Logo
ScienceStack
Table of Contents
Fetching ...
Sign In

From Code to Road: A Vehicle-in-the-Loop and Digital Twin-Based Framework for Central Car Server Testing in Autonomous Driving

Chengdong Wu, Sven Kirchner, Nils Purschke, Axel Torschmied, Norbert Kroth, Yinglei Song, André Schamschurko, Erik Leo Haß, Kuo-Yi Chao, Yi Zhang, Nenad Petrovic, Alois C. Knoll

TL;DR

This work presents a test framework for automotive software on the centralized E/E architecture, which is a central car server in this case, based on Vehicle-in-the-Loop (ViL) and digital twin technology, which provides a safe, reproducible, realistic, and cost-effective platform for validating autonomous driving algorithms with a centralized architecture.

Abstract

Simulation is one of the most essential parts in the development stage of automotive software. However, purely virtual simulations often struggle to accurately capture all real-world factors due to limitations in modeling. To address this challenge, this work presents a test framework for automotive software on the centralized E/E architecture, which is a central car server in our case, based on Vehicle-in-the-Loop (ViL) and digital twin technology. The framework couples a physical test vehicle on a dynamometer test bench with its synchronized virtual counterpart in a simulation environment. Our approach provides a safe, reproducible, realistic, and cost-effective platform for validating autonomous driving algorithms with a centralized architecture. This test method eliminates the need to test individual physical ECUs and their communication protocols separately. In contrast to traditional ViL methods, the proposed framework runs the full autonomous driving software directly on the vehicle hardware after the simulation process, eliminating flashing and intermediate layers while enabling seamless virtual-physical integration and accurately reflecting centralized E/E behavior. In addition, incorporating mixed testing in both simulated and physical environments reduces the need for full hardware integration during the early stages of automotive development. Experimental case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the framework in different test scenarios. These findings highlight the potential to reduce development and integration efforts for testing autonomous driving pipelines in the future.

From Code to Road: A Vehicle-in-the-Loop and Digital Twin-Based Framework for Central Car Server Testing in Autonomous Driving

TL;DR

This work presents a test framework for automotive software on the centralized E/E architecture, which is a central car server in this case, based on Vehicle-in-the-Loop (ViL) and digital twin technology, which provides a safe, reproducible, realistic, and cost-effective platform for validating autonomous driving algorithms with a centralized architecture.

Abstract

Simulation is one of the most essential parts in the development stage of automotive software. However, purely virtual simulations often struggle to accurately capture all real-world factors due to limitations in modeling. To address this challenge, this work presents a test framework for automotive software on the centralized E/E architecture, which is a central car server in our case, based on Vehicle-in-the-Loop (ViL) and digital twin technology. The framework couples a physical test vehicle on a dynamometer test bench with its synchronized virtual counterpart in a simulation environment. Our approach provides a safe, reproducible, realistic, and cost-effective platform for validating autonomous driving algorithms with a centralized architecture. This test method eliminates the need to test individual physical ECUs and their communication protocols separately. In contrast to traditional ViL methods, the proposed framework runs the full autonomous driving software directly on the vehicle hardware after the simulation process, eliminating flashing and intermediate layers while enabling seamless virtual-physical integration and accurately reflecting centralized E/E behavior. In addition, incorporating mixed testing in both simulated and physical environments reduces the need for full hardware integration during the early stages of automotive development. Experimental case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the framework in different test scenarios. These findings highlight the potential to reduce development and integration efforts for testing autonomous driving pipelines in the future.
Paper Structure (21 sections, 7 figures, 1 table)

This paper contains 21 sections, 7 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. RELATED WORK
  3. Centralized E/E structure
  4. Vehicle-in-the-Loop validation
  5. Methodology
  6. Hardware Architecture
  7. Signal Frequency
  8. Vehicle External Control
  9. Software Solutions
  10. Digital Twin in the Simulation Environment
  11. Sensor Signal Transmitted from Simulation Computer to CeCaS-Computer
  12. Experiments
  13. Manual-Drive
  14. Autonomous Driving
  15. ACC and LKA
  16. ...and 6 more sections

Figures (7)

  • Figure 1: Overview of the proposed ViL validation framework with Central Car Server (CeCaS)-Computer as an alternative to the in-vehicle central car server. The virtual vehicle in the simulation environment serves as the digital twin of the test vehicle on the test bench.
  • Figure 2: Mounting points of the front (left) and rear (right) axle to the test bench with adapters.
  • Figure 3: View from the cockpit of the test vehicle under manual-drive scenarios.
  • Figure 4: Vehicle front camera in the ACC scenario.
  • Figure 5: Left: Front camera view on the test vehicle with the person detected. Right: Virtual simulation scenario and digital twin of the person spawned on the track when the object is detected with the real camera.
  • ...and 2 more figures