Recent studies on robustness of machine learning systems shows that today’s autonomous vehicles struggle with very basic visual disturbances such as rain or snow. There is also a lack of training data that includes off road scenes or scenes with different forms of deformation to the road surface. The purpose of this thesis is to address the lack of off-road scenes in current dataset for training of autonomous vehicles and the issue of visual disturbances by building a simulated 3D environment for generating training scenarios and training data for specific environments. The synthesised scenes is implemented using modern OpenGL, and we propose methods to synthesis rutting and the formation of potholes on road surfaces as well as rain and fog with a parameterized approach. \\ The generated datasets are tested through semantic segmentation using state of the art pretrained neural networks. The results show that the neural networks accurately identifies the road surface in in clear weather as long as the road surface is mostly coherent. The synthesised rain and fog decrease performance of the neural networks significantly. \\ Generating training data with the method presented in this thesis and incorporating it as part of the training data used in training neural networks for autonomous driving systems could be used to improve performance in certain scenarios. Specifically, it could improve performance in driving scenes with heavy road deformations, and in scenes with low visibility. Further research is needed to conclude that the data is useful, but the results generated in this thesis is promising.

The latest trends in autonomous vehicles research gave rise to the needs for specific tools to validate and test such systems. The estimations state that to consider an autonomous vehicle statistically safe, it should drive for thousands of kilometres using traditional validation methods. This process would take a long time. Furthermore, an update in the software, would require to re-run those kilometres. Therefore, the testing must be performed exploiting virtual simulations that should realistically reflect the real world. One way to perfor msuch simulations is to let the vehicle model drive down a road map and control the surrounding traffic. To be effective, spawned traffic should not be generated too far from the target vehicle. The OpenSCENARIO standard offers a feature restricting such traffic within an ellipse centred in the central object (target vehicle). This thesis investigated what technique was more efficient and scalable to detect viable roads within the ellipse to spawn stochastic traffic on. The explored solutions are two: an analytical approach and an adaptation of the AABB tree algorithm. The research started with simple cases and incremented the scenario’s complexity during the development. Through this methodology, each technique’s positive aspects and limits have been highlighted, allowing a comparison to be made. / De senaste trenderna i autonoma fordon har ökat behovet av specifika verktyg för att validera och testa sådana system. För att kunna betrakta ett autonomt fordon som statistiskt säkert, ska enligt uppskattningar autonoma fordon köra tusentals kilometer med traditionella valideringsmetoder. Denna process skulle ta mycket lång tid. Dessutom skulle en uppdatering i mjukvaran kräva att alla dessa tusentals kilometer att körs igen. Därför måste testningen utföras med hjälp av virtuella simuleringar som bör efterlikna den reella världen realistiskt. Ett sätt att genomföra dessa simuleringar är att låta en autonom fordonsmodell köra genom ett vägnät och kontrollera kringliggande trafik. För att vara effektiv, bör kringliggande trafik inte genereras för långt bort från autonoma fordonsmodellen. OpenSCENARIO-standarden innehåller en funktion som begränsar genererad trafik inom en ellips centrerad kring fordonsmodellen. Detta examensarbete undersökte vilka tekniker som är mest effektiva och skalbara för att detektera relevanta vägar inom ellipsen att generera stokastisk trafik på. De två lösningar som studerades var: en analytisk och en numerisk som använde sig av AABB-träd-algoritmen. Utförandet började med simpla fall som successivt ökade till mer avancerade scenarion. Genom denna metodik blev varje tekniks positiva aspekter samt begränsningar belysta och jämförbara.

This document is intended to give an overview of the validation of the human subject study, conducted in the driving simulator of the Chair of Traffic and Transportation Psychology (Verkehrspsychologie – VPSY) of the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD), as well of the validation of the stochastic traffic simulation developed in the AutoDrive project by the Chair of Automotive Engineering (Lehrstuhl Kraftfahrzeugtechnik – LKT) of TUD. Furthermore, the evaluation process of a C-AEB (Cooperative-Automatic Emergency Brake) system is demonstrated. The main purpose was to compare the driving behaviour of the study participants and the driving behaviour of the agents in the traffic simulation with real world data. Based on relevant literature, a validation concept was designed and real world data was collected using drones and stationary cameras. By means of qualitative and quantitative analysis it could be shown, that the driving simulator study shows realistic driving behaviour in terms of mean speed. Moreover, the stochastic traffic simulation already reflects reality in terms of mean and maximum speed of the agents. Finally, the performed evaluation proofed the suitability of the developed stochastic simulation for the assessment process. Furthermore, it could be shown, that a C-AEB system improves the traffic safety for the chosen test-scenarios.

Within the AutoDrive project, openPASS is used to develop a cognitive stochastic traffic flow simulation for urban intersections and highway scenarios, which are described in deliverable D1.14. The deliverable D2.16 includes the customizations of the framework openPASS that are required to provide a basis for the development and implementation of the driver behavior model and the evaluated safety function. The trial design for the evaluation of the safety functions is described. Furthermore, the design of the driver behavior study is introduced to parameterize and validate the underlying driver behavior model.

As part of the AutoDrive project, OpenPASS is used to develop a cognitive-stochastic traffic flow simulation for urban intersection scenarios described in deliverable D1.14. The deliverable D4.20 is about the design of the modules for the stochastic traffic simulation. This initially includes an examination of the existing traffic simulations described in chapter 2. Subsequently, the underlying tasks of the driver when crossing an intersection are explained. The main part contains the design of the cognitive structure of the road user (chapter 4.2) and the development of the cognitive behaviour modules (chapter 4.3).

