Autonomous driving on vehicle test tracks: overview, implementation and vehicle diagnosis

This article describes the implementation of the Autonomous Driving project. Furthermore, it shows the concept of the vehicle diagnosis in detail. The vehicle diagnosis monitors a test car on a proving ground and substitutes the surveillance of a human test driver. Therefore, the human diagnostics capabilities have to be replaced by measuring equipment in order to automate the detection of malfunctions. The components of the vehicle diagnosis system and its operating principle are shown. Two test vehicles were equipped with sensors, computers and actuators (driving robots). The vehicles can be driven by a robot while the sensor system observes the entire surroundings in order to be able to avoid obstacles. Furthermore, the vehicle control can be overruled by an electronic copilot in case of an emergency