Time for 70-year-old Test Drivers?

Demographic change – in the form of the decline in rates of birth and increases in life expectancy – is one of the greatest challenges facing Germany now and in the near future. There is no area of society that will not experience its effects, and it goes without saying that the work of the nation’s automotive development departments is no exception to this. Might there soon even be a shortage of qualified experts, meaning that today’s development engineers will still have to speed round the test circuits at 70? We examine the effects of this development in conjunction with the birth of engineering goliaths in the emerging economy and offer recommendations on which measures the German automotive industry can take to respond to these challenges.