Auto Special: VW open day showcases innovations for Chinese drivers

Volkswagen Group's engineers in China are doing vital work to help the brand succeed in the increasingly demanding Chinese automotive market.

The Volkswagen R&D Center in Beijing is an important site for the Volkswagen Group China and represents the interests of the brand as well as the group.

The center generates and ensures China-specific market requirements for all Volkswagen products, and ensures that every vehicle meets the highest quality standards.

In 2013 Volkswagen Group spent 10.2 billion euros ($13.1 billion) worldwide on research and development, which ranked it first in the world.

The Volkswagen R&D Center in Beijing invited journalists from across the country to an open day on Oct 17 to experience their technologies and products and understand how the company is becoming more customer-oriented by responding to local market demands.

The center is celebrating 15 years of innovation in China this year.

The Volkswagen Group recognizes that the Chinese market is very competitive so it strives to provide the most innovative, safe and green products and technologies to customers. The company said this investment in R&D is the key to success.

The Volkswagen R&D Center in Beijing is responsible for localization and improvement and optimization of Volkswagen's most advanced technologies in China. It uses industry-related policies and local driving habits as a basis for its work, according to the company.

"In the future, we will continue to invest in R&D and train local talents to create a constant source for the sustainable development of the industry," said Volkswagen Group China Executive Vice President Sven Patuschka.

The open day highlighted the role Chinese engineers played in adapting key Volkswagen technologies, including the company's Car-Net, Driver Assistance System and innovative powertrain, to meet local needs.

In China, more than 90 percent of Volkswagen's 2,700 R&D staff are Chinese. Volkswagen provides the engineers with world-class training.

The engineers combine the training with their knowledge of local conditions to help Volkswagen adapt to the Chinese market.

The Volkswagen R&D Center in Beijing supported the localization of the company's Driver Assistance System, which makes driving smarter, easier and safer, according to the company.

Volkswagen said it aimed to reduce driving accidents and offer the most convenience for drivers through the use of predictive vehicles.

Last month, Volkswagen's Car-Net system was put into use in some imported vehicles. The company said the system provided a seamless link between the car and mobile devices and offered a full suite of security features and maintenance assistance and navigation tools.

Volkswagen engineers in Beijing also helped adapt the company's powertrain technology to improve engine efficiency and reduce pollution. The Volkswagen R&D Center in Beijing introduced and adapted the company's core technologies from its global R&D center and implemented it in China with its joint ventures.

Volkswagen said it would continue to expand its R&D presence in China, provide more jobs and training and improve its ability to respond to the needs of its customers.

Following the event in Beijing Volkswagen plans to host similar facility tours in Changchun and Shanghai.

Cutting-edge tech

Volkswagen has state-of-the-art assistance and convenience systems.

Area view: The camera-based surroundings visualisation system, celebrated its world premiere in the Touareg in 2010. The system was developed to enable a 360-degree overview of the close surroundings and traffic situation. The system has been significantly enhanced for the new Passat.

Park assist: It enables semi-automatic parking in parking spaces parallel or perpendicular to the road. It can also back the car out of parallel parking spaces. In the case of perpendicular parking spaces, not only is parking in reverse supported; it is also possible to park in a forward direction semi-automatically.

Trailer assist: Volkswagen is the world's first carmaker to market an assistance system that makes manoeuvring a trailer easier than ever: Trailer Assist. It automatically controls lateral guidance of the car and trailer combination. Volkswagen is the first carmaker to offer an innovative system of this kind. And this is how Trailer Assist works:

Side assist: Volkswagen has extended the functional range of its side assist driver assistance system by adding the new Rear Traffic Alert.

The system can help to prevent serious accidents. Particularly in two situations.

First, on the motorway, because it detects both fast overtaking vehicles and slow ones in the blind spot, warns the driver and thereby makes overtaking safer. Second, when reversing out of a parking space, because the sensors detect vehicles approaching from the side that are not visible to the driver. And this is how Side Assist works:

Traffic jam assist: Volkswagen developed its traffic jam assist based on Lane Assist and Adaptive Cruise Control. The system makes traffic jams or stop-and-go driving much more comfortable.

Emergency assist: As soon as the sensors detect that the driver is not exhibiting any steering, braking or acceleration activities, the system initiates various escalating actions to rouse the driver, and if the driver remains inactive, it initiates an emergency stop. The hazard lights unit is automatically activated, and the Passat executes a slight steering manoeuvre to make surrounding traffic aware of the hazardous situation.

Front assist: It includes city emergency braking function with pedestrian detection. Front assist is a system for warning the driver and braking automatically if a collision is looming.

New infotainment

Volkswagen has new infotainment generation with MirrorLink and mobile online services.

Active info display: In the Passat, Volkswagen is launching an instrument cluster that has been designed as a full interactive display.

All instruments are implemented virtually via software. Only the icon lights on the upper border of the display are still implemented in hardware. Navigation information can be shown in 2D or 3D views on a 12.3-inch display. Its resolution of 1,440 x 540 pixels enables extremely precise, high-quality graphics and interactive display of all details.

Head-up display: The new Passat is the first Volkswagen also to be equipped with a head-up display. It projects key information such as vehicle speed or navigation pictograms directly into the driver's primary visual field.

Smartphone integration via MirrorLink: For the first time in the Passat, MirrorLink is available - with the "Composition Media" system and above it is optional, while with the "Discover Pro" it comes as standard.

Optimized telephony: With the "Composition Media" system and above, two mobile phones can now be called at the same time. Also new is short messaging. Received messages can be read aloud via text-to-speech. Predefined templates such as "Call back" make answering safer while driving.

More innovative navigation: As a further innovation in the Passat, the "rubber band" function is used in the new "Discover Pro" system. Just like on a tablet, the displayed route can be scrolled and varied by touching a point on the route by hand.

Also a standard feature of the "Discover Media" and 'Discover Pro' systems is the ability to use speech commands to input the navigation destination.

Online via Car-Net: For the Passat, Car-Net is offered in combination with the "Discover Media" and "Discover Pro" radio-navigation systems. This new sub-brand incorporates mobile online services.

Rear-seat entertainment in detail: Integration of a wide variety of devices in the new Passat includes tablets.

Volkswagen is offering a new app for tablets to access functions of the "Discover Media" and "Discover Pro" systems via Wi-Fi, and thus from the back of the car as well.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn