­­TU Dresden presents the Dresden Driving Simulator at the Dresden Automotive Symposium

Driving assistance systems and highly automated driving were the main topics at this year's second edition of the Dresden Automotive Symposium (DDAS), which took place on September 26 at Burgk Castle in Freital near Dresden. A highlight of the conference was the rollout of the Dresden Driving Simulator.

The Dresden Driving Simulator (DDS) has been developed at the Chair of Automobile Engineering together with AMST-Systemtechnik GmbH and with financial support from the BMDV since 2019 and is the world's largest self-driving driving simulator that reproduces vehicle behavior almost realistically.

The highly immersive driving simulator is the first driving simulator that can generate sustained acceleration, which is made possible by its innovative, tire-bound motion platform. It closes a critical gap in simulation technology and is a technological milestone in the development and validation of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Highly Automated Driving (HAD).

The innovation of the Dresden Driving Simulator lies in its tire-based motion platform, which simulates realistic motion performance. Four pairs of steering and drive motors can accelerate the system's total mass of ~5 tons omnidirectionally at ~0.8 g. Powered by a built-in HV battery, the platform moves autonomously in an open space and communicates with a central control station via WiFi. The self-developed motion control system can therefore be used flexibly and requires a travel range of 70 × 70 m to achieve full motion quality.

Prof. Günther Prokop, Head of the Chair of Automobile Engineering, sees the Dresden Driving Simulator as an important milestone in the development of intelligent and safe vehicles: "The Dresden Driving Simulator is proof of the power of collaboration and innovation. By working closely with AMST, we have succeeded in creating a solution that not only meets today's requirements, but also anticipates the future challenges of automotive development. The Dresden Driving Simulator will help engineers and researchers gain unprecedented insights into human-machine interaction, automated driving technologies and vehicle safety."

The Dresden Automotive Symposium is organized by the Chair of Automobile Engineering and the Association of German Engineers (VDI). A new edition is planned for next year.

To the article in the online magazine "Verkehrslage"