As part of the AutoDrive project, the OpenPASS framework is used to develop a cognitive-stochastic traffic flow simulation for urban intersection scenarios described in deliverable D1.14. This framework was adapted and further developed. The deliverable D5.13 deals with the construction of the stochastic traffic simulation. At this point of the process, the theoretical design aspects of D4.20 are implemented. D5.13 explains the operating principles of the different modules. This includes the foundations, boundary conditions, and mathematical theory of the traffic simulation.

Seeking a valuable and relevant topic for the future of mobility. the author came across the pain point trust in relation to artificial intelligence. Advances in the creation of artificial intelligence and deep learning ensure that our everyday lives are increasingly shaped by algorithms, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously.For many people, this idea causes discomfort, and especially in situations of one‘s own vulnerability, the question of how an AI will handle more responsible tasks in the future will be essential. The automotive industry will also be shaped by this issue. In the intelligent car of the future, people will at least partially relinquish both control and privacy. Autonomous driving will be a test of trust for future users, as will the question of digital ethics and the collection of private data. In this thesis, a possible answer to the question was explored, how we can shape the approach and interaction with technology - especially artificial intelligence - in the future in order to create trustf uluser experiences. For this purpose, beyond the formal-aesthetic elaboration, the main focus was on interactive solutions and communication with AI, how an AI behaves in the vehicle and how it can contribute to making users feel comfortable in such a context. BMW Me&AI describes a scenario in which potential customers get to know an intelligent vehicle for the first time and are carefully introduced to its processes and possibilities. Inspired by soft robotics, the presented interior design is mainly defined by a holistic concept of soft interaction surfaces. Three basic scenarios are described in which passengers have the freedom to either look over AI‘s shoulder, sit back and focus on other things, or be completely on their own. This created a result that became unique in its dynamics and degree of adaptability and posed a real challenge, especially for the creative process, which in retrospect clearly paid off.

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Once automatic vehicles are available, working from self-driving car (WFC) in the AV's mobile office will be a real option. It allows firms to socialize land costs for office space from the office lot to road infrastructure used by AV. Employees, in turn, can switch wasted commuting time into working hours and reduce daily time tied to working. We develop a microeconomic model of employer's offer and employees choice of WFC contracts and hours. Using data for Germany and the U.S., we perform Monte Carlo studies to assess whether WFC may become reality. Eventually, we study the impact of transport pricing on these choices. Our findings is, that WFC contracts are likely to be a standard feature of large cities given current wages, office, and current and expected travel costs. There is a clear decline of hours spent working in office. On average, WFC hours and distance traveled slightly exceed commuting figures.

The Localization and Map building module is a core building block for designing an autonomous vehicle. It describes the vehicle ability to create an accurate model of its surroundings and maintain its position in the environment at the same time. In this thesis work, we contribute to the autonomous driving research area by providing a proof-of-concept of integrating SLAM solutions into commercial vehicles; improving the robustness of the Localization and Map building module. The proposed system applies Bayesian inference theory within the occupancy grid mapping framework and utilizes Rao-Blackwellized Particle Filter for estimating the vehicle trajectory. The work has been done at Scania CV where a heavy duty vehicle equipped with multiple-Lidar sensory architecture was used. Low level sensor fusion of the different Lidars was performed and a parallelized implementation of the algorithm was achieved using a GPU. When tested on the frequently used datasets in the community, the implemented algorithm outperformed the scan-matching technique and showed acceptable performance in comparison to another state-of-art RBPF implementation that adapts some improvements on the algorithm. The performance of the complete system was evaluated under a designed set of real scenarios. The proposed system showed a significant improvement in terms of the estimated trajectory and provided accurate occupancy representations of the vehicle surroundings. The fusion module was found to build more informative occupancy grids than the grids obtained form individual sensors. / Modulen som har hand om både lokalisering och byggandet av karta är en av huvudorganen i ett system för autonom körning. Den beskriver bilens förmåga att skapa en modell av omgivningen och att hålla en position i förhållande till omgivningen. I detta examensarbete bidrar vi till forskningen inom autonom bilkörning med ett valideringskoncept genom att integrera SLAM-lösningar i kommersiella fordon, vilket förbättrar robustheten hos lokaliserings-kartbyggarmodulen. Det föreslagna systemet använder sig utav Bayesiansk statistik applicerat i ett ramverk som har hand om att skapa en karta, som består av ett rutnät som används för att beskriva ockuperingsgraden. För att estimera den bana som fordonet kommer att färdas använder ramverket RBPF(Rao-Blackwellized particle filter). Examensarbetet har genomförts hos Scania CV, där ett tungt fordon utrustat med flera lidarsensorer har använts. En lägre nivå av sensor fusion applicerades för de olika lidarsensorerna och en parallelliserad implementation av algoritmen implementerades på GPU. När algoritmen kördes mot data som ofta används av ”allmänheten” kan vi konstatera att den implementerade algoritmen ger ett väldigt mycket bättre resultat än ”scan-matchnings”-tekniken och visar på ett acceptabelt resultat i jämförelse med en annan högpresterande RBPFimplementation, vilken tillför några förbättringar på algoritmen. Prestandan av hela systemet utvärderas med ett antal egendesignade realistiska scenarion. Det föreslagna systemet visar på en tydlig förbättring av uppskattningen av körbanan och bidrar även med en exakt representation av omgivningen. Sensor Fusionen visar på en bättre och mer informativ representation än när man endast utgår från de individuella lidarsensorerna.