Abstract
Testing and evaluating automated driving systems (ADS) in interactions with vulnerable road users (VRUs), such as cyclists, are essential for improving the safety of VRUs, but often lack realism. This paper presents and validates a coupled in-the-loop test environment that integrates a Cyclist-in-the Loop test bench with a Vehicle-in-the-Loop test bench via a virtual environment (VE) developed in Unreal Engine 5. The setup enables closed-loop, bidirectional interaction between a real human cyclist and a real automated vehicle under safe and controllable conditions. The automated vehicle reacts to cyclist gestures via stimulated camera input, while the cyclist, riding a stationary bicycle, perceives and reacts to the vehicle in the VE in real time. Validation experiments are conducted using a real automated shuttle bus with a track-and-follow function, performing three test maneuvers - straight-line driving with stop, circular track driving, and double lane change - on a proving ground and in the coupled in-the-loop test environment. The performance is evaluated by comparing the resulting vehicle trajectories in both environments. Additionally, the introduced latencies of individual components in the test setup are measured. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the approach and highlight its strengths and limitations for realistic ADS evaluation.
Abstract (translated)
测试和评估自动驾驶系统（ADS）与弱势道路使用者（VRU，如骑自行车的人）互动的安全性至关重要，但这类评估往往缺乏真实性。本文提出并验证了一种集成的闭环测试环境，该环境通过使用虚幻引擎5开发的虚拟环境将“骑行者在环”测试台和“车辆在环”测试台连接起来。这种设置能够在安全且可控的情况下实现真实人类骑自行车人与真实自动驾驶汽车之间的闭环双向互动。具体来说，自动驾驶车辆通过模拟相机输入对骑车人的手势作出反应，而骑车人在虚拟环境中实时感知并回应这辆车的动作。 为了验证这一方法的有效性，研究团队使用了一辆具有跟随功能的真实自动穿梭巴士，在测试场地上进行三种不同的机动操作：直线行驶带停车、圆形赛道驾驶和双车道变换。这些操作既在实际的测试场地中完成，也在耦合的闭环测试环境中进行。通过比较两种环境下生成的车辆轨迹来评估性能，并测量了测试设备各个组件引入的时间延迟。 研究结果表明，该方法具有可行性，并揭示了其用于现实世界自动驾驶系统评估的优势和局限性。这种方法为提高弱势道路使用者的安全性提供了一个有价值的工具。
URL
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.21859
