Autonomous Driving Testing and Homologation Services

Why is autonomous vehicle testing important?

As autonomous driving technology progresses, gaining passengers’ trust, confidence and acceptance are necessary to foster the development of autonomous driving technologies to be used on public roads with thorough self-driving car safety tests. TÜV SÜD is supporting the smooth roll-out of automated Technologies for automated driving and connected vehicles by providing solutions that:

• Address existing challenges by defining new safety assessment compliance criteria for automated and connected technologies
• Adopt an integrated scenario-based approach to assess safety and security in real world environments
• Allow reproducible results required for type approval and confirmation of product safety
• Save time and money with an efficient hybrid testing approach that combines virtual and field testing methods
• Use a self-developed vehicle with high-precision remote control, to conduct on-track testing to put autonomous driving vehicles through their paces in exactly defined and precisely reproducible scenarios     

TÜV SÜD’s self-driving car safety expertise

TÜV SÜD has been working with top automotive OEMs and suppliers globally and has been at the cutting edge of vehicle testing for over 100 years. In the era of highly automated driving, we can draw on our extensive experience in testing and benchmarking of advanced driver assistance systems.

In addition, we participate in standardization committees to facilitate the roll out of automated driving technologies by defining the legal framework and regulations for type approval, as well as in various global projects to develop and establish appropriate testing methodologies to ensure the safety and cyber security of autonomous vehicles. Within our international network of commercial companies, universities, regulatory bodies and research institutes we support you in the safe development and smooth global roll-out of your automated technologies.

We are closely involved with a range of global highly autonomous driving projects:

• IAMTS:The International Alliance for Mobility Testing and Standardization (IAMTS) was founded by TÜV SÜD together with SAE International, China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATARC), Shanghai Intelligent Automotive Center (SIAC), and International Transportation Innovation Center (ITIC). As a global, membership-based alliance of organisations involved in the testing, standardisation and certification of advanced mobility systems and services it follows the mission to develop and grow an international portfolio of smart mobility testbeds that meet the highest quality implementation and operational standards.

• PEGASUS: In Germany, TÜV SÜD is the only technical service organisation participating in the Government’s PEGASUS project of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), an industry consortium with 16 industrial and research partners focused on assessment and validation of highly automated driving systems on highways.
• CETRAN: TÜV SÜD is working with Singapore’s Centre of Excellence for Testing and Research of Autonomous Vehicles (CETRAN) to address the new challenges of regulation development and functional safety of autonomous vehicles within urban environments.

TÜV SÜD’s autonomous vehicle services

Our global team and network of multidisciplinary experts work with you to address new industry challenges:

• System and effectiveness assessment

  To ensure an appropriate homologation, our development teams develop efficient solutions for safety and security assessments, including functional safety testing, quality analysis and performance assessment.

• Combined testing approaches

  As real-world vehicle testing will no longer be sufficient to model the wide ranging scenarios of autonomous vehicles, new assessment criteria must be defined, using a combination of virtual simulations, physical ground or field testing, and additional data (e.g. field and accident data).
  TÜV SÜD is therefore developing a simulation and testing framework, which allows multiple scenarios, environments, system configurations and driver characteristics to be tested and analysed.

• Cyber security measures

  As connectivity levels increase, the risk of hacker attacks on electronic vehicle systems, which could impact road safety and data privacy, will also grow. Harnessing TÜV SÜD’s international IT expertise, new solutions for hazard and risk analysis and data privacy are being developed to address the new threats.

• Autonomous vehicle regulation development

  To facilitate the roll-out of your automated driving technologies, TÜV SÜD participates in standardisation committees which are revising existing and developing new global autonomous vehicle regulations.

• Homologation services for operating automated vehicles on public roads

  TÜV SÜD supports the approval of automated vehicles, prototypes and experimental vehicles by providing various technical advice services, preparation of relevant documents, insights into safety concept and test catalogue, creation of checklists of requirements and AV permits.