Work Package 4 – Upgrading of the test vehicle

The test vehicle plays a central role in the development of a “reference solution for the driverless operation of highly automated public transport shuttles with remote access from a control centre”. On the one hand, its automated driving functions must enable safe and autonomous operation in public traffic spaces. At the same time, it must possess an interface for communication with a control centre.

Currently, however, there are no driverless shuttles on the market that have already been granted approval after successful completion of the homologation process defined by the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). All components and interfaces required for this project must therefore be developed without specific reference to any future industrially manufactured vehicle. It is also against this background that the VW eCrafter test vehicle designed within the framework of the predecessor project ABSOLUT I was realised with the fallback level of a safety driver.

The work package “Upgrading of the test vehicle” equips the test vehicle from ABSOLUT I for communication with a technical supervisor. The following key aspects are addressed:

• Manoeuvring interface for communication with the control centre: This manoeuvring interface allows the control centre to monitor the vehicle status and to initiate a rectifying manoeuvre should the automation system reach its limits
• On-board fallback level for collision avoidance: If a situation arises in which the technical supervisor decides to initiate a rectifying manoeuvre, a function must be available on the vehicle side to ensure that execution of the manoeuvre does not lead to a collision, for example with a sudden obstacle; this collision detection must be performed in real time to permit continuous re-evaluation of the conditions for manoeuvre execution
• Hardware and software upgrades for the vehicle from ABSOLUT I (especially in respect of realtime communication and localisation)
• Virtual validation of the developed functions
• Commissioning and testing
• Integration and evaluation of precise and robust vehicle localisation

Contributing partners with their individual tasks and objectives:

Scientific concepts for the manoeuvring interface and for realtime-capable collision avoidance are being elaborated at TU Dresden. This involves not only precise, highly dynamic vehicle localisation, but also bundled, realtime-capable communication channels with corresponding status monitoring. Alongside, the university is working on methods for virtual validation, which would permit safe and resource-efficient testing of all newly developed functions and systems before the commencement of practical trials. TU Dresden is at the same time responsible for adaptation and upgrading of the hardware and software in the test vehicle from ABSOLUT I, including realisation of the interface with the control centre, in order to enable the execution of all necessary functions. The on-board unit for communication between the vehicle and traffic infrastructure is also being upgraded to establish new degrees of freedom for traffic-based optimisation. Final commissioning and testing will similarly be supervised by scientists from TU Dresden.

Sedenius Engineering is contributing to the work package with intensive efforts to advance vehicle control and teleoperation in the direction of autonomous mobility. One pioneering expansion in this connection concerns adaptation of the drive-by-wire interface for communication with the technical supervisor. This requires the implementation of condition monitoring and comprehensive evaluation of the vehicle status. Furthermore, planning and control algorithms are to be integrated into the framework. Another key aspect of the work package is the development of robust and redundant collision avoidance functionality. The work package is to be concluded with successful system testing both in a simulation and in a defined test environment.

ANavS is supporting the project ABSOLUT II by expanding its solution for vehicle self-localisation, with the objective of delivering high-precision position data both in areas with good GNSS reception and in situations where signal quality is severely impaired. A high-precision geo-referenced map is to be produced to aid visual localisation. Road features such as lane markings or kerb lines, as well as traffic signs, are to be extracted from the data and represented in OpenDRIVE format. Finally, a geoinformation system (GIS) is to be developed to combine the latest map with the current position of the vehicle and the current phases of traffic signals along the driving route.