FZD History

FZD is an automotive engineering research institute within the Department of Mechanical Engineering of TU Darmstadt. It was founded in 1977 by Prof. em. Dr.-Ing. Bert Breuer who focused on breaking and steering systems. In 2002, the chairmanship was taken over by Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Hermann Winner who pushed the safety of ADAS systems forward until his retirement in 2021. Since 2022 Prof. Dr.-Ing. Steven Peters is heading FZD and focuses on safe ADAS/AD and circular SDVs. In 2026, the renowned Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors (IAD) became part of FZD as a new research group under the leadership of apl. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bettina Abendroth.