Cameras are an essential component of ADAS and AD systems as they enable precise detection of the surroundings. They provide important data for object detection, lane tracking and obstacle avoidance, which are essential for the safety and efficiency of these systems.

The realistic sensor simulations in Aurelion make it possible to reproduce various driving scenarios and conditions as they occur in the real world. Simulations enable developers to ensure that ADAS or AD systems are reliable and robust long before they hit the road.

“Models for OmniVision cameras are now part of our sensor simulation solution Aurelion. By expanding our technology partnerships with one of the world’s leading developers of semiconductor technology, we are extending the testing options for our customers, shortening development cycles and reducing costs from the development phase to validation,” explained Caius Seiger, product manager, sensor simulation, at dSPACE.

“Through our collaboration with dSPACE, we are able to bring OmniVision’s high-performance image sensors into a highly realistic virtual testing environment. With Aurelion’s physics-based simulation capabilities, developers can validate their ADAS and autonomous driving systems earlier and more efficiently; accelerate innovation; and ensure safer, more reliable perception solutions for the automotive industry,” said Steve Wang, director of imaging technologies, OmniVision. 

In related news, Gatik has unveiled its next-gen simulation platform built on Nvidia Cosmos

Researchers from the University of Glasgow developed the CycleARcade tool, which uses augmented reality headsets to enables cyclists to see and interact with simulated autonomous vehicles as they ride in real-world environments.

The team used CycleARcade to explore how new gear could equip cyclists with a “sixth sense” to help them be more aware of self-driving cars’ intentions. The researchers also examined how cyclists from different countries may expect different behaviours from autonomous vehicles on their local roads.

Unlike traditional simulators which use stationary bikes surrounded by computer screens to mimic real-world situations, CycleARcade enables a more realistic experience, where cyclists ride freely in open spaces with graphics of virtual vehicles displayed in their headsets. The system provides researchers with precise control over the virtual vehicles, enabling cyclists to safely test out immersive scenarios which could be dangerous on real roads with actual cars.

The team’s research builds on previous work it has conducted on how autonomous vehicles can communicate effectively with cyclists to replace the complex set of nods, waves and eye signals that human drivers and riders have developed to signal their intentions to each other. Their CycleARcade research will be presented as two papers later this month at the CHI Conference in Japan.

The first paper outlines how the Glasgow team used CycleARcade to test new designs for interfaces which could alert cyclists to nearby autonomous vehicles and provide information about the cars’ intentions.

With the help of a focus group of 20 cyclists, the researchers developed and tested three virtual displays which would give riders information about vehicles around them in different road scenarios where some cars would yield to the cyclists while others would not.

One prototype, RoadAlert, displayed signals about the cars’ intentions directly onto the road surface and played spatial audio beeps which got louder as vehicles approached. A second, called reARview, gave riders a virtual rear-view mirror through augmented reality glasses. The third, named Gem, used handlebar-mounted displays to communicate the virtual vehicles’ movements.

Ammar Al-Taie, from the University of Glasgow’s School of Computing Science and the paper’s lead author, said, “Technology offers an opportunity to augment cyclists’ awareness of the roads around them, providing a kind of ‘sixth sense’ to help them navigate safely.

“What we found in this study is that you don’t need to alert cyclists about all vehicles equally. Cyclists need focused awareness of vehicles that pose the greatest risk, like those approaching from behind or vehicles that won’t yield, while being able to maintain attention on the road ahead. RoadAlert was the design that brought those qualities together most effectively for our study participants.

“It’s important to emphasize, though, that we’re not expecting cyclists to have to adopt this kind of technology in order to stay safe on the roads in the future. Instead, we’re expanding the toolbox for cyclists who want additional support or awareness, who could choose to buy devices specifically designed to do so.”

In the second paper, computing scientists and psychologists from the University of Glasgow and colleagues from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden show how they used CycleARcade to probe the road safety expectations of cyclists in three different countries, with very different levels of cycling infrastructure.

They gave CycleARcade kits to cyclists in cities in Sweden, Oman and Scotland and asked them to ride in simulated road conditions with computer-controlled projections of autonomous vehicles displayed in their headsets.

