Original subtitles

Sometimes, size really does matter.

When lives are on the line,

people have places to go,

and the speed of production is ramping up,

these epic machines throw every part

of their systems into action, proving that the greatness

of some of the biggest machines out there know no bounds.

A big...

...bad-ass,

double-rotored barbarian of the sky...

We fly the furthest, we lift the most.

...known for its ability to carry staggering weight...

...a veteran of military missions

and disaster relief,

the Chinook is revered worldwide.

Welcome to the CH-147F Chinook,

the greatest office in the world.

The Chinook is one of the most recognizable helicopters

on the planet, thanks to its iconic twin rotors.

It's one of the few aircraft from the 1960s

still in production,

and it's flown in over 20 countries.

The reason the Chinook is so important

is that it's versatile.

It can move cars.

It can move artillery. It can move people.

Whatever you have, we can move it.

If we can fit it inside, great.

If not, we'll sling it.

This chopper is a 24-ton flying fortress

that tears across the sky at Ferrari-like speeds

of 315 kilometres per hour...

making it the fastest military helicopter in the world.

The Chinook is the most amazing helicopter and aircraft

I have ever flown.

The Chinook is built exceptionally tough,

incorporating several unique modifications

specific to demanding terrain,

from the sea and the desert to the ice cold of the Arctic.

This helicopter is so reliable

in extreme climates and terrain

that over 20 countries,

including the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, and Germany,

all trust their missions to this legendary machine.

The Chinook's story began in the late 1950s.

The US Army needed a stronger, faster,

and more reliable helicopter.

So, Boeing answered the call, building the Chinook CH-47,

which took its maiden flight in September 1961.

Chinooks were deployed to Vietnam in 1965,

quickly becoming a symbol of military might.

They became the workhorse of the US Army

due to their ability to ferry both troops and cargo.

Decades later, the Chinook saw heavy action

during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The helicopter has proved essential

in humanitarian operations.

The Chinook was vital in relief efforts

during Hurricane Katrina, and in 2020,

it performed a daring rescue

of over 200 people trapped by the blazing

California Creek fire.

Over the last six decades,

the Chinook has been battle and field tested,

and it continues to be upgraded and refined as a result.

But the one thing

that has never changed is its twin rotor design.

The CH-147F was designed

for the Royal Canadian Air Force,

widely considered the most advanced

and modified version of the Chinook.

Missions may be high octane, but so is Chinook maintenance.

It's a high-pressure process

with serious consequences if things aren't done right.

There's a lot of stuff on this aircraft

that we have to inspect, clean, uninstall, reinstall,

and it's what keeps this aircraft flying.

This job takes a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication.

It is definitely not for everybody.

Technicians probe and examine the Chinooks daily

for damage and parts that may have come loose during missions.

But after every 200 hours of flight,

the Chinooks are thoroughly inspected and overhauled.

Not all parts experience wear and tear at the same rate.

Components critical to flight safety with shorter lifespans

or faster degradation rates

require more frequent, in-depth inspections.

Less critical components,

or those with longer expected service lives,

can be inspected at longer intervals.

But where you start to get in your really heavy phase,

where we start pulling out flow boards,

we pull the blankets down, we'll take the rotor blades off,

pull the landing gear apart,

we'll remove engines, we'll pull the rotor heads apart.

We're checking pretty much everything through here,

checking for cracking, any of the tubing

for the heating system that's running through the floor,

because when you're up in the air,

it tends to get pretty cold, especially in the winter.

I used to be one of the guys

that flew on these aircrafts, and you want to make sure

that everything is ready to go

whenever you're out there flying.

Every part of this machine is a critical part.

The landing gear, we'll pull it apart,

look at the bearings, the bushings, everything,

to make sure that even the tiniest part,

down to the tiniest screw, is still serviceable.

I served with the Canadian Forces

for 12 years, and every time I see

one of these aircraft go out,

it shows a great sense of pride for me, and I'm glad that,

even as a civilian, I can still support our forces.

Today, at the Garrison Petawawa

in Ontario, Canada,

450 Tactical Helicopter Squadron is preparing

for a critical mission -

relocating sections of a bridge system.

Welcome, everyone. For today's mission,

450 Squadron is tasked to move that bridging equipment

from the pick-up point to the drop-off point.

We're expecting three loads.

