CERTUS

Funder

Innovate UK

Value to Coventry University

£143,717

Project Team

Olivier Haas (Principal Investigator)
Stewart Birrell (Co-Investigator)
Huw Davies (Co-Investigator)
Qian Lu (Co-Investigator)
Kevin Vincent (Co-Investigator)
Glen Turley (Researcher)

Collaborators:

Lead: Horiba MIRA Ltd
Connected Places Catapult
Coventry University
IPG Automotive Ltd
Polestar Automotive UK Ltd

Duration

01/07/23 - 31/03/25

Project overview

Coventry University is supporting Project Certus using simulation expertise to speed up the development of self-driving vehicles.

Coventry University will be using its expertise in simulation technology in a project aimed at speeding up the development verification and validation of self-driving vehicle technology. 

The use of automated features on cars has grown for decades but so have the development costs leading ultimately to self-driving capabilities requiring new scenario based testing methods to ensure safety. However, to test, with technologies for every eventuality having to be tested, would require millions of miles before they are deemed safe for use. 

The aim of Project CERTUS is to speed up this process using digital simulation, helping to bring such technologies to the mass market quicker and more cost effectively. 

The £2.7million project has an ambitious aim of reducing the time it takes to validate and verify automated driving systems by 40%. 

Project Certus aims to develop a range of tools to help verify self-driving technology and determine which tests are needed before they can be brought to market. 

Coventry University’s roles in CERTUS will be to support the development and sharing its expertise in simulation technology, enabling the development of scenarios to use in test programmes and assist in the dissemination and exploitation of the tools through engagement with government, standards bodies and the wider industry.

Simulation will not completely replace other forms of development, such as road physical testing, but will play a key part in the overall testing programme. 

Project objectives

Vehicles are becoming increasingly complex, with the addition of automated driving technology adding software, hardware and integration complexity. The nature of these systems also means that they are significantly more challenging to validate. This challenge not only affects OEM’s and system developers, but also regulators and insurers who need to clearly understand the safety, robustness and performance of these systems in the real world prior to deployment.

The complexity of these systems means traditional approaches to validation and verification are impractical due to the sheer quantity of scenarios required to achieve sufficient coverage, therefore multi-pillar test approaches are required to harness the power of simulation, and to ensure the simulation results accurately reflect real world performance through correlation activity.

CERTUS addresses these challenges and brings efficiency to the testing of automated driving technology by answering three key questions: what to test, how to test, and, when to stop. Standardised processes and the novel use of data analytics delivers the capability to iteratively identify which scenarios to test next, ensuring that each set of scenarios interrogate areas of system performance where more confidence is required. Oracles assess the test data to give detailed insights into system safety and performance, whilst the quantification of residual risk enables users to objectively determine when sufficient test coverage has been achieved to allow full deployment.

Impact Statement

Backed by CCAV and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, CERTUS is a project designed to make the UK the leader in enabling new automated driver technologies
A key objective is to reduce the £8bn spent annually by the industry testing automated driving systems by a target of 40%
CERTUS will increase the speed of validation so new automated driving technologies can be brought to market sooner
CERTUS will qualify risk for all concerned with developing, using, validating and insuring new automated driving technologies
CERTUS will be delivered by a world-class combination of expertise including a design and technology-led vehicle manufacturer, automotive engineering consultants, automotive simulation specialists and technology and academic partners