Manocha’s Research on Safety of Self-Driving Vehicles Featured in Science Robotics

Dinesh Manocha, a professor with appointments in computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and UMIACS, has developed a photo-realistic simulation system for training and validating self-driving vehicles. The new system provides a richer, more authentic simulation than current systems that use game engines or high-fidelity computer graphics and mathematically rendered traffic patterns.

The system was developed in collaboration with a team of colleagues from Baidu Research and the University of Hong Kong. It is called Augmented Autonomous Driving Simulation (AADS), and could make self-driving technology easier to evaluate in the lab while also ensuring more reliable safety before expensive road testing begins.

The scientists described their methodology in a research paper published March 27, 2019 in the journal Science Robotics.

“This work represents a new simulation paradigm in which we can test the reliability and safety of automatic driving technology before we deploy it on real cars and test it on the highways or city roads,” says Manocha.

To read the full news release, go here.