In Stockholm, where cyclists are used to having their own space in dedicated cycle lanes, riders wanted to know exactly where the self-driving car was located around them. They preferred to take their time to judge its intentions by watching its driving behaviour.

In Muscat, where cyclists regularly navigate busy shared roads and make fast-paced decisions about their next move, riders were more likely to quickly trust direct signals from the vehicles.

Cyclists from Glasgow, which has a limited number of dedicated bike lanes, took a more balanced approach. They reported that they wanted to see both location information and clear signals about the vehicle’s intentions.

“These findings clearly show that cyclists learn to share the roads with cars differently from country to country, which suggests that self-driving cars might need to adapt their communication methods to better speak the language of the local roads,” said Al-Taie. “Humans often do this naturally when driving abroad, but autonomous vehicles may need to have their programming tweaked to take local driving culture into account when they start rolling out around the world in the years to come.”

The paper has been selected by the conference for an Honorable Mention award, which is presented to the top 5% of papers submitted to CHI 2025.

CycleARcade is the latest development in research led by Professor Stephen Brewster, of the University of Glasgow’s School of Computing Science, which focuses on how cyclists can communicate with self-driving cars in the years ahead.

Professor Brewster said, “Ultimately, we’re aiming to thoroughly explore the ways in which cyclists and autonomous vehicles can speak the same language on the roads to keep both as safe as possible. Human drivers and riders have developed a sophisticated series of signals to help decide who has the right of way or who has priority in a change of lanes, for example, and it’s vital that cyclists can have the same level of trust and understanding with self-driving cars.

“CycleARcade is a powerful tool to help explore how that new language can be developed, using real bikes in real physical spaces, with virtual elements that can be tweaked or replaced in real time. We’re continuing to work on research in this area, and we hope that our insights will help influence the design of future generations of autonomous vehicles.”

The team’s papers, titled, ‘Around the World in 60 Cyclists: Evaluating Autonomous Vehicle-Cyclist Interfaces Across Cultures’ and ‘evARything, evARywhere, all at once: Exploring Scalable Holistic Autonomous Vehicle-Cyclist Interfaces’, will be presented at the CHI Conference in Yokohama, Japan, on Monday, April 28, and Wednesday, April 30, respectively.

Under the 2019 PACTE law, acquiring a driverless permit in France requires approval from multiple government agencies, coordinated by the Directorate General for Energy and Climate (DGEC), in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Ecological Transition. The process involves thorough evaluations of technical documents, safety protocols and operational plans. WeRide and beti completed this rigorous process in three months – setting a record for France’s fastest driverless permit approval.

With this new permit, WeRide’s autonomous minibus is authorized to operate at speeds of up to 40km/h, making this the highest-speed driverless permit issued in France to date.

On February 27, WeRide, in collaboration with beti, Renault Group and Macif, launched Europe’s first public-road commercial autonomous minibus service in Valence, Drôme, France. The acquisition of the permit provides crucial regulatory backing and government endorsement, reinforcing the project’s progress. By July 2025, the partners aim to introduce a fully driverless commercial operation with one-to-multiple remote hypervision.

As a global pioneer and leader in autonomous mobility, WeRide has established a strong presence in 30 cities across 10 countries. The company’s innovative fleet of pre-designed, mass-produced autonomous vehicles — including robotaxi, robobus and robosweeper — has already been deployed in France, Spain, Switzerland, Singapore, the UAE, Japan and more.

Committed to building an open and collaborative ecosystem, WeRide has forged strategic partnerships with leading industry players, including Uber, the world’s largest mobility and delivery technology company; Renault Group, a top-tier global OEM; beti, a leading European autonomous mobility network operator; CTM, Singapore’s Tier 1 environmental services provider; Zurich Airport, one of Europe’s busiest transportation hubs; and Macif, a prominent French insurance company.

Tier IV is sharing the design of the autonomous driving system – including vehicle specifications and software architecture – making it easier for companies in the automotive industry to enter the robotaxi market. Part of efforts to encourage a Japan-led standard for robotaxis, this prototype is poised to strengthen the nation’s position in the global robotaxi sector. Geared toward integrating robotaxi services into Japan’s transportation network, the initiative follows Tier IV’s selection in August 2024 for a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry project aimed at promoting digital transformation in the mobility sector.

