The NHTSA, the US transport safety authority, has awarded the U.S. Government Award for Safety Engineering Excellence to Dr. Rodolfo Schà¶neburg, Head of Passenger Car Safety Development at Mercedes-Benz. This award marks the US government’s recognition of the outstanding contribution which this Mercedes engineer has made to the field of automotive safety.

Dr. Rodolfo Schà¶neburg (born on October 30, 1959) received his doctorate from the Technical University of Berlin. He has been Head of the Mercedes-Benz Safety/Vehicle Functions section since April 1999. It was under his direction that the series-production debut of the PRE-SAFE® anticipatory occupant protection system in 2002 marked the start of a new era of vehicle safety at Mercedes-Benz. The system can identify hazardous situations at an early stage and take precautionary measures to prepare the vehicle occupants for a potential accident.

The U.S. Government Award is bestowed every two years on the occasion of the Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). The world’s largest automotive safety conference, this year’s ESV gathering in Lyon was attended by some 1000 engineers, politicians and representatives of authorities who discussed measures and technologies designed to bring further improvements in road safety.