The sling loads are between 14,000 to 15,000 pounds each,

so it'll be a single-point centre hook hook-up.

With huge loads waiting,

every part must be checked,

tested, and fixed, if there's a problem.

I'm going to start by checking our forward rotor head.

These sync shafts, they connect

our aft rotor head to our forward rotor head,

making sure they stay in time.

If this goes, then it's a really bad day for us.

We're gonna be checking these lock wires,

making sure that they're all connected

and our fluid levels are within limits.

With the Chinook cleared for the mission,

the flight crew board...

and strap in...

for take-off.

So trying to control this massive machine

is definitely like trying to ride a unicycle while juggling.

Flying any helicopter is generally considered to be

a lot more difficult than flying a plane.

Flying one of the longest, heaviest choppers on the planet,

that makes things even more complicated.

It's nearly impossible for a single pilot to have

full situational awareness of the Chinook in flight.

That makes a second pilot essential

for spotting obstacles, managing the workload,

and that includes navigation and communication.

What makes the Chinook the Chinook,

is absolutely the crew on board.

To be able to see all of our obstacles,

to get the cargo on and off.

Even one of the largest heavy-lift choppers

in the world is an albatross in the sky

without a well-trained crew aboard.

Something that adds to the complexity

of piloting the Chinook is its dual-rotor design.

Unlike helicopters with a single main rotor and tail rotor,

the Chinook has two large overhead rotors,

a revelation in aeronautical design for lift and stability.

But if one rotor fails,

the helicopter can become very unstable,

and uncontrollable, and even disastrous.

It is definitely a seat of your pants flying.

It's all about being in tune with the machine

as you maneuver it.

The Chinook's distinctive rotors

are the reason it can accomplish

many challenging and important missions.

They give it a high degree of control

and manoeuvrability and makes hovering -

a key function of any helicopter -

more efficient.

While the rotors are identical,

they spin in opposite directions.

As the rear rotor rotates clockwise,

the front rotor rotates counterclockwise.

The act of each rotor moving in these ways

counteracts the force

that would spin the body of the helicopter uncontrollably

if both rotors spun in the same direction.

This rotor configuration allows the Chinook to channel

all of its power into lift and forward motion.

Though spinning in different directions,

the rotors are linked by a transmission

to keep them perfectly timed, moving at identical speeds,

ensuring that the blades don't collide.

Contact with each other or the body of the aircraft

could be tragic.

Our rotor blades can actually,

in mid-air, if we don't set them correctly,

make contact with each other. So, we have to set this -

it's called 'phasing of the blades' -

so our blades will be able to mesh with each other

and not actually touch each other.

Out in the field, the rotors are working perfectly...

7 o'clock, three rotors.

Area is 11 o'clock, two kilometers.

It's going to be a nice and gentle approach, guys.

...and the squadron rendezvous to pick up their heavy cargo.

To lift such incredibly heavy payloads,

the Chinook is equipped with three cargo hooks

that are located on its belly.

The forward and aft hooks can hold up to nine tonnes.

That's more than five cars each.

Together, they provide dual-point suspension

for long or bulky loads,

improving stability and preventing loads

from spinning or swaying under the aircraft.

However, the super-tough middle hook can carry the most weight

at nearly 13 tonnes - the equivalent of eight cars.

With its powerful three-hook system,

external loads are rigged

using specialized cables, slings,

and/or chains appropriate for the cargo's dimensions,

weight, and center of gravity.

As the Chinook hovers above its cargo,

the ground crew hook onto their target and secure the load.

Just gonna set 'er right down.

Within minutes,

they fly away with the bridge in tow.

Being able to coordinate through hand signals to

the ground users allows us to efficiently hook up and unload,

which minimizes our time spent in a vulnerable position

and allows us to maximize the use of the Chinook

to execute the mission.

The Chinook's mighty strength

is due to its legendary twin engines.

Together, they produce

a total of nearly 10,000 horsepower.

That's enough raw strength

to carry the weight of a small house... into the clouds.

The Chinook's engines are extremely powerful.

These are T-55 Honeywell engines.

They've been powering Chinooks around the globe since 1961.

The T-55 engine family has logged

over 12 million hours of operation across various models,

demonstrating incredibly high reliability.

Keeping the engines in top shape is a priority,

as the success of the mission depends on it.

Biggest part for the engines for inspections

is checking the conditions of the hydraulic oil,

and fuel lines,

and the overall conditioning and security of the engine.

