The Volvo Group on Thursday inaugurated its Vehicle TechLab in the city. According to the company, with the new facility and a team of more than 1,600 employees, India has become the company’s second-largest R&D team globally.
The tech lab, spread over 6600 square feet, will work with advanced virtual reality-enabled technologies and has equipment for engineers to test, innovate, validate, and experiment with their ongoing work through a setup equipped with driving simulators, test benches, and 3D scanners, among other tools and systems, said the company.
Additionally, it has created a virtual workspace for virtual collaboration that will allow Volvo engineers from all around the world to virtually connect and collaborate.
“This facility will significantly reduce development times, improve problem-solving, and offer better insights and speed in building innovative solutions,” said CR Vishwanath, Vice President, Volvo Group Trucks Technology.
“The tech lab is currently being used for Volvo’s transportation business, which includes trucks. As and when needed, we can expand the use of the facility to other products in the portfolio, such as construction equipment, Penta, and Volvo buses,” he added.
The company has its largest R&D team in Sweden with more than 4,000 people.
“Being the largest R&D site outside of Sweden, TechLab adds to the company’s existing infrastructure to support our engineers to enhance their knowledge and contribute to developing sustainable products using advanced technology,” explained Vishwanath.
The facility houses: XR Space, a collaborative extended reality (XR) arena to visualise and simulate a complete vehicle virtually while opening the option to collaborate with engineers across Volvo Group; XR Ergonomic Buck; master chassis; harness board; 3D printer, provision for charging battery electric vehicles.