How we do not crash into people
Our ADAS systems are here to assist us. But how do we test the systems that are supposed to help us not crashing into people? We crash into dummies!
Vehicle safety has become more important than ever; it’s crowded on the road and there’s too much place for human errors.
- There are more than 1 billion automotive vehicles operating worldwide
- 3,287 people are killed by crashes daily
- More than 90% of all accidents is caused by driver error
Therefore, decreasing the human influence on driving can significantly reduce the number of casualties. Implementing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) is the first step towards achieving full autonomy (level 5), a situation in which the driver is no longer needed to operate the vehicle. Siemens is fully equipped to perform all sorts of ADAS tests.
Our dedicated ADAS team performs consumer tests for passenger vehicles (Euro NCAP testing for example) and for heavy vehicles such as trucks and buses (UNECE testing for example). Among other things, to make sure our vehicle does not crash into people.
What we do crash into
We are fully equipped with the latest test targets for AEB (autonomous emergency braking) tests. Autonomous emergency braking systems help us from not crashing into objects in two ways: they help avoid such situations by warning the driver and when there’s no response, they’ll break for you.
Our global vehicle target (GVT) is a controllable soft vehicle target that looks exactly like a passenger vehicle, but its body is built from lightweight foam so it is easy to reassemble in between test runs. It is controllable thanks to the GPS platform (accurate to 1 cm!), it can go up to 100 km/h and contains the same radar, lidar and visual attributes as a passenger vehicle. Therefore, it will be seen as such by the vehicle under test (vehicle under test is the naming for the vehicle that is being tested).
We use adult and child dummies, as well as adult bicyclist dummies for the vulnerable road users assessment. These dummies are also made from lightweight foam parts, so it’s easy to re-attach a leg in case of an unfortunate system failure. They’re designed with humanlike radar cross section, infrared and visual properties.
What we don’t crash into
Besides testing vulnerable road users and autonomous emergency braking systems, we are also fully equipped to test lane support systems (LSS) at the test facility in Aldenhoven, Germany. Here, we can perform LSS tests on real road edges.
Want to see how we do it?
