Automated Driving

Our cars are becoming increasingly intelligent: interconnected driver assistance systems and autonomous driving functions ensure greater road safety and efficiency, and they also increase the range of electric vehicles. If the intelligent assistants are supplemented by interconnectivity with the surrounding infrastructure, vehicles can ride the green wave, contribute to optimized traffic flow or bridge the last mile to public transport. This is what smart mobility looks like.

We are a strong engineering partner for connected automated driving and cover the full range of development activities in this field. To this end, IAV employs more than 700 experts in connected automated and autonomous driving. They have first-class equipment and their own test site at their disposal, and can also draw on our broad range of expertise for the entire vehicle.

In the development of autonomous driving functions, we rely on current methods such as extensive simulations, test automation and artificial intelligence (AI), and build on our series production experience and systems expertise that is recognized in the industry: IAV masters all development steps up to the final system release recommendation. Close cooperation with universities and partners guarantees that we are always at the cutting edge of technology. With our eye for detail and the whole system, we have already successfully completed many projects with OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers.

We develop all functions for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) – from the idea to series production. And we integrate them reliably and efficiently into every vehicle environment. Many of these systems are already being used in vehicles today, but the requirements placed on them are constantly increasing, for example as a result of the European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP). In addition, there are always new advancements such as the combination of ACC and lane departure warning – this makes it possible to both brake and evade in complex situations.

This requires more sensors as well as new, more complex functions. To be able to develop such advanced ADAS solutions, our experts from the various subject areas work closely together. In doing so, they increasingly rely on the simulation of new functions. Early in the development process, they can use the “concept-in-the-loop” approach to quickly evaluate sensors, actuators and functions, thereby reducing development time and costs. We also gain a better understanding of functions and systems by combining different methods.

In the coming years, it will initially be used in special areas such as logistics, as a people mover on the last mile or in Automated Valet Parking (AVP). In the long term, however, cars will also be driving autonomously on public roads. High levels of automation promise a completely new driving experience – but as the supreme discipline, they are also particularly demanding. Our experts make the associated complexity controllable and transfer new solutions safely into series production.

We offer our customers a complete software solution that is modular in design, covers all the essential sub-functions of autonomous driving and can be easily adapted to future requirements (for example, to new sensor technology or changed legal requirements). The sub-functions included, based on unique IAV know-how, include precise localization as well as overarching data fusion for environment recognition, whereby we can take into account both in-vehicle and external data – for example from the surrounding infrastructure or from the cloud. Part of our software solution is also embedded-proven Model Predictive Control (MPC), which regulates longitudinal and lateral guidance. Based on intelligent maneuver selection, trajectories are optimized predictively and vehicle actuation is controlled. In the process, MPC takes equal account of driving safety and comfort.

Even autonomously driving vehicles will never be able to operate entirely without the support of the infrastructure surrounding them. For example, in many cases, cameras alone are not capable of reliably assigning traffic signals to a lane. Variable message signs on highways with additional information or for individual lanes also pose major challenges for the vehicle’s own sensor technology. In such situations, interconnected traffic infrastructure can support autonomous driving functions and provide additional information for greater safety.

This is why the traffic of the future will be highly interconnected and will connect all road users and infrastructures to form Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). Vehicle2X communication (V2X), for example, will make it possible to avoid accidents and optimize traffic flows. However, this requires not only vehicle manufacturers but also infrastructure operators and traffic technology manufacturers to work closely together. Thanks to our decades of experience with automated driving functions, we are the ideal bridge builder between the various domains. We have proven this, for example, in the HEAT project.

For IAV, driver assistance systems and autonomous driving are not new topics: We started ACC research as early as 1995, realized a first vehicle according to SAE Level 2+ in 2003 and demonstrated fully automated driving according to Level 4 in 2017. Another highlight was the development of the Renault SYMBIOZ: Together with the French automaker, we developed the architecture and system for Level 4 in the demonstration vehicle. Since 2019, the automated driving minibus HEAT (“Hamburg Electric Autonomous Transportation”) developed by IAV has been on the road on a route in Hamburg’s HafenCity. In 2021, it will be one of the showcase projects there as part of the ITS World Congress.