Chinooks are designed to be as balanced as possible,

but the constant force of the spinning blades

creates significant vibration,

vibration that could shake the engines loose.

Surprisingly, this big engine is only held in at three places.

It's held in right here,

right here, and there's another one on the inside

that looks just like this.

If we were not to catch this and we were to let it go,

we'll have material failure, which could eventually lead to

this engine mount breaking off.

Well-maintained engines

lead to smoother flights,

regardless of the load being lifted.

But it's the twin rotor design that allows the Chinook

to have a large and versatile back gate.

It's very important that we are able

to open up this ramp in flight

so we can get a better look at things.

When we are doing para, it gives us more room

to jump out of the aircraft.

If we're doing helocasting - that's when we're flying

at five feet over the water with the ramp down,

allowing our troops to jump out into the water.

The ramp is an extraordinary helicopter innovation.

It allows the Chinook to perform special manoeuvres,

like a pinnacle landing,

where its giant body balances on its rear wheels.

It can do this on the knife edge of a cliff,

rooftops, or narrow ledges.

The rear ramp can then be lowered, so people can rapidly

enter or exit the helicopter before it flies off.

The ramp is used frequently through flights,

especially on mission.

So, you have to make sure that the ramp system works properly

and safely for not only the flight members themselves,

but also all of your military troops

coming in and out of the aircraft.

In flight,

crew might be positioned at the end of the open ramp,

serving as an extra set of eyes, operating weapons,

or performing mid-flight maintenance.

It takes a lot to get used to working back here.

You have to get used to turbulence.

You have to get used to moving.

All while listening and paying attention to the crew.

We could do a sudden turn at any moment

and I have to be ready while I'm walking around back here.

Bridge is dropped off - another beautiful day in the Chinook.

With the bridge lift and relocation complete,

the Chinook helicopters

and their teams are ready to head back to base.

So, we were able to accomplish today's mission.

The aircraft performed beautifully,

as we would normally expect,

and enjoyed another beautiful day in Petawawa.

This chopper has proven itself in every conflict,

every disaster, every impossible mission.

The Chinook has saved lives

in places where nothing else could fly.

It's not just a helicopter; it's hope with rotors.

The Chinook has been doing the impossible

for over 60 years,

and will continue to do so for decades to come.

Every day, thousands of people

and vehicles line up...

for the more than 400 trips aboard

the iconic white and green ships

of the Washington State Ferries.

Welcome aboard the Washington State Ferry.

Thank you for your attention, and we hope you enjoy your trip.

Ferries are the single largest tourist attraction in the state,

but more importantly, they're a lifeline

to many coastal communities across the region.

It takes the combined efforts

of 2,000 people to make these trips happen,

carrying commuters and travellers, cars,

and cargo over this busy marine highway.

The community relies on these ferries.

Even a short delay

on a single vessel can disrupt schedules for hours.

And breakdowns can strand island communities,

affecting thousands of people's lives.

With 21 vessels in the fleet,

the Washington State Ferries serve 19 terminals,

connected by ten routes,

across nearly 300 kilometres of waterways.

We are all over Puget Sound,

all the way up through the San Juan Islands.

This is the largest ferry system in the US,

moving over 19 million riders

and 9 million vehicles a year.

And this legion of aquatic transporters is led by

one of the biggest ferry boats in North America,

the Tacoma, a ship responsible for hauling

5,000 passengers and about 1,000 cars a day.

The Tacoma is one of three

Jumbo Mark II class vessels in the fleet.

It's longer than an American football field.

And at nearly 6,200 tonnes,

it's about 40 times heavier than a house.

This is a ton of responsibility

to get these people across safely,

so we all take it seriously.

The Tacoma is a monstrous workhorse,

built like a floating tank, to get people

where they need to go, safely, rain or shine.

While ferries can

often sail in all types of weather,

crews have to make real-time decisions,

causing delays and cancellations

when extreme high winds, fog and rough seas hit.

But ferries this big

were built to take on Mother Nature

and Poseidon simultaneously,

and that takes a lot of energy.

The vessel has four engines, 16,000 horsepower.

We usually cruise about 17-and-a-half knots,

but we can get it up to about 21 knots.

A knot, or 'nautical mile per hour',

is a unit of maritime speed

equal to almost two kilometres an hour.

