- Continental performs extensive virtual, automated and real-world tyre tests
- Approximately 25 million test kilometres are completed each year on roller drum test rigs and test tracks – equivalent to traveling around the earth 625 times
- High-tech test facilities located at the Contidrom near Hanover include a driver-in-the-loop (DIL) simulator, and the Automated Indoor Braking Analyser (AIBA)
All Continental tyres are subjected to the most rigorous testing as part of the German manufacturer’s tyre development and quality control processes. Extensive testing is crucial in assessing the performance of its tyres, and to ensure high quality and safety.
Continental completes approximately 25 million test kilometres on roller drum test rigs and test tracks with new tyre models every year – the equivalent of going around the earth 625 times.
A distinction is made between objective and subjective tyre tests. Objective tyre tests include laboratory tests, but also extensive repeatable braking tests on wet, icy, snowy and dry roads. Subjective tyre tests are test drives to determine the on-road performance of the tyres. These are carried out by professional test drivers on Continental’s worldwide test tracks. The stability and handling of the vehicle with the respective tyres is analysed: on different surfaces at differing times of the year, on straight sections, in corners and at high speeds.
Thanks to digitalisation, increasing numbers of test procedures in the tyre development process can be automated and virtualised. Continental laid the first building block for automation back in 1968 with the first driverless test vehicle. Today, digital testing methods in particular play a major role in the company’s tyre development.
The driving simulator at the Contidrom test site near Hanover is the best example of this. The high-tech system is a driver-in-the-loop simulator (DIL), which calculates the exact driving dynamics parameters of the tyre and the respective test vehicle. Thanks to its high level of movement, the simulator can provide Continental’s test drivers with subjective driving impressions that are comparable to tyre tests on a real test track. Such virtual testing methods enable Continental to adapt tyre solutions even more efficiently and precisely to the requirements of its customers – even before the first tyre has been built. This saves time and valuable resources.
Automation has also been a key tool in bolstering Continental’s testing procedures and development cycles. In 2012, Continental opened the Automated Indoor Braking Analyser (AIBA) at the Contidrom proving ground. The building is around 300 metres long and up to 30 metres wide. This one-of-a-kind facility allows the brake performance of tyres fitted to fully automated driverless vehicles, to be tested on different road surfaces – year-round and regardless of the weather. The tracks can be used for wet or dry testing, and the results are more easily reproducible than with conventional methods because the effect of unpredictable external influences is taken out of the equation.
Additionally, the braking tests can even be carried out independently of vehicle-specific properties. Continental has been testing tyres since 2022 with the help of the Analytical Vehicle AIBA (AVA). This is a fully electric, driverless test vehicle developed in-house that can be used instead of a serial car or van.
Around two-thirds of all tyre braking tests at Continental take place in the AIBA facility, with up to 100 000 tests performed annually. The focus here is on prototypes of new tyres, for which the interaction of new or modified rubber compounds and tread designs is validated and further optimised, along with checking the performance of production tyres.
Whether it‘s developing industry-leading new technologies, designing pioneering new tread compounds and patterns, or testing the tyres in the virtual and real world, all of this reinforces Continental’s unwavering commitment to producing tyres of the highest quality, safety and performance.
