Shuttle2X consortium meeting at Fraunhofer HHI in Berlin

On April 8-9, the Shuttle2X consortium convened for a meeting hosted at the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) in Berlin. Organized by Fraunhofer HHI, in collaboration with our other Berlin-based partner, reuschlaw, the gathering welcomed representatives from all active project partners, totaling 20 colleagues.

The meeting served as a platform to present the status of research, address current challenges and explore ways to solve them. Discussions ranged from project organization to ongoing technical progress, scientific dissemination of findings, and initial plans for the final event of the project, which is scheduled for mid-2024.

Of particular importance were the detailed technical meetings that led to tangible results. In particular, a successful initial laboratory integration test was carried out during one of these sessions, in which devices from project partners were networked. This test demonstrated the seamless transmission of CPM messages over the 5G NR Sidelink research platform developed within the project, marking an important milestone in our project’s progress. Practical knowledge of networking of different hardware is of great importance for the future broad applicability of new technologies and standards.

Heiko Freienstein (Bosch)
Kenan Turbic (Fraunhofer HHI)

Shuttle2X contributes to the fundamental document of ITS standardisation

We are happy to announce that Shuttle2X successfully contributed to one of the main V2X standardisation documents: Basic Set of Applications (BSA) (TR 102 638) developed by ETSI’s Technical Committee on Intelligent Transportation Systems. Our contribution primarily focuses on addressing the specific aspects related to autonomous shuttles and public transport vehicles in existing use cases. Our initial proposal was submitted to the ETSI work item at the end of the last year. Subsequently, a review phase started and the proposed changes to the BSA document were formally approved during the ETSI TC ITS Week in March 2024.

The direct impact on V2X standardisation represents an important outcome of the Shuttle2X project, but more importantly the project is one step closer to make safe autonomous shuttle transportation become a reality.

Image source: https://www.etsi.org

Florian Schiegg (Bosch)
Björn Gernert (Keysight)
Lennart Frank (Keysight)
Kenan Turbic (Fraunhofer HHI)

Shuttle2X presentations at IEEE IV 2024

We are happy to announce that Shuttle2X project partners will be presenting four exciting technical papers at the upcoming IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium (IV 2024). This event is an excellent platform for showcasing the latest advancements in intelligent vehicle technologies, and we are proud to be a part of it. Below are the details of the papers being presented:

Title: Driving Towards Safety: Open Challenges in Safeguarding CPS-IoT for Cooperative Intelligent Transportation Systems
Authors: Min Hee Jo, Peter Schneider, and Alexey Vinel
Summary: This paper offers a deep dive into the open safety gaps between current industry practices and research, providing a systematic analysis of current and upcoming safety standards and state-of-the-art literature.
Session: MoPo2I5: Functional Safety, Security & Privacy Session.
Presentation Time and Location: June 3, 2024, 15:45 - 17:35, Olle + Seongsan Rooms

Title: Shuttle2X – Overcoming Operationmal Borders of Autonomous Shuttles by Infrastructure Support
Authors: Melih Yazgan, Jennifer Amritzer, Tobias Fleck, Marc Rene Zofka, J. Marius Zoellner, Florian Schiegg, Johannes Müller, Keno Garlichs, Mihai Kocsis, Johannes Buyer, Raoul Zoellner
Summary: This paper explores the challenges and solutions to expand the operational scope of autonomous shuttles. The focus is on integrating intelligent infrastructures to overcome the limitations of current systems, which are restricted to simple scenarios. The project aims to enhance driving functions and safety through advanced communication and sensor fusion technologies, ultimately replacing the need for safety drivers.
Session: SuPMT8: Infrastructure Support and Impact in Autonomous Vehicle Deployment Workshop
Presentation Time and Location: June 2, 13:00-16:30, Halla Room B

Title: Collaborative Perception Datasets in Autonomous Driving: A Survey
Authors: Melih Yazgan, Mythra Varun Akkanapragada and J. Marius Zoellner
Summary: This paper presents a survey of collaborative perception datasets essential for autonomous driving. It explores current V2I, V2V, and V2X datasets, comparing their diversity, sensor setups, and public availability.
Session: TuPo1l4: Cooperative Vehicles 1
Presentation Time and Location: June 4, 2024, 10:50 - 12:40, Baengnok + Youngju Rooms

