When you think of automotive test tracks, you might think of flat blacktop and a course delineated by orange cones.
But Mine (Mee-NAY) Tasci and engineers at General Motors have taken testing to the extreme for the latest Buick models. They have created an innovative road scanner that makes a micro-detailed 3D digital representation of some of the toughest real-world road surfaces.
As seen in the video below, Tasci drives virtual Buick vehicles on the roads to test for quality and reliability.
"Just like a photo scanner, we can scan the surface of a road to create a 3D digital representation," said Tasci. The scanner works with cameras and a laser to make a 3D model of a road surface, such as Cerro del Cubilete in Mexico, down to 1mm of fidelity.
"Customers who drive on [Cubilete] complain about steering rack noise," said Tasci. "That's why we wanted to recreate this road so that we can test and ensure that our vehicles are up to the challenge of driving on roads like this one."