DTM + Mercedes + Schaeffler Paravan: when racing serves the industry

Starting this weekend, Maximilian Buhk's Mercedes-AMG GT3 will race in the DTM with a special Space Drive equipment that allows it to do without a steering column. The German driver already had the system in 2021.

"This is what the automobile of the future will look like," said Roland Arnold, CEO of Schaeffler Paravan Technologie GmbH & Co. KG. "We are writing automotive history here, because autonomous driving vehicles controlled by artificial intelligence, sensors or ADAS systems must pass steering data digitally to the wheels and return it. We have already been testing this technology since 2019 under the tough conditions of the racetrack and since last season as part of the DTM. The motorsport test field is a proven development accelerator."

The experts at Schaeffler Paravan are leaning on the team, as Peter Mücke, boss of the German structure, explains: “We are looking forward to the season, even it will be much tougher this year. We are virtually working on the future of the automobile and to be able to support this development makes the team proud. Our main task is to collect data, which is then processed accordingly by the development engineers and later fed back into the system. We’re already at a very high level there, but that's by no means the end. The possibilities are so huge for the automotive industry, I think there is a lot more to come."

 Maximilian Buhk is keen to make his Mercedes-AMG GT3 shine in the DTM: "That we improve on last year, that we build on what we learned last year, and of course, most of all, that we start from where we left off in 2021, namely with a podium finish. I feel as a driver that a lot has changed in terms of technology. Of course, there are also things that don't work so well at times. That is part of the development. But it's always going in the right direction and we are constantly developing the technology."

More than 200 parameters are continuously recorded and transferred to the Schaeffler Paravan data pool. "We are the first to convert a steering feel into electronic signals, which are then fed back to the driver as feed-back via the steering unit," explains Hubert Hügle, CTO of Schaeffler Paravan technology GmbH & Co.KG. "This is a technically very demanding and an exciting challenge for the engineers. At the end of last year, we took the collected data to the steering test bench and used it to expand our vehicle models, which are essential for advancing further development. We are talking about improvements in the detail area and now it’s a matter of synchronizing the tests, ideas and results that we develop on the test bench with the actual measured vehicle data in order to further develop the whole complex system. This is the goal for this year's DTM."

Since 2019, the Space Drive system has been tested by various drivers in different series - Markus Winkelhock, Bernd Schneider, Armin Schwarz. Space Drive technology has been part of the DTM regulations since last year.