researchers and engineers and numerous college and graduate students work at DC RTNA, which is a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler AG.

DC RTNA’s headquarter as well as the majority of its researchers working on vehicle IT topics are located in Palo Alto. It also operates facilities in Portland and Sacramento. The research activities in Portland focus on commercial vehicle projects. DC RTNA also has a facility in West Sacramento, California, where DaimlerChrysler is a member of the California Fuel Cell Partnership and tests fuel cell-driven vehicles Mercedes-Benz A-Class “F-Cell”. Among other things, this location houses a testing lab for the further development of fuel cell technology.

World's first Internet car

“The mission of DaimlerChrysler Research and Technology North America, Inc. is to remain in tune with the changing times and conduct research into possible future DaimlerChrysler products in line with specific U.S. requirements,” says Dr. Akhtar Jameel, President and CEO of DC RTNA. Established as a subsidiary of the former Daimler-Benz AG in 1995, DC RTNA has since become a key pillar of DaimlerChrysler Research. Just two years after it was founded, the institute achieved an international breakthrough with its “Internet Multimedia on Wheels” project for the world's first Internet car which is now part of the permanent research collection at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. Today, DC RTNA is a leader in modern information technology for automobiles, such as in-vehicle infotainment, vehicle relationship management, as well as communication-based driver information and driver support systems. The scientists and engineers at DC RTNA identify new technological trends, refine them further, and then implement them into prototypes. “The objective here is to rapidly equip DaimlerChrysler vehicles with innovations that offer clear customer utility.” says Dr. Wieland Holfelder, VP and CTO of DC RTNA. The most recent example of this is the iPod Integration Kit, which has enabled Mercedes-Benz to become the first automaker to completely integrate the iPod MP3 player into its vehicle models – and to do so in a safe and user-friendly way.

Car-to-car communication is an important milestone on the road to DaimlerChrysler’s vision of accident-free driving

Research at DC RTNA also focuses on communication systems for exchanging data between vehicles, or between a vehicle and the roadside infrastructure. DC RTNA researchers have created the foundation for such systems through the use of dedicated short-range communications technology (DSRC), which uses a derivate version of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technology to transmit data at 5.9 Gigahertz over a distance of up to 1,000 meters. The system, which operates in real time, will make a key contribution to traffic safety in the future, as well as improving the flow of traffic.

Vehicles equipped with DSRC can exchange information with one another or with the infrastructure. For example, if a vehicle approaches a traffic jam or an accident, or encounters sudden bad weather conditions, it can communicate this information to all road users in the immediate vicinity who also have DSRC. Even cars further away can be warned to prepare for an upcoming dangerous situation. DaimlerChrysler is moving ahead full steam with DSRC in the U.S. and participates in the Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) Initiative as part of the company's commitment to its “Vision of Accident-Free Driving”.

From California to India: International research network

DC RTNA is one of nine DaimlerChrysler research centers worldwide. As a globally operating company, DaimlerChrysler has also organized its R&D activities along international lines. The company has research locations in the world's most important markets – Germany, India, China, Japan, Russia, and the U.S. This international research network not only makes possible an efficient division of labor; it also helps scientists more rapidly recognize new trends and utilize the latest research results. Moreover, the resulting global scientific dialogue creates the conditions necessary for innovation and safeguards the company's technological leadership in key areas. The combined expertise of the nine research centers and their partners in the various DaimlerChrysler development departments has a dynamic effect on the pace of innovation, thereby ensuring that the Group remains the trendsetter for the cars of the future. “The most important task of innovation management at DaimlerChrysler is to ensure that the scientific expertise of the researchers and developers is employed in a targeted manner to create innovations that meet the demands our customers place on the various Group brands,” says Prof. Dr. Herbert Kohler, Vice President, Body and Powertrain Research, and Chief Environmental Officer of DaimlerChrysler. “Our research activities focus on results rather than exclusively on knowledge. Customer utility is the top priority at DaimlerChrysler and over the past 10 years, DC RTNA has successfully shown how high-tech trends from Silicon Valley can be translated into customer utility.”

Source: DaimlerChrysler

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