Generation of Complex Road Networks Using a Simplified Logical Description for the Validation of Automated Vehicles

TL;DR

The paper introduces a simplified, maintainable logical description for urban road networks to facilitate automated vehicle simulation, enabling automatic generation of standardized maps like OpenDRIVE.

Contribution

It presents a novel logical road network description method that simplifies map variation and junction definition, automating map generation for simulation validation.

Findings

Automated generation of OpenDRIVE maps from logical descriptions.

Simplified and modifiable road network representation.

Supports diverse urban driving scenarios for automated vehicle testing.

Abstract

Simulation is a valuable building block for the verification and validation of automated driving functions (ADF). When simulating urban driving scenarios, simulation maps are one important component. Often, the generation of those road networks is a time consuming and manual effort. Furthermore, typically many variations of a distinct junction or road section are demanded to ensure that an ADF can be validated in the process of releasing those functions to the public. Therefore, in this paper, we present a prototypical solution for a logical road network description which is easy to maintain and modify. The concept aims to be non-redundant so that changes of distinct quantities do not affect other places in the code and thus the variation of maps is straightforward. In addition, the simple definition of junctions is a focus of the work. Intersecting roads are defined separately, are then set in relation and the junction is finally generated automatically. The idea is to derive the description from a commonly used, standardized format for simulation maps in order to generate this format from the introduced logical description. Consequently, we developed a command-line tool that generates the standardized simulation map format OpenDRIVE.