Though she may not be very fast,

she's got more engine power than the fastest vehicle on land,

a top-fuelled dragster.

But rather than one passenger, she's responsible for nearly

1,800 people on a single trip.

Below the crowds of passengers and the cars,

encased in steel, is the source of her power.

This is where the ferry is controlled,

where we start it up, shut it down.

We can take control at any time.

So, what we have are four marine-type

locomotive diesel engines.

Originally built for trains, Electromotive Division, or EMD,

began making engines for ships and submarines

during World War II.

Over time, these multi-use engines became

more compact and powerful enough

for the demanding, continual use

of marine systems like ferries.

These engines are running

from 5 a.m. until 1 or 2 in the morning

almost every day of the year, while battling relentless waves

and currents that want to push these ferries off course.

They can really take a beating.

During the 35-minute trip

from Bainbridge Island to Seattle,

these engines will consume

almost 950 litres of fuel.

That's nearly 19,000 litres

over the course of a day.

While the engines chug along,

deep in the ship's guts, a hunt is on for issues

that could endanger the Tacoma.

Can't be claustrophobic to work down here in the bilge.

The bilge is the lowest part of the boat.

It's the internal part of the ship's hull,

where the bottom curves to meet the vertical sides,

and it's where the water and other fluids collect

because, over time,

all vessels take on some water at some point.

It's dark, it's cold, everything echoes.

It's not fun coming down here.

As you can see, it's wet and dirty, oily.

Modern ships, like the Jumbo Mark II class,

are designed with multiple

watertight bulkheads to compartmentalize flooding.

The ability to seal off damaged sections

is crucial to survival.

These bilge pockets really don't look like

there's much to them.

It's pretty much just the bones of the ship.

But they can tell us a lot about the health

of everything that's running above it.

A small hole in a sealed compartment

might never be a problem due to

its effective bilge pumps

and the vessel's inherently stable design.

It has this amazing ability

to return to an upright position

after being tilted by external forces, like wind or waves.

In contrast, a massive breach

or damage that compromises multiple compartments

can lead to rapid sinking in minutes.

It's really important to check out our bilges.

Every once in a while,

we have fuel leaks, jacket water leaks, oil leaks.

Regular inspections ensure

that the health of the vessel is maintained

and the risk to the public is greatly reduced.

All right, well, bilges look good.

And that commitment

never stops for the crew of the engine room.

What we're looking at here are the drive motors.

These are the motors that turn the propeller.

We're taking those diesel engines, producing electricity,

manipulating it, introducing it into this drive motor,

turning these propellers -

that's what's pushing the boat through the water.

The Tacoma has a fixed-pitch propeller system

with one propeller on each end of the vessel.

The power from the drive motors goes to both propellers

at roughly a 90 to 10 ratio,

meaning that 90% of the power goes to the stern

or the pushing propeller,

while the remaining propulsive power

is applied to that forward propeller,

and the forward propeller is pulling very slightly.

Regardless of the number of engines

or propellers they have,

ferries are an indispensable mode of transit

in every corner of the world.

Ferry boats can trace their roots

from ancient times,

small basic craft propelled by oars and sticks.

In Europe, one of the first recorded ferry services

appears to date back to 1150 in England,

when monks began charging a fee

for regular trips across the Mersey River.

Over the centuries, mechanization and boat size

went hand-in-hand.

Ferries could go further and carry more weight,

more reliably, with the arrival of power systems,

like steam and diesel engines.

In the early 20th century,

ferries became more specialized,

like Canada's Motor Princess, the first ferry ship

designed and built specifically to carry cars.

Around the world, ferries carry over

4 billion passengers a year,

with a global fleet of some 15,400

individual ferry boats.

Getting across the water has come a long way.

And the ships of the Washington State Ferries

are a prime example of that evolution.

But operating the largest fleet in the US...

...requires the largest ferry maintenance facility, too.

We'll see all of the vessels

roll through this facility in the calendar year for,

usually, a four-week maintenance repair period.

So, there's about 60 engines, three per boat.

Some of them have four,

depending on what they're running

for their emergency generator.

Typically, we have one in the shop being overhauled

at a given time.

Having this facility at the center of the entire operation

means they can offer routine maintenance checks

and emergency repairs with 24-7 access

to skilled marine technicians and engineers.

