BMW’s Future Mobility Development Center (FMDC) in Sokolov, Czechia, is the German automaker’s latest resource to contribute to the advancement of automated mobility, and will play a key role in the company’s future mobility development. Launched yesterday, the extensive 600-hectare testing site, established with a €300 million investment, offers unique features for rigorous testing of automated driving and parking systems up to level 4.

A key feature of FMDC, according to BMW, is its ability to simulate diverse driving conditions. By recreating environments like city traffic, rural roads, and freeways within its grounds, the center can test automated systems in a variety of situations without needing to leave the site.

FMDC is also designed for continuous, non-stop self driving vehicles testing. This capability significantly enhances the efficiency of the development process, allowing back-to-back tests without interruptions.

“With our new Future Mobility Development Center, we have created a one-of-a-kind test site, designed exclusively for the highly demanding testing of automated driving and parking up to level 4. On 600 hectares of land, we test all possible driving conditions with maximum flexibility and tremendous efficiency: city, countryside, freeway, as well as automated parking. The special thing: We can run our test modules one after the other without stopping. This makes our testing as realistic, reliable, and customer-oriented as possible,” said Frank Weber, BMW Board Member for Development.