Tag Archive for: Autonomous Vehicles

Gomentum Station Responds to New AV Research

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By the GoMentum Station Team

For over a century, AAA has been an advocate for transportation safety. In keeping with this mission, AAA Northern California operates GoMentum Station, the nation’s largest dedicated automated vehicle testing facility in the US.

GoMentum Station has engaged in and provided perspective on Automated Driving Systems (ADS) safety research since 2019. Today, Waymo released new ADS research where they reconstructed real-world accidents in simulation and tested their technology in these scenarios. GoMentum Station supports data sharing, which enables the industry to improve vehicle safety collectively. 

AAA Northern California, via GoMentum Station, regularly engages in safety research for ADS, including collaborations with leading industry and academic partners. In March 2019, GoMentum Station organized its first workshop on AV safety metrics. The workshop urged the necessity for an enhanced transparency process of ADS safety evaluation, data sharing for safety research, and additional standardized safety assessments, including safety metrics. GoMentum Station has pursued engagements in each of these.

Therefore, GoMentum Station would like to highlight the following points from this research:

  • Waymo’s reconstruction of high-severity collisions from the real-world to simulation is highly relevant and impactful for ADS development. GoMentum Station’s research in novel safety metrics for collision avoidance, formal validation methodologies for ADS underscore the importance of the latest safety metrics and methodologies, as well as the correlation of simulation with real-world testing. 
  • A combination of testing modes is needed to assess ADS safety. Waymo uses three testing methods, including simulation, closed-track testing, and public testing to develop their technology. GoMentum’s collaboration with the University of Waterloo, presented at the SAE World Congress in 2020, aligns with this approach.
  • Sharing safety scenarios and testing results across the industry is critical for validating ADS. GoMentum Station is engaged in a collaborative effort to safely deploy AV using a data-driven policy framework via the World Economic Forum’s Safe Drive Initiative. To continue our pursuit of safer autonomous vehicles, we welcome collaboration and information sharing across the industry, including Waymo.

GoMentum is the nation’s largest dedicated connected and automated vehicle testing facility in the US, located 65 miles from Silicon Valley. Owned and operated by AAA Northern California, the proving ground has over 20 miles of roads and highways set in 2,100 acres. Vehicle technology tested, including ADAS features in partnership with AAA National, at GoMentum Station will redefine the next generation of transportation, bring unprecedented mobility options to people, and advance traffic safety towards zero fatalities. Learn more at GoMentumStation.net.

Top 5 features at GoMentum Station for testing AVs

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At GoMentum Station, 2100 acres and 20+ miles of roadway are available to our customers to test their ADAS, autonomous and connected technologies, only 65 miles from Silicon Valley. Here are the top 5 features that make GoMentum Station the premiere testing destination for our customers:

#1: Bunker City has it all: multi-directional lanes, various striping patterns, traffic lights, bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and speeds from 15 to 55 mph. Set among hundreds of former munitions bunkers (hence the name), Bunker City proves challenging in many ways, from multipath navigation options to localization in a homogeneous environment.

 

#2: Downtown is our take on ‘Main Street’ America. From teams’ operational base at our WWII firehouse, vehicles can train on freshly paved streets that mimic a suburban environment. With up to four travel lanes, center turn lanes, on-street parking, bus stops and bike lanes, Downtown will put even the best passenger or delivery service vehicles to the test.

 

#3: 12th Street – Need a one mile straightaway that looks like every stretch of highway in America? We’ve got you covered. Teams use 12th street to test ADAS features such as lane change assist, adaptive cruise control and emergency braking.

 

 

#4: Tunnel Road – Want to challenge your communication and perception systems? GoMentum has two 600 foot tunnels built of two foot thick concrete encased in a sheet of corrugated metal. Stark light contrast at all hours of the day will blind both human eyes and cameras – will your vehicle see the pedestrian crossing at the end of the tunnel?

 

#5 Kinne Boulevard – Our longest stretch of road at 4.5 miles, Kinne Boulevard offers the opportunity to test continuous driving with various straightaways and curves.

To find our more about the unique features at GoMentum Station contact us to schedule a tour of the proving ground.

GoMentum Presents at SAE World Congress WCX 2020 Digital Summit

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GoMentum Station presents two key papers at SAE WCX 2020, on testing automated driving systems, and on a novel collision avoidance safety metric.

We are excited to announce that research performed by AAA’s AV Testing team, in collaboration with two key partners, is being presented at the SAE World Congress 2020.