Using an existing electric vehicle platform, the prototype features an exterior and interior optimized for robotaxi applications, with a sensor configuration fine-tuned for Autoware, open-source software for autonomous driving. Tier IV has also developed a conversational AI agent powered by a large language model, enabling intuitive voice interactions for tasks such as destination selection to enhance the ride experience.

In addition to this prototype, Tier IV is running a robotaxi trial in Tokyo and collaborating with a taxi operator on a data collection project to enhance autonomous driving AI.

“AV Elevate’s ability to generate precise synthetic training data and test complex parking scenarios quickly has significantly reduced our development time and cost,” said Simon George, director of embedded software – solutions engineering at AMD. “The platform allows us to more rapidly iterate and develop our automated parking systems by testing them against countless edge cases that would be impractical to recreate in the real world.”

The announcement follows the successful demonstration of the AMD-powered automated parking solution at CES 2025. The company used high-fidelity simulations from rFpro to showcase its parking assistance systems in a variety of virtual scenarios. The demonstration highlighted the technology’s ability to handle challenging parking scenarios, including tight spaces, complex maneuvers and various lighting conditions.

“It has been fascinating to collaborate with AMD, who are at the forefront of automated driving and ADAS technologies,” said Matt Daley, technical director at rFpro. “The selection of AV Elevate by AMD helps to validate the platform’s position as the industry’s most advanced simulation solution for autonomous vehicles. We are proud to be involved in helping to accelerate the development of safer, more reliable automated driving systems that will benefit drivers worldwide.”

AV Elevate is a fully integrated simulation solution that enables the tuning of sensors, the training of perception and control algorithms and testing of the full AV technology stack. It is the industry’s most advanced platform to provide closed-loop perception testing and the creation of engineering-grade synthetic training data.

The platform integrates high-fidelity sensor models for all major AV sensor types, such as cameras, lidar and radar, and includes a comprehensive library of standard sensor models alongside digital twins of commercially available sensors.

At the core of AV Elevate is rFpro’s physically modeled virtual environments and ray-tracing rendering technology. Every element in the scene has been physically modeled with realistic material characteristics and a road surface model accurate to 1mm, enabling the production of highly realistic training data.

rFpro’s library of more than 180 real-world digital twins provides a highly accurate and diverse virtual proving ground. This gives AMD access to a comprehensive range of locations for complex scenarios, including typical underground, city and rural parking locations as well extensive real-world public roads.

This potentially doubles the federal government’s financial investment with ARC since the last agreement, reached in 2019. Following its 1994 launch, the ARC has served as a source of technology and first-in-class modeling and simulation for the Army’s fleet of vehicles—the largest such fleet in the world.

“We are driving the development of modern mobility systems with our advanced modeling and simulation methods, such as high-fidelity synthetic environments, virtual vehicle prototypes and virtual reality tools for human-autonomy teaming,” said ARC director Bogdan Epureanu, the Roger L. McCarthy Professor of Mechanical Engineering and professor of electrical engineering and computer science.

“The cost and time needed to collect data through physical experimentation is prohibitive, and the amount of data needed to enable autonomous operation in off-road, military, emergency or disaster relief scenarios is thousands of times larger than that needed for operation in cities. Cutting-edge modeling and simulation approaches such as the ones developed in the ARC provide a critical solution to this enormous challenge.”

The 14-member collection of universities and institutes, led by U-M, features a total of 84 faculty members, 34 industry partners and four government agencies. It is an ecosystem of research and innovation devoted to transforming ground system technologies.

“The University of Michigan’s Automotive Research Center provides invaluable research and partnership to the U.S. Army that has helped propel the development of next-generation ground vehicle systems and other technologies vital to our men and women in uniform,” said U.S. Sen. Gary Peters. “As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I have repeatedly fought to ensure the ARC receives the support and resources it needs to continue this important work, and I welcome this news that it will remain an essential partner to the U.S. Army for years to come.”

In the earliest years of the ARC’s partnership, the bulk of its research focused on energy and powertrain issues. That work led to advances such as accurate modeling of combat personnel and their gear to assist with vehicle design, engine designs and performance simulations, blast modeling and simulation techniques, as well as a better understanding of lithium ion battery performance and design.

