Audi drives innovation with incampus, the new technology park in Ingolstadt
A cutting-edge, sustainable technology park with specialized research centers to develop innovation for the mobility of the future. Projects range from IT to vehicle safety.
Vehicle Safety Center
The new Audi Vehicle Safety Center was designed with careful consideration of development opportunities; therefore, the crash test area is located in an "open space" of 50 by 50 meters. Crisscrossing crash lanes - the longest runway is 250 meters long - allow different types of tests to be configured, even those involving two-vehicle collisions, at higher speeds than current standards. An additional lane allows right-angle impacts between vehicles to be simulated. In addition to a fixed crash block, the facility also has a 100-ton mobile crash block that can be moved and rotated, making it possible to perform much more accurate and diverse crash tests than before. Also in the Vehicle Safety Center, which employs about 100 people, are laboratories for dummies, test stands for individual components, workshops and offices.
Audi IT Center
Next to the Vehicle Safety Center is the new Audi IT Center, which occupies an area of nearly 10,000 square meters. State-of-the-art hardware and software are developed within it, supported by around 800 servers and data storage units spread on an area of 2,400 square meters. These IT tools currently have an output of about 2 megawatts, which can be increased to 4.4 megawatts. The concept behind the Audi IT Center includes the highest possible level of failure safety and energy efficiency. Therefore, excess heat generated by the servers is collected in the campus energy grid and reused to heat other areas at the site, effectively transforming the Audi IT Center into an energy generator. Also located in the northwestern part of the incampus is the so-called project house: a fully rented four-building complex, totaling 42,000 square meters of office and workshop space.
The CARIAD hub
CARIAD has had its technology hub (which is also its headquarters) at the campus since late 2020. Here more than 2,000 employees work on tech stacks for all Volkswagen Group brands, with a focus on digitizing the in-vehicle experience, autonomous driving, cloud services, and technology platforms. At incampus CARIAD is developing the electronic architecture and software for the Audi and Porsche models based on the new Premium Platform Electric (PPE). "Together with Audi and Porsche we are developing the 1.2 electronics architecture, which is the most important software architecture in the Volkswagen Group for the coming years, and we are doing so using the most innovative tools and processes" explained Peter Bosch, CEO of CARIAD.
Ingolstadt Technical University
CARIAD's hub is also home to the Automated Driving Alliance, where CARIAD and Bosch work together on the development of automated driving functions. The modern offices have flexible workstations, labs, and spaces that facilitate agile and teamwork for developers. The building in the northeastern part of the campus is reserved for the activities of Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, which has installed its control center for the IN2Lab project here. It is a digital test field for automated and connected driving, in which Audi is a project partner. The facility also contains training rooms and a fire station. The incampus is directly connected to the A9 highway, a section of which is used for the development of automated driving.
Energy supply
incampus is designed to be highly energy efficient and is meant to become a zero-energy campus. Currently, the energy used comes from external renewable sources, but in the future the site will generate the needed renewable energy itself. Measures to that end include using waste heat, storing energy, and adopting smart control systems. This will be accomplished through a piping network, reversible heat pumps, and a cross energy concept; thus buildings will be heated with waste heat from other buildings, such as the IT Center. This saves energy, and energy that otherwise wouldn’t be used gets upcycled.
Source: AUDI AG
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