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AAAA to open Automotive Innovation Centres in Victoria and South Australia

THE Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA) will establish state-of-the-art Automotive Innovation Centres in Victoria and South Australia to provide local automotive product designers and manufacturers with the tools, advanced technology, vehicles, expertise and the collaborative environment required to innovate, design and test products for local and export markets.

AAAA CEO Stuart Charity said the facilities, co-funded by Federal and Victorian Government industry development grants, will significantly reduce the time and cost in developing innovative new products for domestic and export markets.

The Melbourne Innovation Centre will open in the second half of 2019 and become the AAAA’s national headquarters. Its role will be to support the development of new automotive aftermarket products by providing them Australian manufacturers with access to services including base OEM vehicle data and measurements, 3D scanning and printing, measuring sessions, technology transfer and rapid prototyping.

Advanced testing facilities, along with the highly specialised training, will also be offered to the industry.

At the announcement during the Australian Auto Aftermarket Expo in Melbourne earlier this month, 3D scanning of a RAM truck was demonstrated, with a hand-held laser probe building a 3D computer model of the vehicle in order to obtain exact measurements so that manufacturers can accurately create made-to-measure accessories.

South Australian facility will open in 2020 with the goal of becoming a national centre of excellence for dynamic vehicle testing, including brake and electronic stability control along with Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) testing, suspension development and load capacity validation.

Mr Charity said: “We are confident that these Automotive Innovation Centres will play a key role in ensuring that AAAA member companies are leveraging world-leading technology and best practice when it comes to the development, testing, integration and validation of their products to verify the ongoing safety and compliance of modified vehicles.”

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