Testing with coordinated automated vehicles

Abstract

Many tests of assistance systems can be performed more precisely, much more safely, and more efficiently using coordinated automated vehicles. A testing method that has been developed at Daimler AG to cope with the challenges of testing new assistance systems is presented. The concept for safe operation of automated vehicles on a test track is detailed by describing the technical components and the control strategy of the system. Results from precision and repeatability tests are discussed, and methods of planning tests efficiently and safely are described. The concept of virtual guide rails, which allows a vehicle being tested to act autonomously within a deterministic testing environment, is presented. In a separate section, the design of automatically driving crash targets is discussed. Two different concepts – the self-driving soft crash target and the over-drivable target carrier – are described in detail. Advantages and limitations of these concepts are discussed. The chapter concludes with a presentation of several typical test applications of coordinated automated vehicles as single vehicles for better precision and repeatability, as coordinated vehicles to set up complex scenarios that are too difficult to coordinate with human drivers, or as a combination of human-driven vehicles with precisely coordinated crashable targets in challenging traffic situations.