Some of the results cross over from military to civilian applications, such as digital engineering for reliability-based optimization of vehicle safety. Ramdo Solutions offers vehicle design tools based on technology developed at ARC.

In recent years, ARC’s focus has shifted toward autonomous technologies that have become increasingly important to the military and beyond.

“The ARC is the Army’s Center of Excellence in Modeling and Simulation,” said David Gorsich, Army chief scientist for ground vehicles. “The research it conducts is crucial to developing the next generation of digital engineering tools to be used by government and industry.

“Using the latest digital engineering tools allows the Army community to design and develop advanced vehicle systems quickly and efficiently, bringing modern capabilities to our soldiers. These modern ground vehicles are more complex than ever before, requiring modern analysis and design tools. They are fuel-efficient, survivable, reliable, semi-autonomous and software-intensive systems. These characteristics reduce our logistical burden while increasing operational effectiveness.”

The ARC brings together researchers working in engineering, machine learning, human factors and social behavior. And it fits within U-M’s broader mission of exploring the future of mobility—from autonomous and connected vehicle technology to battery research for electric vehicles.

Participating institutions include: the University of Iowa; Wayne State University; Clemson University; Oakland University; Virginia Tech; Michigan Technological University; Mississippi State University; the University of Alabama at Birmingham; the University of California, Irvine; George Mason University; Central Michigan University; Michigan State University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

“We have years of safe and proven experience operating fleets of rider-only vehicles on public roads across California and Arizona, and millions of miles of experience operating autonomous class 8 trucks and cars on freeways with a specialist present,” the blog post continued. “As part of our focus on scaling ride hailing, we’ve incrementally ramped up our testing on freeways with passenger vehicles over the past year. Now, as we prepare to take the next step of removing the autonomous specialist from our operations, we’re following the same processes outlined by our safety framework that helped us responsibly launch and expand the world’s first fully autonomous ride hailing service over three years ago.

“Before expanding, we ensure we have a comprehensive understanding of the environment we plan to operate and our system’s capabilities. Waymo’s years of experience driving cars and trucks on freeways taught us to navigate everyday scenarios autonomously and inform our approach to responding to rare events safely. We continuously iterate and improve our technology and operations through a rigorous process that combines structured testing, simulation, and public road operations so we’re prepared for this next phase.

“As we gradually ramp up our operations, Waymo employees will have the opportunity to hail rider-only trips on freeways across Phoenix. ‘Waymonauts’ will provide invaluable feedback about the service and rider experience during freeway trips before we welcome Waymo One riders.

“Taking a freeway instead of a surface street in Phoenix can significantly improve a rider’s experience. For example, a trip from Sky Harbor Airport to the northern parts of Scottsdale can be 50% faster by taking AZ-101 compared to city streets. The ability to utilize freeways will be especially important as we scale our operations to other cities. For this reason, we are laser focused on our freeway ride hailing testing.”

The event combines a free to-attend exhibition where over 80 leading tech suppliers from North America, Europe and beyond will display their latest innovations with an intensive two-day conference (rates apply) featuring over 70 speakers from organizations including Waymo, Zoox, Torc Robotics, the California Department of Motor Vehicles, ASAM, Google, Kodiak Robotics and more. Register here for your free fast-track exhibition entry code. 

Just some of the companies exhibiting or speaking in Santa Clara next week!

Visitors will find the best new equipment for simulation, synthetic data, datalogging, labeling and annotation, absolute positioning, mapping, V2X and signal testing, alongside the latest lidar, radar, cameras, sensor fusion and AI processing – everything you need for your testing and vehicle progression, all under one roof. 

Highlights include a new vulnerable road user (VRU) target platform from AB Dynamics; a cloud software solution for autonomous driving simulation and validation from dSpace; the latest in critical scenario creation from Siemens; and an ADAS replay and HIL system built in with RDMA technology, from NI. OxTS will debut a new lidar odometry solution; and Xylon is set to reveal its Quattro datalogging and HIL system.

See all the latest exhibitor news here.

