AB Dynamics platform adds cyclists and pedestrians to ADAS and AV testing

UK-based AB Dynamics (ABD) has released its LaunchPad platform with the intention of offering choreographed control of all mobile features involved in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicle testing. The solution, according to Jeremy Ash, the company’s commercial manager, will help create complex scenarios that potentially involve multiple pedestrians, cyclists and cars that are all synchronised and coordinated with the test vehicle. LaunchPad’s power controller runs on the comp
March 27, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
UK-based AB Dynamics (ABD) has released its LaunchPad platform with the intention of offering choreographed control of all mobile features involved in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicle testing. The solution, according to Jeremy Ash, the company’s commercial manager, will help create complex scenarios that potentially involve multiple pedestrians, cyclists and cars that are all synchronised and coordinated with the test vehicle.


LaunchPad’s power controller runs on the company’s Robot Controller software. The proprietary TrackFi radio shares position data with other ABD controllers via the Syncrho interface, which aims to allow its motion to be synchronised with the test vehicle and other ADAS targets. The self-propelled chassis, at 65mm height, is said to carry pedestrian, cyclist, moped, scooter and animal dummies at speeds up to 50kph.

The trajectory of the system can be programmed using a graphical path generation utility to help simplify the process of creating and running complex scenarios with multiple moving objects.

In addition, the aluminium chassis comes with shallow sloping sides that allow it to be repeatedly run over. Batteries can be replaced without removing the target.
 
“LaunchPad has taken us a further step towards testing ADAS performance under every potential scenario that could arise, able to represent even the unpredictable behaviour of an animal on the highway. It’s one reason why 100% of 6437 Euro NCAP test laboratories use our products for ADAS testing”, Ash added.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • On the Edge with Verizon’s new real-time V2X platform
    June 11, 2025
    Solution allows vehicles to share data with each other, VRUs and infrastructure
    Read More
  • UK’s Loughborough University attempts to smooth Europe’s path to C/AVs
    December 10, 2018
    Loughborough University in the UK is leading a three-year initiative which aims to assess the impact of introducing connected and autonomous vehicles (C/AVs) in Europe. The £5.7m project, called Levitate, is funded by the European Union and will help European cities to plan for the effect C/AVs will have on infrastructure and society. Levitate began this month and will consider how AVs might improve safety, congestion and the environment, while looking at key policy decisions which would maximise thei
    Read More
  • Scania tests truck platooning
    February 11, 2015
    Dutch Infrastructure and Environment Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen, along with representatives of the European Commission, recently took part in test drive of truck platooning on the A28 in the Netherlands. The convoy consisted of three Scania R500 Streamline trucks; the steering was done by truck drivers, but speed and braking were controlled by the front truck using wi-fi technology. The plan is to have fully self driving trucks in the future. This method of coupled drive, based on adaptive cr
    Read More
  • ACE report: private sector and user-pay for English roads
    May 16, 2018
    It’s one minute to midnight for funding England’s roads, according to a timely new report - and the clock’s big hand is pointing to some form of user-pay solution, reports David Arminas. Is there any way out of future user-pay funding for England’s highway infrastructure? The answer is a resounding ‘no’, according to the recently-published report Funding Roads for the Future. The 25-page document by the London-based Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) calls for a radical rethink about how to
    Read More

Highlighted Content