There's a lot of attention to detail

that needs to happen, so I take pride in rebuilding the engine.

And the most used engines in the fleet

belong to the Tacoma

and her sister ships, the Puyallup and the Wenatchee.

The Jumbo Mark IIs are the nation's largest

auto passenger ferries, and they come here for maintenance.

Part of our preventive maintenance includes

the scheduled taking of deflection readings.

Deflection is simply the bending

or flexing of the shaft under the load.

The shaft is channelling so much power from the motors,

over time, it can wear unevenly.

So, the mechanics need to make sure

that any bending is tracked and addressed.

You could wind up with the aft end

of the crankshaft breaking off,

and the crankshaft would no longer transmit power,

so you would wind up with this engine

being effectively unusable.

And on the open water, that can't happen.

Okay, the final reading almost zero.

Yeah, I'm happy with it. Will record it

for the machinery history,

and it's all within spec; it's good to go.

Safety on the water is priority one.

That's why the crew is always vigilant

approaching one of Seattle's busiest ports.

With one of the highest

boats per capita figures in the country,

Seattle's pleasure boat fleet presents a constant challenge

to the ferries.

Looks like they want to cross ahead of us.

We've also got another vessel over here

two points to port.

They clearly want to pass in front of us,

but I'd like for them to do it quickly.

With a relentless beast

like the Tacoma on the water, boats need to be wary

and get out of the way.

So, this is a 460-foot ship,

and we're traveling at about 18 knots right now,

which is about 21 miles an hour, which sounds slow,

until you realize how many thousands of tonnes

the vessel weighs.

Seattle, Tacoma approaching slip three yellow ops.

No matter their size,

ships don't come with brakes.

So, this is sort of like a slow-motion

of a jetliner landing.

It's Newton's first law of motion -

an object in motion tends to stay in motion.

So, unless the force of that momentum is counteracted,

it will smash violently into the dock.

To dock, the Tacoma's momentum

must be harnessed with precision.

Under the ship,

the propellers start moving in reverse,

pushing water in the opposite direction

the ferry is traveling,

fighting against the momentum and reducing the Tacoma's speed.

All this results in the ship stopping so gently,

you don't even feel it bump when it meets the dock.

We're coming into Seattle,

maintaining safe speed

and making sure the apron is up.

Passengers are off the bow.

It's a process that repeats

dozens of times a day.

Thousands of tonnes of floating steel, engines,

and skilled crews that work tirelessly

to move more than 50,000 daily passengers.

But for these ferries, it's all in a day's work.

The mighty Tacoma heads into the waves once again,

a gentle giant among ferries,

connecting people and places with power and grace.

In Wolfsburg, Germany,

an army of human...

and robot workers...

...are designing,

moulding, cutting,

and assembling vehicles

for people all over the world,

and producing 3,000

passenger cars every day.

That is really unbelievable to me.

You know, it's like a miracle.

This is the epicentre of automotive creation,

a 6,500,000 square meter facility -

nearly twice the size of New York's Central Park.

At the end, Volkswagen is absolutely unique in the world.

This production facility can produce

800,000 cars a year.

It's like a new car completed every 16 seconds

within the factory walls. It's mind-boggling.

We have 60,000 people in Wolfsburg,

working in this place.

Its workforce is comparable

to the population of a small city.

It's like a city within a city.

Under its many roofs

are 20 kilometres of automated assembly lines,

with more than 100 workshops,

where they do everything from painting and construction

to design and testing.

MAN (Translating:) That means everything exists individually.

But this complex level of integration,

that's quite unique in the world, yes.

Here at the press shop,

raw steel rolls into the factory each day

to be moulded with nearly 8,000 tonnes of force.

MAN (Translating:) We are now in the world's largest press shop.

The press shop has a total area of almost 80,000 square meters,

roughly the equivalent of 11 football fields.

We manufacture a wide variety

of fender parts, hoods, doors, side panels and roofs.

We can produce the outer shell of virtually any vehicle.

The press shop is responsible

for 100% of the parts that

make up the structure of every vehicle made at Wolfsburg,

and they're produced at a rate of 60 parts per minute.

The press shop has some of the largest

metal bending machines in action,

many as tall as a four-storey apartment block,

punching, pressing, and cutting their way through steel

at an unbelievably fast rate.

MAN (Translating:) Each press has 15 to 16 total sets,

meaning different parts.

