The movements of seven automated vehicles were synchronised with an Ego vehicle (the vehicle under test) in a range of tests at the Nardò Technical Centre, Italy.
Captured in a video prepared by VAG, a total of 152 tests were carried out over 11 days, including high speed runs up to 130kph and ‘cutting in’ manoeuvres with vehicles as close as one metre. AB Dynamics supplied test equipment and engineers from its UK and German offices, and from its Italian distributor, Leane, who worked in conjunction with personnel from VW, Audi and Porsche.
“These tests were much more complex than a Euro NCAP scenario which typically involves one target vehicle plus a guided soft target,” explained AB Dynamics senior engineer Leo Evans.
“In the real world, interactions often involve multiple vehicles but running several automated vehicles in close proximity has challenged the industry until now, meaning human drivers were often used instead.
“Unfortunately, human drivers, however highly skilled, cannot always produce the repeatability needed to thoroughly investigate system behaviour, so electronic control is necessary to eliminate variation between tests.”
AB Dynamics overcame the control challenge by implementing an innovative communications system using dual-band IP radio, providing highly dependable data transfer from vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-base through secure mesh networks. This avoided the interference and signal loss that could occur with standard WLAN technology when used with multiple vehicles, which can lead to tests being aborted.
The robust communication platform allowed AB Dynamics’ patented Synchro control system to accurately synchronise the movements of the test vehicles. The movements of as many as seven automated vehicles were synchronised successfully and repeatedly with the Ego vehicle on a single trigger broadcast.
In addition to the mobile control centre, the vehicles involved included: four under robot control; two under drive-by-wire control; one AB Dynamics global soft target (GST) plus the Ego vehicle. All the equipment used was fully portable, meaning the tests can be carried out at any suitable location.
“As the automotive industry increasingly moves from ADAS testing and validation to full vehicle autonomy, the need to control traffic swarms reliably under different test scenarios will become even more important,” said AB Dynamics sales director Jeremy Ash.
“The Nardò tests have demonstrated that we have the capability and all the tools in place to do this today.”
