Leading research institute Kempten University of Applied Sciences in Germany has selected the aVDS (advanced Vehicle Driving Simulator) to use in their 'Adrive Living Lab' where they focus on research and development of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Automated Driving (AD). The activities are aimed at people – both their emotional needs and their holistic experience of future ADAS/AD driven mobility and how this can effectively be transferred into a simulation-based method and tool chain.
“Driver-in-the-Loop (DiL) simulators are essential to assessing the capability of ADAS/AD in a very early development phase,” explains Professor Bernhard Schick, Kempten University of Applied Sciences. “Virtualization is an important trend to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of ADAS/AD development. Real prototypes are expensive and becoming fewer and fewer, and complex test scenarios are also very difficult to implement on real roads. For engineers, however, it is very important to be able to experience and evaluate new functions all the time, even if they do not have a real prototype. Researching and understanding how normal drivers experience and interact with the new features is also very crucial in creating best-in-class functionalities. A key benefit of a simulator like the aVDS is that we can explore the subjective as well as the objective effects to the driver under a variety of circumstances.”
“We are convinced that the aVDS from AB Dynamics is the best available solution currently on the market for our key applications,” he continues. “We see a big advantage in the high dynamics and extremely low latency times. The driving input can be transferred into vehicle motion without unwanted time delays, precisely and thus very realistically. This is especially important for the vehicle motion out of the centre area to get a realistic driving impression. We were also convinced by the large motion travel of the platform. In addition, the aVDS can be installed much more easily in an existing infrastructure, which saves time and money.”
“We are looking forward to an efficient and effective way of developing and exploring ADAS/AD and are delighted that AB Dynamics is able to support us with the extensive experience and knowledge they have accumulated over 30 years at the forefront of automotive testing.”
The ‘Adrive Living Lab’ investigates the effect of these systems on drivers’ perceived feeling of safety and comfort - these two parameters have been identified as the most important for consumer acceptance and enthusiasm. The level of demand for ADAS and AD systems comes directly from the experience of the drivers that use or interact with them. The aVDS will allow researchers to gather both subjective and objective DiL feedback on the performance of current and future systems.
“We are looking forward to working with Professor Schick and his team at Kempten University of Applied Sciences,” said Klaus Weimert, Managing Director, AB Dynamics Europe GmbH. “The aVDS was designed with these applications in mind and it will be exciting to see the results of the research that the Adrive Living Lab team will be conducting over the years to come. We will learn from the knowledge gained from their applications and our customers will benefit greatly from it. ADAS/AD will play a big part in future mobility solutions and the way we as humans interact with them is paramount to their success. We are thrilled that they have chosen the aVDS; it independently reaffirms our belief that this simulator is a powerful tool that can help shape the future of automotive development and testing.”