Vehicle-in-the-Loop Testing - a Comparative Study for Efficient Validation of ADAS/AD Functions

A detailed benchmark analysis is presented to compare the efficient evaluation of ADAS/AD functions in conventional real driving and SiL/HiL environments with a novel Vehicle-in-the-Loop (ViL) test bench solution. Two ViL installations have been set up in Germany and Japan with highly-dynamic wheel dynamometers, a novel steering force emulator in combination with a validated vehicle model and a detailed environment simulation. Selected test scenarios from vehicle dynamics, NCAP, highway and urban driving have been configured and executed in manual, assisted and automated driving mode. It can be shown that the unique integration of Powertrain-, Steering- and Brake-in-the-Loop together with Sensor-in-the-Loop allows highly realistic tests in the complete vehicle operation range up and beyond the dynamic limits. For the implemented prototypical ADAS functions several sensor and function weaknesses within critical driving maneuvers have been detected in the same way on the bench as in the real test. A key success factor has been to establish a novel process to validate standardized sensor and environment models against the real world, this being the precondition for any simulation-based homologation of ADAS/AD systems. This enables a much more efficient optimization and validation of ADAS/AD functions in the lab compared to real track testing.