The Kistler Group – known for its dynamic pressure, force, torque and acceleration measurement technology – has entered into a cooperation with Vehico, located in Braunschweig, Germany, a manufacturer of driving robots and vehicle control systems for vehicle testing. As a result, an extensive package of sensor technologies and driving robots will now be available from a single source.
The number of vehicle tests continues to rise, partly due to changing legal regulations and consumer test requirements. With the progress made with Advanced Drivers Assistance Systems (ADAS), the number of system verification tests is growing exponentially. It is therefore vital for manufacturers to carry out all testing as efficiently and economically as possible.
To guarantee smooth driving dynamics and the functionality of ADAS systems, vehicles are tested and evaluated using driving robots in combination with sensors from Kistler. Kistler’s sensors measure different forces affecting the vehicle and the driver, for example on brakes, the steering wheel and on the wheels themselves. Vehico’s driving robots provide objective vehicle testing, precise and reproducible tests up to driverless testing by automatic steering, gas, and brake robots. In addition, Vehico platforms can simulate other road users, from walking pedestrians to fast-moving vehicles.
Making the testing processes easier is at the heart of the new cooperation. Rather than choosing sensors and robots individually, customers can now obtain an extensive portfolio from a single source. All individual components can be perfectly matched, reducing time and effort at the point of installation and improving reliability and reproducibility.
The driving robots are used for development of vehicle control and ADAS systems, and for the evaluation of production vehicles. The sensors provide data that allows rating the quality and reliability of the installed dynamic control and ADAS technologies. Kistler also offers solutions to evaluate the huge volume of data that is being generated. The measurement data management system MaDaM and the post-processing software jBEAM together help to gather, analyse and visualise virtually any set of data.
“Kistler’s and Vehico’s expertise in the field of vehicle dynamics and ADAS complement each other. All customers will be able to benefit directly for classic vehicle testing, the development of new types of assistance systems and autonomous vehicles,” says Dr Lothar Ganzelmeier, Managing Director of Vehico.
“By combining our long-standing expertise in dynamic vehicle testing and vehicle safety with Vehico’s innovative technologies in driving robots, we are now able to extend our portfolio and services for vehicle development and testing. Now we can measure, evaluate and improve the quality of dynamic control and ADAS systems from start to finish. We help to accelerate and simplify testing processes for our customers,” says Alexander Putz, Project leader ADAS testing systems at Kistler.
