Teststrecken Simulation TU Berlin
Mixed Reality: The simulation was created with the simulation environment VSimRTI from Fraunhofer FOKUS, with which the researchers develop autonomous vehicle functions. Kai Royer/ Fraunhofer FOKUS

Digitally connected protocol route between Ernst-Reuter-Platz and Brandenburg Gate

News from Mar. 30, 2017

In Berlin, a test field for automated and connected driving is being set up. Fraunhofer FOKUS is developing vehicle functions and providing test vehicles for the “Digitally Connected Protocol Route” project, in short: DIGINET-PS.

In Berlin, a digital test field for automated and networked driving is being developed. Between Ernst-Reuter-Platz and Brandenburg Gate along the road Straße des 17. Juni, it will be realized as part of the new research project DIGINET-PS. Automated driving in structured environments such as the A9 motorway is already standard - now the researchers at Fraunhofer FOKUS, together with Daimler Center for Automotive IT Innovations (DCAITI), are tackling the biggest challenge: safe automated and networked driving in the middle of heavy traffic in Berlin Charlottenburg. The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure promotes DIGITNET-PS within the “Automated and Connected Driving Strategy” of the Federal Government. Together with the Daimler Center for Automotive IT Innovations (DCAITI), Fraunhofer FOKUS is developing vehicle functions for automated convoy driving and using its test vehicles to show how students will be autonomously driven across the campus via university shuttle.

Thanks to the special characteristics of the innovation location Berlin-Charlottenburg, DIGINET-PS can serve as a reference solution for complex traffic situations in urban areas. In addition to the course of Straße des 17. Juni, the test track also includes the adjacent side roads northward, thus providing challenges for networked vehicles and digital infrastructure. In the test field, infrastructures are set up for the interlinking of vehicles with each other and with traffic lights. Additional sensors are used to collect data during tests and to ensure the automated driving functions. Moreover, highly accurate data about all traffic situations can be recorded in the test area.

Dr. Ilja Radusch, director of the business unit Smart Mobility at FOKUS and director of DCAITI, explains: “I am delighted with the test track in the center of Berlin. This allows us to learn a lot about the everyday avoidance of danger among all road users. Safe automated driving starts well before the accident avoided. The goal is to think about automation beyond the individual vehicle. The traffic is already networked by eye contacts and anticipation. Here we can test complex cooperative driving functions with a group of vehicles in a real traffic environment – and map them in our simulation environment as a virtual trial.”

The project is headed by the TU Berlin. In addition to Fraunhofer FOKUS and the Daimler Center for Automotive IT Innovations (DCAITI), T-Systems International and the Berlin Agency for Electromobility eMO as well as numerous other implementation partners such as Cisco, TÜV Nord and BVG are involved in the research project. The project is being supported by the Berlin Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection.