For some, it’s the absolute dream job - but it can be hard work too: test drivers can travel hundreds of kilometres in a day, before reviewing the vehicle and recording their overall impressions.
Manufacturers and suppliers differentiate between two types of test drivers. The first are endurance test drivers, who stick to a script, performing specific driving profiles behind the wheel of different cars, in some cases racking up nearly 600km per day.
Endurance testing allows automakers to simulate and evaluate the durability of the car, spotting parts that fail in long use. These drivers tend to come from workshops in company research departments.
The second kind of test drivers are research engineers who are trying out components that they themselves have developed to see if they work. Their job is to develop, control and optimise specific systems for vehicles and they will be paying attention to just that one component while driving.
These test drivers thus tend to be mechanical or automotive engineers.
"Test drivers need to have a good feel for the car," says Ulrich Pfundmeier, head of testing and technology at BMW of Germany.
Through various stages over the course of years, the test drivers learn how to drive quickly, consistently and safely, while always staying close to a car’s limit. "Only then can the car be correctly calibrated and fine-tuned," says Pfundmeier.
So how does a car handle, or how is its suspension? What needs to change in order to improve its overall performance?
Research engineers and test drivers play an important, long-term role in fine-tuning improvements in a vehicle’s capabilities, and especially for more stressed components such as the spring and shock-absorber system.
As a key precondition to become a test driver at Mercedes-Benz, for example, candidates must have received vocational training with a background in the automotive sector, along with at least five years of professional practice; once on board, students take driver safety training and theory classes.
After this training, prospective drivers must then ride along with an experienced colleague for four weeks, and may only drive with the colleague next to them in the front seat. At this point, the test driver will be granted an entry-level driver’s licence - with additional training on the way.
"Test drivers generally need to be above-average drivers, understand complex systems in the vehicle, have a good ear and feel for the car and must be able to anticipate critical traffic situations," says Koert Groeneveld of Mercedes.
Testers often work as part of three-shift operations, and can accumulate up to 80,000km of travel in a year in some of the world's most exciting car models, on both test tracks and public roads.
Their main task is to confirm the results of bench testing or driving simulations.
"The individual tasks are monitored by systems in the car. The results taken from the vehicles are then collected online at our development centre and evaluated," explains Groeneveld.
Even car-parts suppliers and tyre manufacturers such as Continental employ engineers with an automotive background to test drive vehicles.
According to Enno Pigge at Continental, they must each be experts in their respective test discipline, must record their unprejudiced impressions and results after driving a vehicle, and must also have a good understanding of the parts being tested, such as tyres, brakes or driver assistance systems.
Continental provides an internal training course for prospective test drivers to gain the necessary qualifications. Over the course of two to three years, candidates are trained in the intricacies and precise evaluation of tyres.
"Test drivers are rather the hard-working, level-headed test engineer than they are race-car drivers," explains Pigge.
