Cruden driving simulator supplied to Hyundai Mobis to accelerate development of new autonomous technology for vehicle safety
Driving simulator to accelerate development of new autonomous technology for vehicle safety
Cruden has supplied a simulator to a new research and development programme that could help save tens of thousands of lives on public roads every year. A Cruden driving simulator is to be installed at the North America Technical Center of Hyundai Mobis, the global automotive component producer, where it will play a key role in the development of Departed Driver Rescue and Exit Maneuver (DDREM) technology.
DDREM is a new autonomous safety function that detects when the driver departs from controlling the vehicle and then reduces crash-risk by taking control of the vehicle and guiding it to safety. Hyundai Mobis estimates that in North America alone approximately 7,000 fatalities are caused every year by drivers falling asleep, suffering a heart attack, or experiencing other health conditions that suddenly prevent their operation of the vehicle. DDREM aims to eliminate more than 90 percent of such accidents. The Cruden simulator will be used to test fatigued driver behaviour, which would not be feasible or safe in a real car.
“With the evolution of autonomous and next generation ADAS technologies, the industry is going through significant changes which require the development of new techniques and strategies for handling these human machine interface (HMI) intensive domains. Where in the past, traditional means of development and verification would suffice, now they are becoming obsolete. Advancements in simulation will help support these changes in the environment,” says Jay R Gromaski, senior manager of autonomous test & simulation development at Mobis.
“We selected Cruden as a full system integrator of the simulation environment and due to the company’s proper management of the simulator latency effect and quality of customer service.”
DDREM is less complex than service-based autonomous systems, simpler to verify, and has significantly lower cost, meaning it is likely to go into production far sooner. The speed of developing the DDREM concept will be accelerated by Cruden’s realistic simulation technology, which will enable engineers to test the technology’s interaction methods with the driver and evaluate algorithms and strategies. The simulator will make it possible to conduct tests with realistic vehicle dynamics, accurate repeatability and complete safety.
As a Level 4 autonomous technology, for cars with high driving automation, DDREM cannot be tested in real traffic. The same restriction widely applies to Level 3 vehicles, with technologies that handle dynamic driving tasks but might need some manual intervention, and to Level 5 vehicles that can operate entirely on their own without any driver presence. Only Level 1 and Level 2 autonomous technologies, for cars with driver assistance and partial driving automation, can generally be tested on the public highway.
Cruden’s driver-in-the-loop (DIL) simulator is a highly immersive simulator featuring a recessed ‘ADAS top frame’ with road car seat, steering wheel and pedals. The simulator uses Cruden’s Panthera ADAS simulator software, with the ideal sensors for situational awareness.
Cruden’s CEO, Maarten van Donselaar, commented: “Simulators are already widely in use in the automotive industry as a way of reducing vehicle development time and costs, and now the advent of advanced driver assistance systems is increasing their role. We are pleased to be involved in the development of such a significant safety-related technology with our most affordable, standard simulator.”
Hyundai Mobis has mass-produced a great number of ADAS technologies as a Tier 1 automotive supplier. The company currently employs approximately 30,000 people at more than 30 manufacturing operations in 10 countries, with R&D headquarters in Korea and technical centres in the USA, Germany, China and India. Hyundai Mobis’ North America Technical Center is located in Plymouth, Michigan.
For more details, please contact Dennis Marcus via d.marcus@185.116.214.82