BMW has opened a new test site to develop its automated driving and parking systems.

The site, in the Czech Republic, covers some 600 hectacres and is BMW's largest test facility in the world.

It will help the German car maker improve its safety standards.

The track, near Sokolov, has cost some £300 million and will join three other development facilities near Munich, Miramas in France and Arjeplog in Sweden.

"With our new Future Mobility Development Centre, we have created a one- of-a-kind test site, designed exclusively for the highly demanding testing of automated driving and parking," said Frank Weber, BMW board member for development.

"On 600 hectares of land, we test all possible driving conditions with maximum flexibility and tremendous efficiency: city, countryside, freeway, as well as automated parking. The special thing: We can run our test modules one after the other without stopping. This makes our testing as realistic, reliable, and customer-oriented as possible."