CASE STUDY

Achieving World-Class
Dynamics Performance andCutting Down Development
Time and Cost Using a
Driving Simulator
Challenge
Building and improving theperformances of a mass-market agshipvehicle while lowering the costs related
to physical ride tuning, all within a
restricted time frame.

Solution
Involving driving simulation at every
step of the vehicle development.
From target setting down to vehicle
tuning, relying on driving simulation to
support e cient decision-making andquick turnaround while being able totest a wide variety of setups.

Results• Signi cant time savings on using
simulators to test con gurations• Cost savings due to the non-need ofproducing prototype parts• Re-investment of saved time into
prototype and vehicle tuning• Critically acclaimed performance
results for the production vehicle

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VI-grade - Achieving World-Class Dynamics Performance andCutting Down Development Time and Cost Using Driving Simulators

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Background

The main objective for the new development was to havethe XUV700's dynamics performances radically improved.

Mahindra is one of the largest vehicle manufacturers inIndia, having technical centers and production sites
presence in over 50 di erent countries, selling over 350
thousand vehicles per year.
In late 2018, they initiated the development of a new
production vehicle partnering with IDIADA, an engineering
partner in the automotive industry, specializing inproviding complete solutions for development projects
worldwide.
Their work aimed at developing their new agship SUV
vehicle for the mass market, the XUV700,
the successor of the XUV500.
Their objective was to improve the performance of the said
vehicle in a short timeframe. It was the rst completedevelopment program in which IDIADA was overseeing thechassis and vehicle dynamics performance improvements,from concept to production.

Challenge
Ride and Handling Performance
The predecessor vehicle, XUV500, was not recognized as aleader in riding and dynamics performances.

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VI-grade - Achieving World-Class Dynamics Performance andCutting Down Development Time and Cost Using Driving Simulators

This meant going over all parts of the chassis individuallyand reworking its design to produce the best ride quality
possible.

Time Constraints
Mahindra set rigorous constraints to the vehicle
development timeline. They wanted the teams tostreamline the overall process down to 30 months, fromkick-o to start of production.
Given how much performance improvement the team wasaiming for, and accounting for disruptive events at thetime, this was, looking back, a short period to meet suchdelivery.

Cost Reductions
At the time, Mahindra spent a signi cant amount of time
on chassis tuning, producing many prototype parts during
their development process, and incurring signi cantproduction costs.
The teams at IDIADA were tasked with reducing by 25% thecosts related to physical ride and handling tuning.

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“The Driving Simulators were a key component of
the success of the XUV700“
Guido Tosolin
Senior Manager Chassis Development - Applus+ IDIADA

Solution

Value

Driving Simulation First

Cost and Time Savings

IDIADA’s teams main focus was to put Driving Simulation at
the center of the development process.

During IDIADA’s involvement in the development of theriding and dynamics of the XUV700, they only required 22days of VI-grade's DiM250 across the 30 months ofdevelopment. This equates to less than 3% of the total
development time.

Every chassis component from conception to design wasinitially tested on simulators, relying on VI-grade’s DiM250
and VI-CarRealTime models.
Driving simulators were involved as early as possible in thedevelopment stages, starting with target setting. The team’s
vision for how the car was supposed to feel and handle wasbacked by driving simulators from day one.

Strong collaboration between design andsimulation

During those 22 days, they were able to test and review
more than 450 di erent setups, a number only reachable
through simulation, helping them make quick and advised
decisions on design choices.
Their heavy reliance on simulation drastically reduced theneed for building prototype parts for testing, furtherincreasing the time and cost savings of the wholedevelopment.

The teams at IDIADA made emphasis on having a strong
feedback loop between the designing teams and the driving
simulation engineering teams, simulation testing would
generate results and conclusions that could then be used as
inputs for design teams to develop and re ne chassis parts.
The driving simulation teams generated VI-CarRealTime
models for the candidates they had to choose from, allowing
them to make realistic decisions within the simulator, aiding
the design directions, and furthering the maturity of eachtested part.
Notably, expert drivers would be relied on for decisions
within the driving simulator. Later down the line, the same
experts would be able to reassess their original decisions
made on driving simulators during physical prototype
tuning, con rming the accuracy of the models used earlier inthe timeline.

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VI-grade - Achieving World-Class Dynamics Performance andCutting Down Development Time and Cost Using Driving Simulators

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450+

25%

Simulation days

Setups tested

Better Design Maturity
compared to off-line CAE only

Furthermore, the time saved during early simulation anddecision-making was then re-invested into prototype andvehicle tuning, achieving better performance results for theproduction vehicle.
IDIADA and Mahindra estimated that Driving Simulators
helped better the maturity level of their design. They
considered that their design was on average 25% closer tothe nal result compared to o -line Computer Aided
Engineering only.

Successful Market Reception
The production of the XUV700 and its market reception wasdeemed a success for both companies. Mahindra achieved
the time, cost, and performance improvements they wereaiming for during the development process.
Their new vehicle was critically acclaimed by the market.
Enthusiastic press, experts, and customer feedback
con rmed that its dynamics were greatly improved, further
con rming the success of their strategy of using driving
simulators early during vehicle development.

Conclusion
Developing and improving a new road vehicle is achallenging e ort for any automotive company. By choosing
to involve driving simulations early and continuously in thedevelopment process of their new vehicle, Mahindra andIDIADA were able to achieve substantial results.
Using a limited amount of simulator time, they were able tostreamline the development process for many of the parts
the XUV700 bene ted from. Their decision-making was moreaccurate early on, producing a compounding e ect on thenalization of the vehicle, including the tuning needed toreach production.
The time saved by being able to test a wide variety of setups,
coupled with the obsolete need for many prototype parts tobe built during development, drove the teams to success,both in terms of budget control as well in performance goals
reached for the production vehicle.

Pictures courtesy of Applus IDIADA and Mahindra

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VI-grade - Achieving World-Class Dynamics Performance andCutting Down Development Time and Cost Using Driving Simulators

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