A Vehicle-in-the-Loop Methodology for Evaluating Automated Driving Functions in Virtual Traffic

This paper introduces a novel vehicle-in-the-loop testing methodology called 'Hybrid Testing', which enables the evaluation of a real vehicle in a virtual traffic scenario in an enclosed proving ground with simulated traffic components and sensor signals. Among the other benefits, the introduced methodology is particularly suited to test and verify ADAS functions in virtual scenarios, which would otherwise be very difficult to create in real world. Development of ADAS functions require extensive testing and validation prior to deployment and generally, exhaustive real-life scenario evaluation of such systems is not feasible, let alone possible. With Hybrid Testing we can combine the benefits of simulation and real-life testing. We show how this methodology, as was developed in the EU-funded project INFRAMIX, can be used to evaluate ADAS functions on an example of a trajectory planning algorithm to demonstrate its working principles and benefits.