INTERVIEW WITH 4ACTIVESYSTEMS GMBH

4activeSystems GmbH is one of the world’s leading companies in testing technologies for active vehicle safety. The company’s focus lies on advanced and realistic test targets and self-driving robotic platforms to evaluate and develop AEB/AES-systems and autonomous driving vehicles. Since 2006, they have been delivering innovative solutions and products that have become global standards. 4activeSystems’s high-quality products – “Made in Austria” – combined with excellent support, make them a reliable partner for vehicle manufacturers, NCAP labs and automotive suppliers worldwide. 

Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company? 

4activeSystems: Our main mission is to help reducing serious road accidents and the number of road fatalities. Thus, we provide test tools for validation and certification of connected and automated driving functions and we support more than 600 customers globally. In addition, we participate in many different R&D projects to contribute our long-term expertise to promote the development of standards as well es new applications for real world system testing.

E.E: What’s the news about new products?

4activeSystems: The latest development is our highly automated robotic platform 4activeFB-eco. It is the world’s flattest robotic carrier for VRUs (vulnerable road user) like pedestrians or bicyclists and meets all the complex demands of testing fully automated driving vehicles. In the progress of development, we put our focus on swarm-testing (up to 10 platforms working in parallel). Therefore, a lot of effort was made to render the 4activeFB-eco a very cost efficient, easy to use platform with extremely fast build-up times. Rapid, automatized recharging without user interaction paves the way to continuous testing.

E.E: What are the ranges of products?

4activeSystems: 4activeSystems is a pioneer in supplying highly automated robotic platforms for future ADAS and Autonomous Driving (AD) testing, which are fully compliant to Euro NCAP VRU and the associated ISO-standards. To complete the testing equipment, we also provide a wide range of already established and certified dummy objects (pedestrians, motorcyclists, cars, …) as well as a variety of future and customized targets (animals, road side furniture, …).

E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?

4activeSystems: In the future there will be a main focus on the development of driver assistance systems and autonomous driving. The validation of sensors like radar, lidar, camera and ultrasonic sensors as well as many other new functions are becoming even more complex. We can provide all the necessary test equipment to validate the latest functions, systems and sensors that are currently available on the market.

E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?

4activeSystems: There is ceaseless progress in developing new technologies. Laws and regulations as well as consumer protection requirements are becoming more complex. In order to meet all these challenges, we are in regular contact with vehicle manufacturers, system suppliers, research laboratories and involved bodies to deliver the best and most up-to-date products. For example, one of the new requirements is to perform a scenario where a motorcycle has to overtake a moving vehicle with 80 km/h. With our target and the driverless robotic platform, we fulfill these qualifications and thus, precisely meet the demands on the market. 

E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?

4activeSystems: The most innovative product is our control software center. Our software is able to control and monitor all traffic participants, like vehicles under test (VUT) as well as all possible equipment on the test site, in real-time. In addition, our program can display any format that complies with the new ISO 22133. In the future the software will be able to link the virtual world with the physical world. It is possible to import any format from the virtual test facility on the XIL to be prepared for the test on the proving ground. After the scenarios are executed, the results of the physical test can be exported and used in the virtual world. This allows us to save a lot of time in the development, minimize the error rate and cover all requirements with minimal resources.

E.E: What estimations do you have for 2022?

4activeSystems: The year 2022 will pose new challenges to make vehicles and road users safer and to minimize accidents. We at 4activeSystems are ready to take on these challenges as we are highly motivated to offer the best customer solutions and to remain in our leading market position.

www.4activesystems.at