2022 VI-GRADE ZERO PROTOTYPES SUMMIT

The general trend of development time and costs reduction is pushing Automotive Industry to find new way to foresee and anticipate every aspect of the development of the physical prototypes, continuously pursuing efficient and sustainable processes. In terms of vehicle dynamics, for a super sport car manufacturer this means going into detail of every component that contributes to vehicle performances in every possible context of use. Focusing on performances for handling, tire development is crucial both for the huge impact on vehicle balance and for its interaction with other systems and components. To this end, Driver-in-the-Loop technology is essential for a full virtualization of the development processes, actively contributing to the synergy between the car manufacturer and the tire supplier. In the work we will present a specific use case where Automobili Lamborghini and Bridgestone have been able to optimize the coupling between the suspension setup and the tire dynamic footprint with a fully-virtual approach. Driver-in-the-Loop has been used both in the first stage for the definition of the specific tire working conditions and then for the evaluation and final selection of the virtual specs prepared by Bridgestone.