Digital Twins of Roads as a Basis for Virtual Driving Tests

In Germany and the European Union, the legal framework for automated lane keeping systems (ALKS) is now in place. They are the first Level 3 systems to be ready for approval and no longer require monitoring by the driver on highways. Since such systems require an enormous amount of testing to ensure safety, simulation is increasingly being used.This requires a simulation platform which contains the vehicle including integrated driving functions and sensor technology, dynamic objects, the static environment as well as environmental conditions. The 3D environment must be available in equal detail. The basis to set up the 3D environment is a mobile survey of the relevant road section using measurement vehicles equipped with high-resolution scanners and cameras. The result of the surveying as well as the processing of the measurement data is an HD map in Road5 or OpenDRIVE format, optionally including a high-resolution image of the road surface in OpenCRG format. The HD map enables the automatic generation and visualization of the corresponding road model in the simulation environment.Based on this, the rest of the static environment can be built. After the model of the static environment is completed, simulation scenarios can be created by integrating the dynamic objects plus their behavior. Objects from various sources are suitable for this purpose. In addition, there is the possibility to increase the size of the test space under investigation by varying the behavior of the dynamic objects, the environment, etc.