Stuttgart, Germany – An innovative public-private partnership aimed at advancing the automobile industry through high-performance computing has been founded at the University Stuttgart in Germany. The Automotive Simulation Center Stuttgart (ASCS) is composed of automobile manufacturers, software designers, scientists and researchers who will combine the expertise of key scientists and industry representatives with supercomputing technologies to conduct research.

The research is aimed at developing quiet, low-pollution vehicles; creating products for the market that reduce fuel consumption, lower CO2 emissions and enhance safety; and increasing cost efficiency and speeding time to market with new products.

The founding members include automobile manufacturers Porsche, Daimler and Opel, along with the University of Stuttgart, the Research Institute of Automotive Engineering and Vehicle Engines Stuttgart, supercomputing company Cray and a number of software vendors.

Initial funding for the project was provided by the Ministry of Science of the federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the University of Stuttgart. The ultimate goal is to establish ASCS as a non-profit organization to be funded through membership fees and third-party contributions.