Over the past race weekend at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, DTM and Schaeffler showcased a remote run in which its 1,217ps DTM Electric concept race car lapped the Styrian track, driven by DTM Trophy champion Tim Heinemann, who was sat 82km away at partner AVL’s site in Graz, Austria, behind the wheel of a simulator.
“The DTM Electric Remote Run is the next step on the way towards a fully electrified high performance race series,” commented Benedikt Böhme, managing director of the DTM organization ITR. “The project is showing elements that in future could be used in a fully new, global, electrifying race series like we want to establish with DTM Electric alongside the proven DTM. Moreover, it shows which innovation power our platform has for developments aimed at mobility of the future.”
“The operation in extreme conditions during the Remote Run is proof of the high maturity level of our technology and is a decisive step forward in the development towards series production stage,” added Matthias Zink, board member, Automotive Technologies, Schaeffler. “The Space Drive system that has been implemented in the DTM Electric concept car is a key technology for autonomous driving, excellently proven with over a billion of kilometers completed on public roads.”
Through the DTM Electric Remote Run, Schaeffler further demonstrated its drive-by-wire system that is already in use in DTM and showed how certain aspects of autonomous driving could find itself into the proposed DTM Electric series.
“We would like to thank Schaeffler and all the other partners for taking on this project together with us and for the fact that we can make the next big step in terms of innovation,” said Michael Resl, director, competition and technology, ITR.
During a five-month period, the project went from conception to a reality and combined a multitude of partners. Schaeffler carried out the projects management, the car’s drive-by-wire system, the safety concept and the operation, while Riedel Communications controlled the coverage and the securing of radio and data communication connections.
Cisco provided the platform for the network connection (SD-WAN) technology between the simulator and the race circuit, alongside 5G technology to ensure an uninterrupted link between the car and the simulator.