In total, we produce 350,000 parts per day

across the entire press shop.

The press shop's output is a crucial cog in the overall

manufacturing sequence.

It ensures a smooth flow of parts to the body shop,

paint shop, and final assembly.

This level of speed and efficiency is only possible

because of the down-to-the-second automation

and robotic labour that can lift and manoeuvre

heavy steel parts into and out of the mouths of presses

without any risk of injury.

There is no way that hand-fed presses

can make parts that quickly.

MAN (Translating:) Our employees are primarily responsible

for operating and monitoring the equipment,

intervening in case of malfunctions, and, of course,

also participating in quality control.

For maximum efficiency,

Volkswagen developed a revolutionary

panel pressing system called a 'press street'

that links six presses together.

One of the largest in the entire Volkswagen group

is Press Street 500.

It's so powerful that it had to be built

on its own separate foundation.

Otherwise, buildings on the other side of the complex

would shake when it's working.

Otherwise, buildings on the other side of the complex

Parts fly off the presses,

feeding an unstoppable assembly process

that begins in the body shop.

Here, the work of transforming steel parts

into framed-out cars

is done by 3,500 of the 6,000 high-tech robots

employed by the factory. They spot-weld, bolt,

clip, and glue parts with exceptional accuracy.

Robots perform approximately 97%

of this assembly process

that creates the structural foundation of each vehicle.

When it comes to peak productivity

for repetitive jobs like this, on such a large scale,

robots are the only way to go.

These orange arms are giants;

they're twice as tall as a refrigerator,

and they can lift around half a tonne.

Each car is made up of around 10,000 components

that must be carefully connected.

This incredibly efficient process

is made possible by the intricacies of the design,

which painstakingly planned each part.

So, first impression you have is the design.

Ja, that's the heart of the product.

So, and I think that is mega important.

Welcome to Valhalla,

Volkswagen's inner sanctum of research and development.

This is a secretive design sanctuary,

where the VW Wolfsburg development team turn ideas

into drivable prototypes.

It's a multi-year creative

and scientific development process that, if successful,

ends up in the assembly line.

Everything we do here is super confidential

because we are like the first

in the process of developing a new car,

and if anything of what we plan comes to the public,

the others will do the same.

We analyze how is the customer looking like,

what do they expect from us,

and when we have all this knowledge,

it all comes together, then we start sketching.

From sketches, to computer-aided designs,

to fully fleshed out, finely milled clay models,

the design team bring their creations to life.

And you see the data, in reality.

It's not just like a picture on the wall;

it's the truth, you know, and this is why

we are milling the clay in full scale.

While you can work this clay by hand,

milling machines are used to make the process a lot smoother

and faster.

This is a special milling machine for design.

It's a closed system.

It's small, a little bit elegant,

like a sculpture, like an industrial sculpture.

These machines have a dynamic range of movement

for perfect edging and control,

while milling at a rate of nearly two-and-a-half

kilometres an hour -

a speed that sends clay shavings flying.

We can get a whole car in 24 hours, a whole new car.

Ja, ja, really.

And when the production models are complete,

they're sent to the tunnel for testing.

Wolfsburg has its own dedicated 17,000 square meter

wind tunnel efficiency centre.

Inside the tunnels,

prototypes face the invisible forces of the road.

Aerodynamics is actually a very important topic for our cars

because the better the aerodynamics of the car is,

the lower is the air drag of the car,

so you get more mileage.

Wind flow shows where air resistance,

or drag, is affecting the efficiency and range of the car.

Air that swirls and bounces off the vehicle

reveals the sources of excess noise

that can make driving less enjoyable.

And different weather patterns, from high heat to snowstorms,

test vehicle safety and reliability

under the harshest conditions.

Here we are at our fan -

eight meters in diameter, so really big.

It's got 3.1 megawatts of power.

If we let it turn one hour at full speed,

twice the energy I use in a year.

We generate 250 kilometres per hour on wind speed.

So, if you can imagine,

a hurricane has 118 kilometres per hour,

so it's way faster than a hurricane.

While hurricane-force winds are possible,

most tests are happening at wind speeds

of around 140 kilometres an hour,

mimicking the conditions of highway driving.

They use smoke to visualize airflow patterns.

Smoke particles follow the motion of the air,

showing the team how air moves around a model,

so they can identify issues,

like the smoke detaching from the surface, causing drag.

