BAC Advancing the Next-Generation Breakthrough in Digital Development Technologies

BAC is implementing state-of-the-art digital development technology that will radically enhance the unique way in which the company produces its acclaimed high-performance supercars.

Termed the Digital Twin Development Accelerator (DTDA), BAC’s suite of new solutions that make up the next-generation transformation technology will be designed, engineered, and optimised in-house by BAC’s renowned engineering team. The driver-in-the-loop simulation technology enables BAC to vastly accelerate design and manufacturing in parallel with increasing agility and resource efficiency to achieve right first-time manufacturing, which is an approach that is more commonly found in the highly demanding aerospace industry. 

Commencing with a period of ultra-accurate data capture which aims to form the basis of the digital twin, the project – funded in part by Innovate UK through the Launchpad Advanced Manufacturing MFA initiative – will support Liverpool City Region’s ambition to bolster digital transformation within their advanced manufacturing innovation cluster. The project will see BAC’s engineering teams integrate real world data with the capabilities of its digital twin simulation technology, which is set for completion later this year.

Efficiency of design and development processes – even those currently undertaken in the virtual environment – have been dramatically boosted by the operational capabilities of BAC’s DTDA, bringing together a spectrum of solutions and applications into one streamlined suite powered by Z by HP technology. Simulation activities that are typically used in isolation – including computer aided design (CAD), computer fluid dynamics (CFD), finite element analysis (FEA) and multi-body-physics-simulation – are now efficiently integrated into a single BAC digital design and development technology space that features at its core an advanced driver-in-the-loop simulator co-developed with SimX Technologies to provide in-house real-time digital vehicle testing.

In addition to enhancing project efficiency by having significantly faster bandwidth and processing capabilities, the DTDA dramatically reduces project timelines by removing the need for multiple real-world prototypes and validation mules, dramatically accelerating the rate at which new products can be brought to market.

The advanced digital twin technology is part of a wider overarching project that continues to accelerate BAC’s digital transformation, serving to inform product strategy, design and development methodologies, production processes and its transition to a net-zero carbon emissions brand.

State-of-the-art design and development solutions based in the virtual world will form the basis of BAC’s exploration into a high-performance, net-zero future, be that in the realm of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs), new synthetic fuels or a combination of these powertrain applications. The digital twin model will decrease BAC’s reliance on resource-intensive physical prototyping processes in developing its latest innovations, driving efficiencies.  

Based on the most detailed, accurate and wide-ranging data sets ever captured by the BAC, DTDA will support the BAC engineering team in building upon the company’s longstanding commitments to net-zero initiatives – from ultra-lightweighting technology to the hydrogen fuel cell powered e-Mono, with which BAC is currently actively seeking collaborative partners to further progress the project to a proof-of-concept vehicle.

This superior quality data offered by the next-generation digital development technology represents a step change in next-generation product development. This means that as well as advancing powertrain R&D studies, BAC will be able to further explore and test next-generation ideas and concepts relating to lightweight vehicle body systems, chassis architecture, ride and handling attributes and suspension optimisation.

“The digital development breakthrough is a game-changer in how the company will accelerate and realise its growth objectives. This technology will not only underpin the development of a new-generation of road-legal supercars, it will also support BAC as it begins to fully embrace a sustainable future whilst helping to create jobs and further develop the advanced manufacturing innovation cluster in our home city – Liverpool.”

— Neill Briggs, Co-Founder and Director of Product Development