Audi has started operation of the automotive industry’s fastest supercomputer that can perform 15bn calculations per second. The computer will be used to simulate crash testing.
According to ESI Group, which supplied the simulation software, the supercomputer implementation places the leading premium car manufacturer 123 on the top 500 list of the world’s fastest supercomputers, making it the auto industry’s fastest system.
The hardware was supplied by Hewlett-Packard.
ESI Group says that with the new supercomputer, Audi can run crash modelling overnight and thus test a higher number of design variations. Ulrich Widmann, head of vehicle safety development, told Automobilwoche the quicker the computer, the more testing can be done. During its 48 month development process a model can be tested 100,000 times. Components can be changed and tested on an on-going basis, which means that any weak points are likely to have been identified before the car reaches prototype stage.
Go deeper with GlobalData
