BMW to open a dedicated automated driving proving ground

The BMW Group will use this facility to test vehicle technologies such as electrification, digitalisation and autonomous driving.

The company has been exploring possible locations for a new proving ground as its existing testing locations in Germany, France and Sweden are no longer suitable to provide sufficient capacity or the required facilities.

It plans to begin operations at the 500-hectare site in Sokolov, in the country’s Karlovary Vary region, will not be until 2020. The proving ground will be the company’s first development location in Eastern Europe.

 (Name removed for personal data privacy reasons) said that BMW aims to offer customers “the best, most emotional mobility experience”.

“At the planned proving facility in Sokolov, we will continue to advance ground-breaking topics, such as electrification, digitalisation and automated driving – for example, through safety-testing for assistance systems,”

 (Name removed for personal data privacy reasons), welcomed BMW’s announcement. “By creating several hundred jobs through construction of a proving ground for automated driving, we are opening a new chapter in the continued development of our region,” 

BMW Group announced last year that it planned to concentrate its development expertise in vehicle connectivity and automated driving at a new campus near Munich.