C-IAD
The CARISSMA Institute of Automated Driving focuses on the development, testing and validation of automated driving functions. In the context of road safety, the main emphasis is on accident prevention.
About the Institute
CARISSMA
Center of Automotive Research on Integrated Safety Systems and Measurement Area
Research and Testing Centre
The CARISSMA Research and Test Centre at THI is designed to serve as a leading scientific centre for vehicle safety in Germany. The 123-metre-long research building came into operation in 2016 and, across more than 4,000 square metres of floor space, houses a total of ten test facilities, including an indoor test facility for crash tests and driving tests, a drop tower, a laboratory for Car2X communication, a laboratory for research into safe energy storage systems, a simulation laboratory and a HiL laboratory. In addition, CARISSMA has access to an outdoor test area for full-vehicle tests, a driving simulator with a hexapod motion platform, and a pedestrian protection laboratory for the development of new testing and sensing methods.
The aim of the centre is to contribute to improving road safety both at home and abroad through applied research. To this end, CARISSMA collaborates with car manufacturers, scientists and research institutions from all over the world. Through their research projects, these interdisciplinary scientists are tackling the societal challenge of ‘Vision Zero’ – the long-term goal of zero road deaths – from a cross-disciplinary perspective. Currently, around 19,800 people are killed in road accidents every year on Europe’s roads alone.
CARISSMA is home to three institutes
Shared facilities and laboratories at CARISSMA
Innovation Centre for Digital Vehicle Forensics
The aim is to investigate accidents involving automated vehicles in a manner that is forensically sound and admissible in court. As traditional reconstruction methods are no longer sufficient for this purpose, the centre is developing manufacturer-independent methods for the extraction and analysis of digital vehicle data and aims to establish itself in the long term as an independent point of contact for experts, investigating authorities and courts.
Hydrogen Technology User Centre
The WTAZ is being established in Pfeffenhausen, near Landshut, and is being developed by the project partners HynErgy GmbH, Landshut University of Applied Sciences, the East Bavarian University of Applied Sciences in Regensburg and Ingolstadt University of Technology.
Attempts at abuse
At an external test site, THI carries out abuse tests on electrochemical energy storage systems, in particular lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) (tests down to cell level).
The tests comply with current regulations and standards such as FreedomCAR and UN 38.3, but also include tests conducted for research purposes.
Car2X Laboratory
The Car2X laboratory is used to conduct research into communication between vehicles (cars, motorbikes, etc.) and with the transport infrastructure (traffic lights, toll bridges, intelligent traffic signs, etc.), taking into account other road users (pedestrians, cyclists).
Laboratory for Sustainable Energy Systems
The laboratory is equipped with a comprehensive range of facilities for research into cost-effective, sustainable and safe energy storage systems.
Driving simulator (hexapod)
Controlling a vehicle using your own smartphone or tablet? An automated vehicle that monitors the driver and adapts their behaviour to changing circumstances? An augmented reality ‘heads-up display’ that superimposes relevant information directly onto objects in the outside world? Nothing is impossible in the CARISSMA driving simulation laboratory. Here, we are already demonstrating how people will be able to interact with vehicles at various levels of automation in the near and distant future
Drop tower
The drop tower is used to investigate the energy absorption behaviour of materials, construction methods, components and structures. The basic function of the drop tower is to raise a test specimen or a defined weight, attached to a drop bar, to a specific height, release it in a controlled manner at that point, and allow it to fall along a linear guide onto a test specimen or an impact surface.
Autonomous driving systems for automated driving trials
An indoor positioning system accurately records the position data of dynamic objects, such as test vehicles and targets, and forms the basis for controlled tests. A driving robot is available to carry out automated and reproducible driving manoeuvres. The mobile robots are flat, drive-over motion platforms that are typically used in tests of driver assistance systems (ADAS).
Hardware-in-the-loop laboratory
Hardware-in-the-Loop simulation (HiL simulation) is an efficient method for functionally testing and validating components of electronic and mechatronic embedded vehicle systems (e.g. automotive control units in an E/E network) as early as the initial development phase. In this process, the technical environment (e.g. the vehicle) is simulated as required, and the hardware under test is fed with input data.
Driving Experience Lab (Mobile Driving Simulator)
The Driving Experience Lab (DEL) was developed as part of our joint project ‘Mensch in Bewegung’ between the Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences (THI) and the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU). The car trailer features a driving simulator laboratory (mock-up), including an operator’s room, which can be moved freely by road and is intended to serve as an information platform for the public on automated driving.
Indoor test facility
The indoor test facility combines active and passive vehicle safety within a unique, flexible infrastructure. It enables a holistic, integrated testing approach to shorten development cycles and efficiently validate innovative safety concepts.
The development of modern integrated vehicle safety and driver assistance systems, as well as safe driving functions for automated driving, requires test conditions that can be precisely defined whilst remaining as realistic as possible.
Outdoor open-air testing ground
At CARISSMA’s outdoor test site, located in the north-east of Ingolstadt, tests are carried out using vehicles and dummies representing road users. Such tests are required both for the design of methods, algorithms and components, and for their validation.
Mobile robots for experimental ADAS testing
Mobile robots are ultra-low-profile, drive-over platforms used for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) testing. Thanks to their vehicle-like movements and programmable trajectories, real-world traffic scenarios can be simulated. These include, for example, junctions and lane-change scenarios.
High-Definition Real-World Test Bed
Intelligent infrastructure is used to supplement the limited environmental awareness of individual road users through additional roadside sensors and local data processing. It is particularly useful when, in complex and confusing traffic situations – such as at urban junctions – it detects critical situations at an early stage and provides information and warnings collectively or cooperatively.
Research vessels
CARISSMA has several vehicles that have been specially modified or reprogrammed for various testing purposes.
Laboratory for Mobility Security and Forensics of Alternative Propulsion Systems
In the laboratory, vehicles and their components are examined for security vulnerabilities, and forensic investigations are carried out on vehicles. Particular emphasis is placed on the examination of electric vehicles.
Laboratory for Safe Energy Storage
The laboratory is used to research and test energy storage systems for hybrid and electric vehicles with regard to their suitability in safety-critical driving situations and for use in the field of vehicle safety.
Simulation laboratory
The simulation laboratory supports research with high-performance hardware and the appropriate software, thereby enabling the preparation of real-world tests in the other laboratories. In particular, tests carried out in the drop tower laboratory, on the indoor test area and on the outdoor test area benefit from prior simulation.
Targets
A wide range of targets is available to simulate a wide variety of traffic scenarios. The targets can be used in both static and highly complex dynamic tests. The main focus is on recreating realistic conditions, for example to investigate the behaviour of sensors.
Twizy (ANTON)
The ANTON research vehicle was built and developed as part of the project of the same name. ANTON serves as an open, exploratory platform for the development and validation of automated and connected driving functions.
Contact
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Prof. Ondrej Vaculin, Ph.D.
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Thomas Dorsch
Scientific Research Officer CARISSMA
