UTAC launches the Road Driving Consortium: advancing ADAS and AD systems testing in real-world conditions

After three years of work on the WeatherSafe project, focused on assessing ADAS systems in adverse weather conditions, UTAC is now taking the next step by confronting realworld complexities such as traffic, infrastructure, and road environments, and is therefore launching the Road Driving Consortium. 

Road driving is becoming a key requirement for the certification and assessment of advanced driver assistance and automated driving systems. It is already mandatory for automated lane-keeping system (ALKS*) and Driver Control Assistance Systems (DCAS**) certifications, and expectations continue to evolve. 

At the same time, Euro NCAP is pushing further towards public-road testing, with a strong focus on the robustness of ADAS and Automated Driving systems in real-world conditions. Road complexity and traffic interactions represent critical challenges that cannot be fully addressed through closed-track testing alone. 

To respond to these needs, UTAC is launching the Road Driving project, a 3 years consortium dedicated to structuring, measuring and assessing road-driving tests in a reliable and reproducible way. 

From road data to meaningful safety assessment 

The project aims to define adapted measurement systems, relevant KPIs and evaluation methodologies that could be used to assess ADAS and AD systemsin the frameworks above. A key ambition is to bridge on-road driving data with simulation and re-simulation approaches, enabling efficient system development and validation. 

Key activities include: 

• Identification and modelling of critical ADAS and AD road-driving scenarios 

• Review of existing hardware and software solutions for data collection and post-processing 

• Analyze the performance indicators (KPIs) to assess road-driving behaviour 

• Establishment of technical requirements for safe and efficient road-driving tests 

• Evaluation of costs and benefits, with recommendations on when to integrate road driving within the vehicle development process 

• Integration of road-driving results into AI-based simulation workflows 

A collaborative project 

UTAC leads the project coordination and ensures overall consistency across work packages, supported by partners with complementary expertise: ASTEMO, ARTC, DSR, VINFAST, MOBIAS and IPG, and more oncoming 

Through Road Driving, UTAC contributes to shaping future road-testing practices, supporting industry needs and strengthening the link between real-world driving, regulation and vehicle safety assessment. 

If you’re interested in joining or want more information, feel free to contact us.

*Level III – UN R157

**Level II+ – UN R171