How Simulation and Virtual Testing Can Validate Autonomous Driving
August 24, 2021 | AUVSI News
In July 2021, AUVSI and SAE International hosted the first Business of Automated Mobility Forum. The virtual event brought together industry leaders and experts from across the automated mobility industry to develop guiding strategies for success.
During an Enterprise Solutions Series presented by Neha Agarwal, Business Developer for Autonomous Solutions, MSC Software Corporation (a Hexagon company). Forum attendees learned how to verify and validate an Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) / Autonomous Driving (AD) stack using simulation.
Agarwal identified three key challenges in ADAS or AD stack foundational architecture and data flow:
-
The need to perceive the environment, which is done using radar, lidar, cameras, ultrasonic sensors, and navigation sensors.
-
The need to make informed path plans based on what is seen in the environment’s components and restrictions.
-
Acting on these inputs to trigger vehicle movement, including the engine, brakes, steering, and the human-machine interface.
As autonomous vehicle technology becomes increasingly integrated on roadways, ensuring and validating the safe conduct of these systems is critical. Algorithms must be tested for their response to each of these three challenges. Adding a virtual development layer can prepare safe systems for launch by reducing prototype costs, improving accessibility, and increasing virtual integration steps. MSC [Hexagon]’s product, Virtual Test Drive (VTD), solves problems by enabling developers to test code and stack edits nearly instantaneously, easily record and access data, and run many different scenarios.
Users of VTD set up virtual test worlds by first creating a static environment. Next, they animate the virtual world by adding external actors, like other vehicles and pedestrians, to create a dynamic environment. Finally, they add the vehicle’s perception sensors – enabling developers to test all three of the ADAS challenges Agarwal identified. Additional modules enable developers to test vehicles in additional scenarios, such as specific traffic flow simulations, vehicle dynamics, or driver actions.
MSC Software develops simulation software technology that enables engineers to validate and optimize their designs using virtual prototypes. To learn more about how technologists use MSC products to complement, and in some cases even replace the physical prototype “build and test” process that has traditionally been used in product design, check out Agarwal’s presentation below:
- Industry News
Related News
