VOLKSWAGEN AG. With production facilities in 15 countries and a broad product range stretching from the ultraeconomical "3-litre" passenger car to luxury and sports cars, SUVs, light trucks and commercial vehicles, the Volkswagen Group has grown up to one of the largest globally active automotive manufacturers with world-wide sales of more than 5 million units in 2004. Volkswagen Group's annual turnover exceeded 88 billion EUROS in 2003 with an expenditure for R&D of approx. 3.5 billion EUROS. The average number of employees worldwide was 336000 of which 20200 were occupied in group-wide R&D activities. Volkswagen has experience in co-ordination of and participation in EC funded projects involving European car manufacturers, suppliers and universities (e.g. ASTOR, FUERO, SUVA, DIGAFA, CLEAN, GET-DRIVE, KnowNOx, DIDTREAT, STORECAT, PREMTECH, TECABS, LIRECAR, MgChassis, DIAMOND, ENIGMATIC, PReVENT, APROSYS etc.). The research experts who will be entrusted with the coordination and management of the STREP and who are involved in the work packages and tasks have been active in their fields for many years and have gained a wealth of experience in conducting of National and European Research Projects.

Dr. Stefanie Achmus was born in 1970, graduated from the Technical University of Braunschweig in 1994 with a diploma degree in mathematics. She joined Volkswagen’s PhD programme in 1994 and was awarded a PhD degree from the Technical University of Braunschweig in 2000. At Volkswagen she had positions in Accident Analysis and in Production Management. She is also a former member of the ACEA Task Force “Accidentology” and the FAT Workgroup “Biomechanics and Accidentology”.

Michael Stanzel was born in 1962, graduated from the University of Hannover in 1993 holding a diploma degree in mechanical engineering. He has a background in vehicle dynamics and is a former member of Hanover Medical School's accident investigation team which is now part of GIDAS, the German In-Depth Accident Study. Mr. Stanzel joined Volkswagen in 1999 as a member of the accidentology team, his work focuses on accident database analysis and active safety, mostly ADAS, issues. He is the chairman of the VDA Workgroup on Active Safety and Primary NCAP and is also a member of the ACEA Task Forces "Accidentology" and “Active Safety”.