The numerous masts and their equipment are unmistakeable – and attentive drivers on the A39 motorway will already have noticed the cameras between the Wolfsburg-Königslutter junction and Cremlingen. But on this new test route, it is not potential traffic offenders who are being “snapped” every few metres. In fact, quite the opposite – it’s the general traffic that is being recorded here, in order to evaluate it for automated and assisted driving. “The new, ultra-modern test route will provide anonymised data on driving behaviour – data that does not yet exist in this volume,” explains Dr. Sven Klomp. He is the project manager for the preliminary development of assistance systems at Volkswagen.
There are 71 masts located on this approximately 7 km section of the A39, which is a new component in a larger testing ground in the wider Brunswick area. These masts accommodate high-resolution cameras, which evaluate the traffic and driving behaviour with great accuracy. This Lower Saxony testing ground (the “Testfeld Niedersachsen”) is financed by the state of Lower Saxony and by the German Aerospace Centre (Deutscher Luft- und Raumfahrtzentrum, DLR) in Brunswick, and operated by the DLR.