Closed-Loop Hybrid Digital Twin Platform for Connected and Automated Vehicle Validation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a real-time hybrid digital twin platform that integrates high-fidelity simulation with physical vehicles for comprehensive CAV validation, enhancing fidelity and scalability.

Contribution

It presents a novel coupling of co-simulation with real vehicles via low-latency V2X communication, enabling closed-loop control and scalable multi-user operation.

Findings

Stable synchronization achieved between simulation and real vehicle.

Effective closed-loop control demonstrated with low latency.

Platform validated for multi-scenario CAV verification.

Abstract

Comprehensive and efficient validation of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) is critical prior to real-world deployment. While simulation-based testing offers scalability, existing approaches often lack seamless integration with real vehicles and field data, limiting their fidelity in capturing dynamic, real-world interactions. To bridge this gap, this paper proposes a novel real-time hybrid digital twin platform. Its core innovation lies in the tight coupling of a high-fidelity CARLA-SUMO co-simulation with a physical test site and vehicle via a low-latency Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication link. A custom-developed middleware serves as the critical bridge, synchronizing a real CAV's kinematic state as a shadow vehicle in the simulation and translating virtual control commands into chassis-actuating Controller Area Network (CAN) messages for closed-loop control. Detailed implementation includes using photogrammetry for full-scale asset reconstruction and a cloud-edge collaborative architecture for scalable, multi-user operation. Experimental results demonstrate stable synchronization and effective closed-loop control with low latency, confirming the platform's practicality for multi-scenario CAV verification.