Autonomous driving growth saves tens of millions in check kilometers

Driving simulator assessments are well-liked—for comprehensible causes: any state of affairs might be simulated on the contact of a button. They are impartial of time and climate situations and with none security threat for the car, individuals or the surroundings. Moreover, an hour within the driving simulator is cheaper and requires much less group than an actual driving lesson on a check monitor.

“In the field of highly automated driving, however, driving simulator studies are often questioned because of the lack of realism. In addition, until recently there were no standardized test procedures that could have been used to check complex tasks such as the mutual interaction between human and system (handover procedures),” says Arno Eichberger, head of the analysis space “Automated Driving & Driver Assistance Systems” on the Institute of Automotive Engineering at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz).

New regulation as preliminary spark

Recently, as a result of the primary world regulation for Automated Lane Keeping Systems (ALKS) has been in pressure for the reason that starting of 2021. This legislation resolves the street approval dilemma, as Eichberger explains that “until now, regulatory authorities did not know how to test and approve autonomous driving systems. The vehicle manufacturers, in turn, did not know what requirements the systems had to meet in order to be approved.” In the rules, the approval standards for extremely automated techniques (autonomous driving stage 3) as much as a maximum speed of 60 km/h have now been specified for the primary time on the idea of a visitors jam assistant. When the assistant is activated, accountability for management is transferred to the machine. The driver could take their arms off the steering wheel, however has to instantly take over once more within the occasion of a malfunction. The system should acknowledge that the individual behind the wheel is able to doing this.

Based on this regulation, Eichberger and his analysis companions from Fraunhofer Austria, AVL and JOANNEUM RESEARCH have developed an environment friendly methodology over the previous few months by which the readiness to take over management might be examined safely, effectively, and to a excessive diploma realistically in a driving simulator and the outcomes can be utilized for the certification of ALKS techniques.

Identical machine notion of the surroundings

Processes had been required to show the validity of the driving simulation utilizing the check drive. The foundation for this was a direct comparability—driving simulation and actual driving (the AVL check monitor in Gratkorn, Styria, served because the check location) needed to match as carefully as doable. Here, the machine notion of the surroundings posed a problem. Figuratively talking, machine notion is the sensory organs of the car. It has the duty of exactly recording the car’s environment—from the panorama and environmental objects to different street customers—in order that the driving help system can react appropriately to the state of affairs. Eichberger: “If this is to run the same as in reality, the environments in the simulation have to match the real environment to the exact centimeter.”

Transferring the driving routes to the driving simulator

his accuracy is achieved utilizing so-called “Ultra High Definition Maps” (UHDmaps) from JOANNEUM RESEARCH (JR), one of many world’s main analysis establishments within the subject of digital twins. “We use a mobile mapping system to measure the test environments. Finally, a seamless 3D map with an extremely high level of detail is created from the measurement data. In addition to traffic infrastructure objects such as traffic signs, lane markings and guard rails, vegetation and buildings are also represented in this map,” says Patrick Luley, head of the analysis laboratory for extremely automated driving on the DIGITAL Institute. While comparable accuracy might be achieved with guide 3D modeling, JR’s automated UHD mapping course of is many occasions cheaper and quicker.

The high-resolution 3D surroundings is lastly transferred to the driving simulator. This is the place the Fraunhofer Austria crew are available in. Volker Settgast from the Visual Computing enterprise unit says that they “prepare the data in such a way that the 3D environment can be displayed at high speed.” Even reflective and clear surfaces or timber and bushes blown by the wind might be perceived naturally. Depending on the check state of affairs, extra automobiles and even individuals can then be added to the digital environment.

The validation is lastly verified with the assistance of comparative runs on the actual route. “With our method, it is possible for car manufacturers to easily compare and validate a certain sampling on the real track and in the driving simulator. This means that the test can ultimately be transferred from the real track to the driving simulator,” says Eichberger. The TU Graz researcher and his crew are actually engaged on establishing digital approval assessments over the following few months.