#Opendrive reviews simulator

OpenDRIVE consists of a core expert team that reviews and releases the standard. ASAM (Association for Standardization of Automation and Measuring Systems) is a non-profit organization that promotes standardization for tool chains in automotive development and testing. When the initiative was published in 2006 other companies joined in which lead to the transfer of OpenDRIVE to ASAM in 2018.

#Opendrive reviews simulator

The OpenDRIVE initiative was initially started in 2005 by Daimler Driving Simulator and VIRES Simulationstechnologie GmbH to describe entire road networks. The converter, which currently supports NDS version 2.5.4 and OpenDRIVE 1.5, is regularly updated with new scenarios. Edge cases for the ECU’s operation can be modelled in the format and tested on the ECU by converting that map to NDS. With the converter, real-world situations can be made available for simulation during the development process by converting an NDS map to OpenDRIVE. For example, Electronic Control Units (ECU) running with NDS map data can be simulated with environment and traffic simulation tools that require the same map data in OpenDRIVE format. Because drive simulations can be helpful in a number of situations. The NDS converter can transcode NDS data into OpenDRIVE and vice versa. The NDS Association member companies decided to develop a data conversion tool for OpenDRIVE to support simulation activities of its members. Image source: Wikipedia OpenDRIVE and NDS The result is a precise 3-dimensional road definition. The basic principle for describing a road segment in OpenDRIVE is to first define a reference line (aka anchor line or road center line) and then attach various attributes to it. The data may be derived from manually created road networks, conversion of real-world map data, or data collected of real-world roads. Dynamic entities like cars, bikes, or pedestrians are not included. The data describes the exact road geometry, including surface properties, markings, signposting, and logical properties such as lane types and directions. Unlike other file formats, the description is typically used for simulation applications.

Its main goal is the facilitation of data exchange between different driving simulators.

The OpenDRIVE data format specification contains definitions for all static objects of a road network that allow realistic simulation of vehicles driving on roads. This is where the ASAM OpenDRIVE specification comes into play. Now, this can mean that engineers drive around in cars adorned with roughly hewn sheets of metal, or camouflaged with fancy swirls in black and white, but more often, it comes down to simulations – and lots of it.

But before any car can hit the road, it needs to be thoroughly tested for all eventualities. In the last blog articles of our “Data for all” series, we’ve looked at standards that define how different, navigation-related kinds of data can be shared on the road – between vehicles, amongst ECUs or sensors, or with different manufacturers, suppliers, data providers or authorities. Data for all: Simulating logical road networks with OpenDRIVE 22.