Cruden Supplies Autonomous Driving Simulator to University

Cruden, an integrator of open architecture HIL/DIL driving simulators, simulator components and software, has installed an automotive simulator at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) simulation facility in Germany.

Commissioned by the Research Group on Automated Traffic of the University’s Chair of Traffic Engineering and Control, the Cruden AS2 simulator will be used initially for research into lane-free traffic concepts with connected autonomous vehicles.

Smart traffic management strategies can allow the introduction of dynamic lane-free flow structures that adapt to changing road capacity demands, between morning and evening for example. Such systems aim to utilise existing infrastructure to its full potential while avoiding infrastructure expansion costs, traffic jams and accidents.

The TUM simulator puts humans into a virtual vehicle, with vehicle dynamics provided via Cruden’s Panthera Reference Vehicle Model (PVRM). The integration with SUMO (Simulation of Urban MObility) – the open source, highly portable, microscopic and continuous multi-modal traffic simulation package – means they can experience what it is like to be driven around on roads without lanes or even median barriers.

The Research Group will create its own road models for the experiments using Panthera Unity Editor plug-ins.

Cruden assisted the Research Group on Automated Traffic with the provision of an affordable motion simulator to achieve its needs, integrating a refurbished Moog motion platform with a new motion controller from Vectioneer bv. The simulator has realistic immersive visuals provided by three projectors and a 210-degree screen.

“This is a most interesting and intriguing use case for a driver- or perhaps we should say passenger-in-the-loop simulator, where ‘feel’ of the vehicle remains central to occupant acceptance of the autonomous transportation experience,” says Dennis Marcus, commercial manager at Cruden.