Miniature Testbed for Validating Multi-Agent Cooperative Autonomous Driving

TL;DR

This paper introduces CIVAT, a miniature testbed for validating cooperative autonomous driving that integrates smart infrastructure with sensing, edge computing, and communication capabilities in a scaled urban environment.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel 1:15-scale testbed with integrated V2V and V2I communication, enabling realistic validation of cooperative driving in a controlled setting.

Findings

Successful validation of infrastructure-based perception

Effective intersection management experiments conducted

Demonstrated integration of smart infrastructure with autonomous vehicles

Abstract

Cooperative autonomous driving, which extends vehicle autonomy by enabling real-time collaboration between vehicles and smart roadside infrastructure, remains a challenging yet essential problem. However, none of the existing testbeds employ smart infrastructure equipped with sensing, edge computing, and communication capabilities. To address this gap, we design and implement a 1:15-scale miniature testbed, CIVAT, for validating cooperative autonomous driving, consisting of a scaled urban map, autonomous vehicles with onboard sensors, and smart infrastructure. The proposed testbed integrates V2V and V2I communication with the publish-subscribe pattern through a shared Wi-Fi and ROS2 framework, enabling information exchange between vehicles and infrastructure to realize cooperative driving functionality. As a case study, we validate the system through infrastructure-based perception and intersection management experiments.