Vehicle & Product Solutions
ADAS Evaluation
New vehicles are becoming more advanced thanks to features like lane-keeping assistance, automatic emergency braking, and other advanced driver assistance features. This new technology has enormous potential for increasing vehicle safety, but it also adds new challenges to the failure analysis and investigation industry.
Regulatory Testing for Advanced Vehicles
ADAS technology can control and augment the functions of a vehicle that are primarily controlled only by the driver. New vehicles now assist drivers with steering, acceleration, and braking.
S-E-A is here to help when it comes to testing autonomous vehicles to meet the requirements of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Euro NCAP. We can help OEMs in their R&D process, perform regulatory tests to assess production cars, and support litigation involving vehicles equipped with automatic features. Our on-site VDA allows enough room to perform dynamics maneuvers, and test sites within 30 minutes of our facility provide additional testing surfaces.
How ADAS Vehicle Testing Works
S-E-A’s extensive research and development work has led to new equipment and technology which allows us to operate driverless vehicles. Our testing capabilities extend beyond traditional automobiles and include the Powersports industry, such as ROVs and ATVs. Our unmanned tests allow us to collect meaningful data without risking human lives.
For NCAP evaluations, we use a soft target and a surrogate vehicle to interact with the vehicle under test (VUT). The multiple actors can communicate, which allows us to monitor performance, modulate speed and position to create complex V2V and V2X scenarios.
To monitor how a vehicle responds to collision threats, we create an environment and introduce vulnerable road users (VRUs) using the STRIDE Robotic platform. This allows us to simulate the effects of other pedestrians, cyclists, and other unexpected objects that might impose upon a vehicle’s course. Our engineers control these objects based on the client’s parameters.
The ability to control other objects in a vehicle’s environment allows us to carry out extensive simulations. We can run through different scenarios to isolate factors that lead to system failures and accidents. Our onsite testing surfaces can be used to recreate many common accident configurations with options that might not be available at other testing sites.
S-E-A's accident reconstruction and Vehicle & Product Solutions teams can work collaboratively to evaluate vehicle EDR data from ADAS scenarios. Using the Bosch CDR tool and our own data systems, the response of a vehicle's safety systems can be evaluated and compared during simulated incidents. Whether for R&D or for forensic work, our team can help!
Testing Tools
S-E-A's Vehicle & Product Solutions team regularly works to develop tools to be used during various test procedures. The following tools can be leveraged during an ADAS evaluation project:
Lane Departure Warning (LDW) and Lane Keeping Assistance (LKA) Testing
S-E-A uses a combination of OxTS RT products such as the RT-Range S to enable lane-related tasks. Using thistool and S-E-A's data collection systems, lane lines can be mapped accurately. The position of the vehicle relativeto the lane lines can be tracked in real time both on straight roads and curved roads. Combined with sensors suchas photodiodes or our Visual & Audible Detection system, this can be a powerful tool for testing a vehicle's LDWand LKA systems.
Crash Imminent Braking (CIB), Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), and Dynamic Brake Support (DBS) Testing
CIB, AEB, and DBS are all flavors of testing the response of a vehicle's ADAS system to a vehicle ahead. For these tests, S-E-A's driving robots have built in functions to evaluate the vehicle response after each test. For DBS testing, the brake-throttle robot provides the correct braking input per the test procedure, simulating a driver not applying enough braking input to completely avoid a collision.
Pedestrian Automatic Emergency Braking (PAEB)
To simulate a pedestrian or bicyclist stimulus, the STRIDE robot can be deployed either moving across or stationary within the vehicle's forward path. With the STRIDE's unique software architecture, there is no limit to the scenarios that can be evaluated. The STRIDE is also customizable, and unique targets can be used for testing with simple modifications to the robot's lid.
Alert Timing and Data Systems
S-E-A's dashboard Visual & Audible Detection System can be used to capture the onset of visual or audible alerts and send data flags to data collection systems. This technology leverages camera(s) and a microphone which can be programmed for specific R/G/B color content and specific frequencies and magnitudes, so that you only capture the signal you need. The latest updates to the system also allow for multiple cameras, perfect for testing Rear alert systems which typically provide visual inputs on both the dashboard and the center console.
Autonomous Vehicle Testing Services
S-E-A is a leading choice nationwide for any organization that can benefit from a thorough scientific analysis of autonomous vehicles. As the automotive industry gets closer to fully self-driving vehicles, regulatory testing and accident investigation in this field will become even more valuable. Find a professional in our network today to obtain reliable data in clear, useful reports.
ADAS and AV Evaluations FAQ
Related Services
RELEVANT PAPERS
SAE: Analysis of OEM Collision Avoidance Data Outputs during VRU Testing
SAE: Evaluating Vehicle Response Through Non-Traditional Pedestrian Automatic Emergency Braking Scenarios
SAE: Introduction of the Small Test Robot for Individuals in Dangerous Environments (STRIDE) Platform for Use in ADAS Testing
CPSC: Review of Automotive Safety Technologies Applicable to All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs)
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