Safe perception of the environment is a crucial prerequisite for automated driving. The sensors and processing chains used must meet the highest requirements for reliability, precision and realism. There are currently no approaches for effective and efficient validation of sensors and processing chains. The RepliCar joint project closes this gap: The project goal is to build a reference system with integrated high-resolution radar, camera, lidar, GNSS and inertial sensors and to integrate it into a test vehicle.

This reference sensor system will be several years ahead of today’s series sensor system. The integration of particularly high-resolution sensors and particularly powerful sensor data fusion for object recognition enable the determination of a highly accurate representation of reality, a so-called “ground truth”. This is the basis for validating sensors for automated driving.

The consortium leader is ANavS GmbH, Munich. They also develop sensor data fusion to determine the “ground truth” for self-localization and environment perception. The Institute for High Frequency Technology and Electronics (IHE) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the Offenburg University of Applied Sciences (HSO) and Freudenberg FST GmbH based in Weinheim are developing a high-precision radar system. This is an essential element in the reference system for environmental perception and is described at intervals by the Institute for Automatic Control Systems (IRS) at KIT.

The project partners AKKA Industry Consulting GmbH, Sindelfingen, the FZI Research Center for Information Technology, Karlsruhe, the IAVF Antriebstechnik GmbH, Karlsruhe, the IPG Automotive GmbH, Karlsruhe, and the GTÜ Society for Technical Monitoring mbH, Stuttgart, define all steps from simulative validation to Release and implement the sensors and functions.

The individual innovations in the validation and testing process for series sensors include artificial intelligence methods for analyzing recorded scenarios, a “sensor in the loop” test bench, integration into existing simulation tools and a modular verification and validation process.

The other partners HighQSoft GmbH, Idstein, and RA Consulting GmbH, Bruchsal, are building a powerful data platform for managing, processing and providing the reference data. The driving demonstrator is realized by Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart. This records initial data and uses it for the release process of an exemplary perception system.

The project runs from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2026.