Of the many technical standards groups and industry conferences, SAE and World Congress stand apart. This year, in place of the Detroit event, we are excited to support SAE WCX virtually and showcase our research via the Digital Summit.

Both the papers, and their oral presentations, are available for on-demand viewing at the SAE WCX website in the Body / Chassis / Occupant and Pedestrian Safety Structure technical sessions category. 

Modes of Automated Driving System Scenario Testing: Experience Report and Recommendations (SAE Paper 2020-01-1204) 

This research, performed in collaboration with University of Waterloo’s Professor Krzysztof Czarnecki, Michal Antkiewicz and team at the Waterloo Intelligent Systems (WISE) lab, explores testing autonomous vehicles using four different modes including simulation, mixed reality testing, and test-track testing. The team tested UW’s automated vehicle, dubbed “UW Moose”, through six rigorous scenario tests in different modes, and compared and contrasted their benefits and drawbacks. The paper closes with 12 recommendations on choosing testing modes for automated driving systems.

The SAE paper 2020-01-1204 may be purchased here. 

Development of a Collision Avoidance Capability Metric (SAE Paper 2020-01-1207)

This research paper discusses the development and application of a novel metric for evaluating and quantifying the capability of a vehicle / controller (including a human driver) to avoid potential future collisions. The metric was developed in partnership with DRI, and is applicable to potentially any scenario, including with multiple actors and roadside objects. 

The SAE paper 2020-01-1207 may be purchased here. 

 

To discuss these, and other research at GoMentum, feel free to contact Atul Acharya or Paul Wells at [email protected] 

Accelerating ADAS and AV Development with the GoMentum Digital Twin

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Side-by-side of real world and virtual

GoMentum Station and Metamoto announce a new digital twin simulator to accelerate the development and testing of ADAS features and automated driving systems

Authored by Paul Wells

Applying autonomy to safety critical applications — most notably, autonomous vehicles — requires extensive verification and validation. The majority of this testing takes place in scalable simulation tools whereas much of validation and verification is still accomplished in the physical world. As such, correlation between these test modes remains an important consideration when evaluating and advancing the overall efficiency of test efforts.

Metamoto and GoMentum Station are excited to partner to offer the GoMentum Bunker City scene within Metamoto’s massively scalable, cloud-based simulator to help promote this connectivity. Using the GoMentum scene, developers are able to both drive efficiency and go deeper into specific validation subdomains. Contact us for more information about the digital twin.

Efficiency

Physical testing is notoriously resource intensive. To help drive costs down, developers and test engineers are faced with two key options: perform as much virtual testing as possible, and identify the smallest, but still significant, set of physical tests required to produce meaningful assurance and test results. Simulation, when integrated with physical test environments, is an incredibly powerful ally in both of these efforts.

 

Virtual bunkers

In addition to supporting the overall development and advancement of an autonomous stack, virtual testing within a digital twin environment effectively allows for a faster and more efficient bug discovery process before deploying hardware and drivers into a physical environment. This reduces the likelihood of time-consuming troubleshooting that pops up during the precious time spent either on a track or on public roads. GoMentum, for example, is an unusual environment. The use of the Metamoto scene and simulator allows for virtual exploration of the environment such that static objects in the environment, like bunkers and tall grasses, and dynamic agents, such as cows, turkeys and the like, do not disrupt time spent on the track. Turnaround times thereby become faster, and the cycle between virtual and physical testing continues efficiently.

Empty road

Parity Testing

An added benefit of leveraging digital twins is the potential for parity into the conformance of virtual and physical test results. Due to the increasing importance of, and reliance on, simulation testing, understanding the relationship between virtual and physical test results is critical. This exploration of parity testing allows for greater awareness of the relationship between sample use cases and model fidelities leveraged in simulation. While the goal of this awareness is principally safety, it also has the potential to drive even greater use of simulation tools.

As part of the new GoMentum Bunker City Digital Twin, GoMentum and Metamoto invite industry and academic participants to partake in research projects covering feature development, parity testing, safety testing, and more. 

Digital image

 

For more information, reach out to [email protected] and [email protected].

AAA NorCal is putting its money behind a driverless future

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The GoMentum Station (GoMentum) has been acquired by AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah (AAA NCNU) in August of 2018. The Chief Innovation Officer for the auto club, Suna Taymaz, shares that the deal expands on AAA NCNU’s previous partnership with GoMentum Station and is the cornerstone of AAA NCNU’s efforts to create a collaborative space dedicated to the safe implementation of self-driving cars.

