Volvo Cars opens new flagship software testing centre
Carmaker Volvo Cars has opened the doors to a new 22,000 sqm software testing centre in Gothenburg. The new facility is expected to employ around 300 people once operating at full capacity. It represents an initial investment of around SEK 300 million (approx. EUR 26 million).
The Gothenburg carmaker describes the new facility as the “flagship” in its engineering centres and Tech Hubs around the world. It operates software test centres in Lund, Sweden and Shanghai, China, but the new facility in Gothenburg is by far the largest in terms of size and capacity.
“This is a state-of-the-art facility that will be the hub for our global software testing and validation activities,” said Anders Bell, global head of R&D at Volvo Cars, in a press release.
“Developers from all our global engineering sites and tech hubs can run software tests here remotely, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I firmly believe that with this new testing centre, we’ve set a new benchmark for the automotive industry,” he added.
The new Gothenburg facility will initially employ around 100 people, a figure that is expected to grow to 300 once the testing centre is running at full capacity. Eventually the site will house around 500 testing rigs and digital test environments, up from almost 200 right now.
The new facility will work closely together with Volvo Cars’ other engineering centres around the globe that play a central role in software development.
“Our growing ranks of software engineers work on a wide variety of exciting challenges,” said Alwin Bakkenes, Volvo Cars’ global head of software engineering, in a press release.
“The aim is to boost our innovation speed by developing software for key areas for Volvo Cars – from core safety technology based on our deep understanding of what causes accidents, to our perception and driver assistance algorithms and software for future autonomous driving.”
Photo credit: Volvo Cars
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