Great results in the tunnels

translate to well-designed cars

coming together at final assembly.

Around 15,000 people

work alongside robots to complete each vehicle.

Cooperation between people and machines

is becoming more and more important.

Increasingly, work on a vehicle or component is carried out

by people and robots, not separately or in sequence,

but simultaneously and together.

The employees are supported by a robot side-by-side,

without any protective barriers.

This principle is known as human-robot collaboration.

Robots function in adaptive, flexible ways,

from bolting, to handing heavy parts or tools over to people,

either independently or on command.

I'm currently putting the cockpit into the car.

The whole cockpit weighs about 150,

up to 200 kilos.

So, for that whole point, the machine helps me a lot.

You might think working alongside robots

would be frightening,

like the robot losing control or taking over.

But here, both the human workers and the robots

can now make full use of their respective strengths.

WOMAN We insert,

press our button, and that's it,

and then, the robot takes care of the rest.

With these nimble assistants,

work happens on time, every time.

I need around 60 seconds to finish my job -

to pick up a cockpit, to bring it into the car,

and to pick up the next one.

The machines are really helping me.

The line which I'm currently on moves with a speed

of eight meters per minute, so that's quite fast.

We are able to build

420 cars on each shift.

That's extremely impressive, yeah.

Robots and people working together

make for light work.

My whole family is in this big car manufacturer,

and I'm really proud to work here.

That pride has been hard-earned.

Founded in 1937,

the Wolfsburg plant was built to create the people's car,

but the truth was much darker.

The Volkswagen factory was built for

the Volkswagen Project, for the German mass motorization.

Everything was just a big project of Nazi propaganda

because Volkswagen was founded as a subsidiary

of the biggest Nazi organization,

the German Labor Front.

Volkswagen became part of the armament industry.

Between 1940 and 1945, all kinds of weapons,

of military vehicles were built here.

More than 20,000 people worked for Volkswagen

against their will, and among them

were 5,000 concentration camp prisoners.

During the war, the factory was bombed,

causing tremendous damage. By 1944,

it was almost completely destroyed.

But that wasn't the end.

After the war, the British took over and returned the factory

to automotive production of the Beetle.

From 1945 was the beginning

of the Volkswagen brand.

They changed the image of the Beetle

from a Nazi propaganda project, ja,

to a cult car almost, to a pop cultural icon.

The Beetle changed things for Volkswagen.

Its unconventional design, rear engine, limited storage,

and two doors rather than four

didn't stop it from becoming a global sensation.

It was affordable, practical, reliable,

and it offered a very attractive alternative

to the big American cars of the post-World War II era.

From a sinister past,

an iconic automobile brand arose.

Everyone who works for Volkswagen,

which are more than 700,000 people all over the world,

should know this history

because it brings a special responsibility.

And at the end, the Volkswagen factory turned out

to be one of the biggest car factories in the world.

Volkswagen has worked very hard to acknowledge

and overcome their past,

an effort resulting in nearly 50 million cars

produced at Wolfsburg alone.

Once those vehicles are completed,

they leave the factory floor

on a nearly one-kilometre underground artery,

linking production to the Autostadt,

a state-of-the-art 20-storey

vehicle display and dispensing system.

MAN (Translating:) Since 2000, the Autostadt has been

the world's largest delivery centre.

It takes less than two minutes for new cars

to be whisked away through this autonomously operated tunnel.

The tires of the car never even touch the ground.

MAN We have two car towers.

Together, they can hold

around 800 vehicles, so 400 vehicles per tower.

They are 48 meters high and 23 meters in diameter.

The vehicles are stored on 20 levels.

Two massive hydraulic arms

ride up and down its length,

lifting, spinning, and slotting each car into place

in about 45 seconds.

MAN (Translating:) I've been working here for 25 years now,

which, I think, speaks for itself.

I'm very proud to be a part of this.

From the press shop,

through the kilometres of assembly and final delivery,

Volkswagen Wolfsburg

has proven to be a well-oiled machine.

It's fantastic.

We're always looking to the future, you know,

and this is what I love, you know.

What is the next step, the next project?

The white sheet of paper, you know, it's empty.

What is the next step?

It's always super interesting for me.

Wolfsburg is far more

than one of the largest automotive factories on earth.

It's the place where history and technology converge

to shape the future of the cars we drive.