Self-driving bikes for more realistic development and testing of,in vehicle, systems for bike safety
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Chalmers Tekniska Högskola AB - Chalmers tekniska högskola AB, Göteborg |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 3 330 000 |
| Project duration | May 2018 - December 2020 |
| Status | Completed |
| End-of-project report | 2018-02011sv.pdf(pdf, 614 kB) (In Swedish) |
Purpose and goal
The goal of the project was to develop self-driving bicycles to be used to validate active safety functions and algorithms in vehicles. The bicycles were designed so that realistic biking is performed with, role angle in curves and that they are perceived by the vehicle´s sensors in the same way as a normal bicycle. The bikes are self-balanced and can carry a dummy to resemble a human cyclist. Such test bikes are not on the market today. Final tests at AstaZero showed that the goal has been reached. To become a flexible test tool, however, the bike needs to be further developed.
Expected results and effects
The general project goals have been reached. At the end of the project test-drives where performed at Asta Zero where the self-driving bike carrying a dummy passing a parked car from different directions so that the sensor readings could be recorded. The radar cross-section of the bike was also measured according to Ncap definitions.
Planned approach and implementation
A lot of the development has been done by students in student projects at Chalmers and Mälardalen University. A first generation of bikes was developed and tested during the first year. With the experience from that, new groups of students developed a second generation of bikes which were then demonstrated and tested at AstaZero. VolvoCars evaluated their bike detection algorithms and the radar cross sections of the modified bikes. The conclusion was that they are detected fairly similarly to non-modified bikes.