TEAM EXPERTISE
Lothar Wech
Prof. Dr.-Ing Lothar Wech studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Munich and received his PhD in the field of vehicle transmissions. Lothar then worked for over 25 years at TÜV SÜD Automotive and Auto Service in various management positions in the fields of vehicle technology and road safety. In 2016, Lothar was appointed Professor of Vehicle Safety at the Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt and worked at its automotive research and testing centre CARISSMA with a focus on accident analysis, passive and integral vehicle safety, crash testing and evaluation of new mobility concepts.
He has been active in many committees and has been chairman of the crash.tech congress since 1992. He was also a lecturer in accident analysis and vehicle safety at the Technical University of Munich. For his contributions to road safety, he received the „U.S. Government Special Award of Appreciation“ from the NHTSA in 2023.
After his retirement at the end of 2023, Lothar co-founded the start-up company TESACO. He brings his many years of experience in vehicle and road safety to the company.
Ondřej Vaculín
In March 2018 Ondřej Vaculín was appointed as research professor for Passive Vehicle Safety and Mechatronic Systems at Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt in Germany with co-appointment at the Institute of Safety in Future Mobility of the CARISSMA automotive safety research centre. His research topics cover assurance of automated driving, test field for automated driving and application of AI methods in the passive vehicle safety.
Ondřej studied Control Engineering and holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Czech Technical University in Prague. He worked at German Aerospace Centre, Free University of Brussels, Czech Technical University in Prague and TÜV SÜD.
Ondřej brings to TESACO his experience in vehicle physical and virtual testing and validation as well as practical knowledge in automated driving technology.
Udo Steininger
Udo Steininger is the CEO of TESACO GmbH. He still works part-time as Chief Expert Automotive Safety at TÜV SÜD. His area of expertise is the technology and safety of automated driving. He studied physics at the Technical University of Dresden and then worked for 5 years in reactor safety research. Since 1991, he is with TÜV SÜD in Munich in the field of risk, reliability and safety of human-machine systems in the application areas of industry, rail and automotive. He worked with automobile industry, technology companies and service providers on the safe development, testing and operation of automated and connected vehicles. He is involved in corresponding national and European funding projects as well as in various committees and regulatory and standardization bodies. For many years, he was a lecturer on quality and reliability at the Munich University of Applied Sciences and a guest lecturer at the Chair of Automotive Engineering at the Technical University of Munich.
Udo contributes to TESACO his long-term experience in functional safety and safety assurance of automated driving vehicles.
Walter Dasch
Walter Dasch holds a degree in mechanical engineering with a specialization in vehicle technology. He worked for TÜV SÜD for 33 years as an officially recognized expert in vehicle technology and in the field of driver licensing. He held various management positions for more than 25 years. Since retiring, Walter has been working with TÜV SÜD on a freelance basis.
Walter is co-founder of the start-up TESACO. He contributes with his many years of practical experience in the field of vehicle technology and is the contact person for questions relating to registration law.
