VVM test vehicle presented at Tech.AD Europe

With the completion and presentation of the VVM test vehicle, another important step in the project has been accomplished. At the beginning of July, the vehicle was presented at the Tech.AD Europe in Berlin.

Around 200 conference visitors were able to see the test vehicle with the installed ground truth measurement system at the exhibition. Other interested parties, who joined the event via the digital event platform, had a chance to visit the virtual AVL booth with details to the solution. The purpose of the vehicle and the associated collection of real data is to check the plausibility of assumptions within the project - for example concerning simulation scenarios.

In the following months, critical cause-effect relationships will be identified in the project, which will then be translated into requirements for test drives. These test drives are planned in detail and executed by our project partner AVL. After gathering this data, several processing steps – concerning for example the GDPR – are required. Afterwards, this data can be used to create simulation scenarios based on the real data. Assumptions made in the project can then be counterchecked against these scenarios – in some cases also with changed parameters in the simulation, such as a different speed. Currently, the data processing procedures are already being tested before the test vehicle starts its actual operation.

The vehicle is equipped accordingly: A roof box contains a total of six cameras, three LiDAR sensors and a GNSS system for localization as well as a computer that controls the sensors and temporarily stores the data. In addition to the roof box, the vehicle is equipped with two further LiDAR sensors and a RADAR sensor in the front area.

In the run-up to the presentation at the Tech.AD, extensive work was done to complete the vehicle. In the first year of the project, a comprehensive analysis of requirements was carried out, which documented all specifications for the vehicle and the installed sensors. Subsequently, all sensors were installed and tested accordingly, so that first measurements and fine-tuning of the vehicle have been carried out since the end of 2020.

And even now that the test vehicle is temporarily finalized, the project team is already thinking ahead: In addition to the measurements with the above described dynamic ground truth system, which will soon start its measurement campaign in the Stuttgart area, it is currently being examined if and how the vehicle can be equipped with acoustic sensors to record acoustic data simultaneously to the optical data. 

Image: AVL List GmbH