Fast generic sensor models for testing highly automated vehicles in simulation

Abstract

Automated driving is one of the big trends in automotive industry nowadays. Over the past decade car manufacturers have increased step by step the number and features of their driving assistance systems. Besides technical aspects of realizing a highly automated vehicle, the validation and approval poses a big challenge to automotive industry. Reasons for this are grounded in the complexity of interaction with the environment, and the difficulties in proving that an automated vehicle shows at least the same performance as a human driver, with respect to safety. There is a common agreement within the community, that physical vehicle testing only, will practically not be feasible for validation. Simulation is seen as a key enabler for validation as well as for development of highly automated vehicles. Several commercial simulation tools are available to model and test the entire chain of “sens – plan – act”. But still there is a lack of fast generic sensor models, for the use from development to vehicle in the loop tests. This article proposes a fast generic sensor model to be used in testing and validation of highly automated driving functions in simulation.