Minimize the need for physical prototyping

Siemens PLM Software unveiled a groundbreaking solution for the development of autonomous driving systems at the Siemens US Innovation Day event held in Chicago.

This solution, part of the Simcenter portfolio, significantly reduces the test drive time required to prove the safety of autonomous vehicles and minimizes the need for extensive physical prototyping.

Siemens PLM Software's new solution is designed to help automotive manufacturers and their suppliers solve these industry challenges using advanced physics-based simulation and innovative sensor data processing technology, thereby reducing the time required for the development, verification, and certification of autonomous vehicles by more than several years.

The new Simcenter solution integrates autonomous driving technology from Mentor Graphics, recently acquired by Siemens, and TASS International, a global supplier of simulation software. Looking at how Simcenter works, the simulation environment based on PreScan, TASS International’s advanced safety automotive simulation solution, generates simulations of highly realistic physics-based raw sensor data for infinite potential driving scenarios, traffic conditions, and other parameters.

TASS’s FreeScan inputs data generated from LiDAR and camera sensors—the core "eyes" of autonomous driving—into Mentor Graphics’ DRS360 simulation platform for autonomous driving. There, the data is fused in real-time to generate a high-resolution model of the vehicle's environment and driving conditions. By utilizing this, customers can test and improve proprietary algorithms for critical tasks, such as object recognition and driving policies, using the DRS360 platform’s superior perception resolution and high-performance processing capabilities.

Dr. Jan Leuridan, Senior Vice President of Simulation and Test Solutions at Siemens PLM Software, stated, “Automakers recognize that physical prototypes and road tests alone cannot address all the complex driving scenarios that autonomous vehicles will encounter. In fact, many of the most critical scenarios are impossible to reproduce, and others are too dangerous to recreate, making pre-testing impossible for ethical reasons. Whether the commercialization of fully autonomous vehicles can be achieved in the short term depends on the advancement of advanced physics-based simulation technology.” "Siemens is a global leader in the field of automotive design simulation," he emphasized.

Siemens PLM Software is developing physically based 3D simulation versions of specific sensor modules in collaboration with numerous leading global manufacturers of LiDAR, radar, and vision sensing products to provide the most comprehensive and accurate solutions. Compatible with the new Siemens toolchain, these simulation versions of sensors are tuned to utilize detailed design information from sensor suppliers and are certified using real-world measurement data, thereby achieving optimal accuracy. One of the key sensor partners, Cepton Technologies, is an innovative Silicon Valley-based company renowned for developing small-profile, long-range LiDAR sensors. Announcements regarding additional sensor partners are scheduled to be made later this year.