VEHIL: developing and testing intelligent vehicles

The application of driver support systems and automated (intelligent) transport systems is getting increasingly important because they have the potential to enhance the efficiency and safety of today's road transport without expanding the traffic infrastructure considerably. The high safety and reliability demands of these complex systems make their development and testing of these products an expensive and time-consuming process. This paper presents the Vehicle Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) simulator for a faster and more efficient development and testing of full scale intelligent vehicles and transport systems. Its technical feasibility and a proposal for a dedicated test facility are discussed. The technical feasibility has been confirmed on the basis of two functional demonstrators. The test results and experiences with these demonstrators are evaluated It has been identified that the so-called moving bases are crucial elements of the intelligent vehicle simulator. The development of this subsystem, i.e. a high performance AGV, is the first step in the realisation of a functional full scale intelligent vehicle simulator.