Open House Germany

President & CEO Steffen Schmidt, together with Mara Schmidt, Senior Vice President & Chief Consulting Officer, opened the event. They discussed in detail the concept of Software Defined Vehicles and the profound transformation taking place across the entire automotive industry. They explained why it is necessary to fundamentally rethink traditional test strategies and consistently evolve the traditionally hardwarecentric development approach toward a softwarecentric one. They also highlighted the valuable contribution Consulting can make in accelerating and sustainably supporting the redesign and modernization of test strategies.

Virtual Homologation for Self-Driving Systems

Dr. Christopher Wiegand, Senior Expert Autonomy Validation at HOLON GmbH, presented central simulation and safetydriven approaches to support the homologation of Level 4 systems. The focus was on building reliable data pipelines from heterogeneous sources and ensuring consistency and traceability according to the requirements of the target ODD. He also explained how the credibility of simulations can be demonstrated through model fidelity, scenario and ODD coverage, and statistical validity. Key aspects include versatile simulations and a flexible test infrastructure that can scale alongside architecture, software, V&V strategy, and regulatory requirements.

Future Directions for the CarMaker Product Family

In the Spotlight Session, Chief Technology Officer Dr. Andreas Höfer presented key innovations and future developments from IPG Automotive. These included first insights into a CarMaker chatbot that uses a retrievalaugmented generation approach to provide relevant information quickly via natural language. He also demonstrated how artificial intelligence can be applied to future scenario generation – whether in AIassisted road network creation or synthetic image generation using generative AI. Additionally, he showcased a live demonstration of an incabin and drivermonitoring system that will be available as a new product. The first prototype simulates various driver states such as line of sight, fatigue, or breathing.

No Gaps, No Surprises: A Continuous Test Strategy from Concept to Homologation

In the first session, Dr. Michael Kochem and Alexander Frings emphasized the critical importance of a continuous test strategy for the success of modern development organizations. From the early concept phase to homologation, a strategy is needed that creates stability, minimizes risks, and is tailored to the industry's specific challenges. Thereby, the key lies in the consistent establishment of virtual development. Michael Kochem and Alexander Frings pointed out that this fundamental shift can only succeed when certain factors are taken into account: trustworthy simulation models, transparent and consistent data management, and a scalable infrastructure with clearly defined methods. Equally important is the willingness to rethink established processes and actively involve teams in this transformation. They explained how these aspects can be addressed and how comprehensive, reliable virtual vehicle development can be achieved, using the example of DCAS (Driver Control Assistance Systems).

Enabling Seamless Development and Validation of ADAS and AV

The second session was presented by Martin Herrmann, Dr.-Ing. Basim Alabd and Dr. Fabrizio Savarino. Martin Herrmann first outlined the concept of an endtoend validation platform for ADAS and AV that incorporates both scenariobased testing and datadriven development approaches. In this context, he introduced the new product SensFlow, a software suite for deterministic replay and validation of sensor data in ADAS and AD control units. Radar expert Basim Alabd then discussed the innovations of the current CarMaker release. With features such as optimized LOD settings, super sampling, and extended access to raw sensor data, an ideal balance of quality, performance, and data access can be achieved depending on the application. In the final part, Fabrizio Savarino demonstrated how simulation and generative AI can support the development of AD systems. These methods enable the creation of difficulttofind edge cases that are essential for achieving safe and robust ODD coverage.

From Road to X: Solutions for Virtual Endurance and XIL Testing

In Session 3, Dr. Steven Yan, Dr. Felix Pfister and Nithesh Kattathar explained how development efforts that are traditionally covered mainly through extensive road testing, can be shifted far more efficiently to test benches or even earlier development phases. They presented new features and innovative test bench concepts enabling a seamless transition from realworld testing to virtual test setups. The session showcased how realistic road, driver, and traffic models can be used to perform virtual endurance tests with a high degree of realism. They also introduced the VIRTO app suite, which allows efficient management of complex simulation configurations and supports scalable collaboration in development. The session was complemented by insights into hardware solutions for endurance tests in various XIL environments, enabling flexible and integrated validation across the entire development chain.