Read the full story at San Fransisco Business Times 

Self Driving Vehicle Technology

Lyft Furthers Its Development of Self-Driving Vehicle Technology With GoMentum Station Partnership

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CONCORD, CA – March 8, 2018 – Today, Lyft and GoMentum Station announced a partnership to test Lyft’s self-driving
vehicles at GoMentum Station’s 5,000 acre autonomous vehicle proving grounds located in Concord, California. Managed by the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA), GoMentum Station provides Lyft with a convenient and secure test facility to rapidly iterate on the development of its self-driving systems.

Last year, Lyft announced that it was building an open self-driving system at the Level 5 Engineering Center, based in Palo Alto, California, working closely with automotive and technology partners. Level 5 is the heart of Lyft’s self-driving division, bringing together a world-class team of hardware and software developers. Through this partnership, Lyft’s vehicles from Level 5 will be tested in Concord at GoMentum Station and help accelerate the introduction of Lyft’s self-driving vehicles to the public.

“At Lyft, we believe in a future where self-driving cars make transportation safer and more accessible to everyone,” said Luc Vincent, VP of Engineering at Lyft. “By partnering with GoMentum Station, we’re able to test our self-driving systems in a secure facility and advance our technology in an efficient way.”

GoMentum Station is rapidly becoming the Bay Area’s premier facility for putting the next generation of transportation technology through its paces. The cutting edge research and collaborative efforts between the public and private sectors are spurring innovation that will improve mobility and the quality of life in Contra Costa County and worldwide.

“We are incredibly proud to be partnering with Lyft – a company who is known for building relationships with the public sector and fostering innovative solutions – because we know their presence at GoMentum Station will help facilitate more mobility options not only for Contra Costa’s residents, but for the entire Bay Area region in the future,” stated Randy Iwasaki, Executive Director of CCTA.

“We are excited to see Lyft, one of the largest innovative transportation companies, join in using Concord’s GoMentum Station – at the forefront of technological advances,” said Edi Birsan, mayor of Concord.

Download the Press Release 

Lyft Tests Self Driving Cars At a Massive Ex-military Base in California (The Verge)

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Lyft announced today that it would soon begin testing its autonomous vehicles at GoMentum Station, a 5,000-acre proving ground in Concord, California. The vehicles it plans to test are being designed and developed by Lyft’s own in-house engineering team. It’s a major shift for the ride-hailing company that has typically relied on partners with more advanced technology.

Lyft didn’t provide an update on the progress of its self-driving cars, aside from two photos that tell us little about the type of technology the company is relying on to power its vehicles. Even though it’s the second largest ride-hail provider in the US, it still lags significantly behind its rival Uber, which has deployed self-driving vehicles on public roads in multiple cities.

Read the full story at The Verge

Lyft rolls its self-driving cars onto new testing track (CNET)

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Lyft is doubling down on its self-driving car program.

The ride-hailing company announced Thursday that it’s partnered with GoMentum Station, which is a largest secure testing facility for autonomous vehicles in the country. Lyft said the partnership means it can speed up its timeline to bring its cars to the public.

“At Lyft, we believe in a future where self-driving cars make transportation safer and more accessible to everyone,” Luc Vincent, Lyft’s vice president of engineering, said in a statement. “By partnering with GoMentum Station, we’re able to test our self-driving systems in a secure facility and advance our technology in an efficient way.”

Read the full story at CNET

Lyft begins testing its own self-driving cars on a private 5,000-acre campus (Fast Company)

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Lyft said today it is taking its self-driving cars to GoMentum Station in Contra Costa County, California. The 5,000-acre campus is a proving ground for transit technology used by car-and-part manufacturers, among others. The deal with GoMentum will give Lyft an opportunity to test its technology on private roads.

The ride-hail company first laid bare its ambitions to build self-driving car kits in July of last year. Lyft has since opened an office in Palo Alto called Level 5, specifically for developing self-driving software and hardware. The company has made significant hires to this effect, including Luc Vincent, former lead of Google Map’s Street View.

Read the full story at Fast Company

Lyft tests self-driving cars in massive new training facility (Mashable)

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It’s not just Uber and Waymo racing to put self-driving cars on the road.

Ride-hailing app Lyft has been building its self-driving car program, and on Thursday, its fleet got a training boost.

Using test cars built at its own autonomous car development center, Lyft is running its cars through the ultimate challenge at a Bay Area automated vehicle test facility.

Lyft will test its self-driving vehicles at GoMentum Station’s 5,000-acre training ground in Concord, California — about a 30-mile drive east of San Francisco.

Read the full story at Mashable