What’s more, 70+ expert speakers from OEMs, big tech and Tier 1s, including Amazon, Plus, Google, Uber, Motional and Intel, will present at the adjoining conference (rates apply). Presentations not to miss include a deep dive into ‘Radars in autonomy – current landscape, challenges, and the future‘ from Zoox, while Waymo will discuss ‘Measuring surprising road user behavior‘. See the full conference speaker list here; and read the full conference program here.

You can read ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International’s official show preview in the September 2023 edition of the mag here.

Automotive customers are increasingly leveraging the cloud to innovate and transform their operating model, relying on cloud experts with extensive automotive experience. AWS Automotive Competency Partners provide customers with solutions and services across their digital transformation journey while being assured they have support from a validated AWS Partner to meet their needs. These solutions follow AWS’s best practices for building secure, high-performing, resilient and efficient cloud infrastructure for industry-specific applications.

Achieving the AWS Automotive Competency defines dSPACE as an AWS Partner Network (APN) member with demonstrated technical proficiency and proven customer success in running cloud solutions on AWS for the automotive industry. This program showcases automotive consulting and software AWS Partners who have domain knowledge and provide cloud services. To receive the AWS Automotive Competency designation, AWS Partners must undergo a rigorous technical validation and provide vetted customer references.

“dSPACE is proud to achieve the AWS Automotive Competency,” said the company’s product manager for data replay, Gregor Hordys. “Our team is committed to accelerating the development of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving (AD) applications by leveraging the agility, breadth of services and pace of innovation that AWS provides.”

Discover more about dSPACE at ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle Technology Expo California, September 20 & 21, 2023, in Santa Clara, where the company will exhibit its latest innovations on Booth 509.

Read more dSPACE news here

This new project, DriveSafeAI, brings together Wayve’s expertise in developing end-to-end machine learning for self-driving with WMG’s world-leading expertise in verifying and validating the safety of self-driving technologies. The project will develop a set of safety methods, tools and data sets for self-driving vehicles and create the evidence to underpin future AI regulation and policy. Feedback on the approach will be provided by an independent advisory committee. 

Wayve is reimagining self-driving vehicle technology, using data and AI to create an embodied artificial intelligence with the capability to drive any electric vehicle in any city. The company’s unique approach, called AV2.0, can seamlessly integrate with existing fleets and infrastructure and adapt to new environments. 

Demonstrating the safety of AI is a crucial step toward realizing the benefits of self-driving vehicles. To deploy on a widespread and commercial scale and gain access to a market projected to be worth £42bn (US$52.7bn) by 2035, the trust of the public and policymakers in AI-powered self-driving technology is essential. 

DriveSafeAI is part of CCAV’s Commercialising CAM Supply Chain Competition (CCAMSC), which is funded by the UK’s Centre for Connected and Automated Vehicles, a joint unit between the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the Department for Transport (DfT), and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK and Zenzic.

The £18.5m (US$23.2m) CCAMSC competition was launched in October 2022 to support the deployment of self-driving vehicles by strengthening the capabilities of the sovereign UK CAM supply chain; it is part of the government’s vision for self-driving vehicles.

“At Wayve, we know that confidence in our technology is crucial to commercialization and widespread adoption of self-driving vehicles,” said Alex Kendall, CEO and co-founder of Wayve. “Leveraging AI, we have the chance to bring the benefits of self-driving vehicles to everyone’s door. But first, securing trust in AI is paramount. That’s why we’ve been working closely with government and academia to ensure the methodologies we use to evidence safety are clear and trustworthy. Today, we’re excited to announce a formal partnership with WMG, University of Warwick, global leaders in the safety of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems. DriveSafeAI will give the public and policymakers confidence in this technology, which has the potential to revolutionize transport.”

“AI and particularly embodied AIs like self-driving vehicles is one of the biggest disruptors for society,” added Prof. Siddartha Khastgir, head of verification and validation at WMG, University of Warwick. “Deploying this technology safely is essential to realizing the huge opportunity they offer society. At WMG, through DriveSafeAI we are excited to be partnering with Wayve, a leader in self-driving vehicle technology, to help shape the safe AI landscape in the UK and globally. We truly believe the safety of this technology needs to be proven collaboratively and that future policy should have strong research foundations.”

For more on autonomous vehicles, click here