Numerous automotive manufacturers worldwide use x-DASalign, the modular test stand for driver assistance systems.
At the cutting edge of autonomous driving
Püttlingen, June 2017 – Driving a car will become more efficient, more comfortable and, above all, safer. However, this requires the driver assistance system sensors installed in the car to work accurately and reliably, and to be perfectly coordinated with each other. Dürr Assembly Products leads the market with its testing technology in end-of-line automotive production for setting driver assistance system sensors in relation to the coordinate system of the vehicle. Its test stands for passenger cars and commercial vehicles meet the highest requirements in terms of precision and quality.
In the future, driver assistance system sensors will be relevant for safety and vehicles will be equipped with many more sensors using different measuring principles. This will lead to a further increase in quality requirements. It must also be ensured that the sensors provide consistent information about the location of an object. In close cooperation with automotive manufacturers, suppliers and universities, Dürr Assembly Products is developing innovative testing solutions to put autonomous vehicles safely on the road.
Different types of sensor technology such as high-performance cameras, radar systems and LiDAR (light detection and ranging) are increasingly being installed in vehicles. They are no longer only reserved for premium cars but are also being introduced into mass produced vehicles. The built-in sensor technology is necessary to support the constant growth of complex tasks performed by driver assistance systems, such as reliable object detection. Therefore, systems which are installed in the vehicle require an ever higher level of compatibility, as more and more information and data from different sensors are consolidated (data fusion) and evaluated in real time, thus ensuring automated/autonomous control of the vehicle.
Dürr Assembly Products offers the x-DASalign (photo below), a test stand for setting all standard driver assistance systems. This modular test stand can be adjusted to the customer's testing requirements by including different modular components which can also be added at a later date.
After positioning the vehicle on the test stand, laser technology is used to measure vehicle symmetry, geometric driving axle and ride heights. The resulting chassis parameters provide the basis for the further setting of sensors and driver assistance systems installed in the vehicle.
The x-line automation software and the x-tronic product generation for ECU communication offer flexible control of individual test stand components and tasks.
x-DASalign offers customers the following benefits:
- Maximum process and production safety
- Simple design, easy to maintain
- Small space requirement
- Maximum flexibility and expandability through modular design
Since its market launch more than 60 stands have been installed in 16 countries for numerous automotive manufacturers worldwide and around 170 systems for driver assistance testing technology have been integrated into existing systems (e.g. for setting headlamps or chassis). The list of customer requirements – currently including calibration of lane departure warning systems, head-up displays, adaptive cruise control, night-vision systems as well as rear-view and all-round vision camera systems – will get longer as further testing demands are added.
"The number of sensors that are installed and the increasingly complex driver assistance systems have far-reaching effects on the structure and testing requirements at the end-of-line testing", says Martin Wagner, Product Manager Autonomous Driving at Dürr Assembly Products. "There are major changes affecting the type and scope of test systems as well as the testing process. This means that the car of the future will pass through a range of new test stands fully autonomously."
By 2020 many automotive manufacturers and suppliers plan to implement highly automated driving (level 3).
To meet future customer requirements at an early stage, Dürr Assembly Products is in close contact with automotive manufacturers. The product range is continuously improved and developed, in collaboration with different partners such as suppliers, developers and universities, to offer innovative solutions.
"We design our testing technology based on the sensors that automotive manufacturers are planning to install. At the moment, this is a very dynamic area", says Jörg Brunke, CEO of Dürr Assembly Products GmbH. "With these activities and our product range, we are perfectly positioned for all current and future developments. We are at the cutting edge of autonomous driving."
