Misuse Track Testing
Misuse tests are designed to explore what happens to a vehicle in an extreme situation, such as when driving into a sandbank or over a ramp and becoming airborne.
A typical test is to determine whether airbags or other elements of passenger restraint systems are deployed in non-collision situations.
Driving a vehicle into a sandbank, wooden beam or over a ramp is extremely arduous for human test drivers, and doing so repeatedly can cause injuries. Stress levels are also high due to the possible deployment of airbags. For this reason, these tests are increasingly performed using driverless robot systems.
Driverless Test Systems
AB Dynamics’ driverless solution uses driving robots, software, telemetry and sophisticated controllers to safely conduct these tests, removing the driver from the vehicle. It eliminates risk to the driver, accelerates testing and improves the accuracy and repeatability of test results.
Solution for misuse testing
A typical solution would include some or all of the following elements:
Active on board object detection
The driverless solution can be upgraded with an active obstacle detection system, utilising LiDAR and camera with sensor fusion. The system will stop the driverless vehicle if its path is blocked, bringing additional benefits:
- Detection of untracked objects, such as wild animals or vehicle debris preventing the test vehicle from sustaining damage
- Operation of driverless vehicles over large areas safely, beyond base station line of sight
- Reduction in operator workload when monitoring multiple driverless vehicles, as each vehicle has increased on-board autonomy, increasing the number of vehicles a team can safely operate