Title: A Survey on Intermediate Fusion Methods for Collaborative Perception Categorized by Real World Challenges
Authors: Melih Yazgan, Thomas Graf, Min Liu, Tobias Fleck and J. Marius Zoellner
Summary: This paper offers an in-depth review of intermediate fusion methods for collaborative perception in autonomous driving, categorized by real-world challenges. It examines methods to improve transmission efficiency, correct localization errors, handle communication disruptions, explores defenses against adversarial attacks and adaptations to domain shifts.
Session: TuPo1l4: Cooperative Vehicles 1
Presentation Time and Location: June 4, 2024, 10:50 - 12:40, Baengnok + Youngju Rooms

Title: Shuttle2X – Overcoming Operationmal Borders of Autonomous Shuttles by Infrastructure Support
Autoren: Melih Yazgan, Jennifer Amritzer, Tobias Fleck, Marc Rene Zofka, J. Marius Zoellner, Florian Schiegg, Johannes Müller, Keno Garlichs, Mihai Kocsis, Johannes Buyer, Raoul Zoellner
Zusammenfassung: Diese Arbeit untersucht die Herausforderungen und Lösungen zur Erweiterung des Einsatzbereichs autonomer Shuttles. Der Fokus liegt auf der Integration intelligenter Infrastrukturen, um die Einschränkungen aktueller, auf einfache Szenarien beschränkter Systeme zu überwinden. Das Projekt zielt darauf ab, die Fahrfunktionen und die Sicherheit durch fortschrittliche Kommunikations- und Sensorfusionstechnologien zu verbessern, um letztendlich den Einsatz von Sicherheitsfahrern zu ersetzen.
Sitzung: SuPMT8: Infrastructure Support and Impact in Autonomous Shuttles by Infrastructure Support Workshop
Zeit und Ort der Präsentation: 2. Juni 2024, 13:00 - 16:30, Halla Room B

Title: Collaborative Perception Datasets in Autonomous Driving: A Survey
Autoren: Melih Yazgan, Mythra Varun Akkanapragada und J. Marius Zoellner
Zusammenfassung: Diese Arbeit präsentiert einen Überblick über kollaborative Wahrnehmungsdatensätze, die für autonomes Fahren essenziell sind. Es untersucht aktuelle V2I-, V2V- und V2X-Datensätze und vergleicht deren Vielfalt, Sensorsetups und öffentliche Verfügbarkeit.
Sitzung: TuPo1l4: Kooperative Fahrzeuge 1
Zeit und Ort der Präsentation: 4. Juni 2024, 10:50 - 12:40, Baengnok + Youngju Räume

Title: A Survey on Intermediate Fusion Methods for Collaborative Perception Categorized by Real World Challenges
Autoren: Melih Yazgan, Thomas Graf, Min Liu, Tobias Fleck und J. Marius Zoellner
Zusammenfassung: Diese Arbeit bietet einen tiefgehenden Überblick über Intermediate-Fusion-Methoden für kollaborative Wahrnehmung im autonomen Fahren, kategorisiert nach realen Herausforderungen. Es untersucht Methoden zur Verbesserung der Übertragungseffizienz, zur Korrektur von Lokalisierungsfehlern, zur Handhabung von Kommunikationsstörungen, zur Abwehr von Angriffen und zur Anpassung an Domänenwechsel.
Sitzung: TuPo1l4: Kooperative Fahrzeuge 1
Zeit und Ort der Präsentation: 4. Juni 2024, 10:50 - 12:40, Baengnok + Youngju Räume

In addition to these exciting presentations, our project partners are also organizing a workshop at the symposium, titled "Emerging Role of Smart Infrastructure and UAVs for transportation safety and autonomy". The workshop is scheduled to take place on June 2, 2024 08:30 - 12:00, in Seongsan Room. The workshop focuses on two major aspects in autonomous driving, smart infrastructure, and UAVs leading to better connectivity, scene understanding, and enhanced safety. Beside two workshop papers, four keynote speakers will attend the event: Prof. Manabu Tsukada, University of Tokyo, Prof. Rahul Mangaharam, University of Pennsylvania, Reginald Viray, Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and Sven Ochs, FZI Research Center for Information and Technology Karlsruhe. The workshop will be concluded with a panel discussion regarding the role of smart infrastructure and UAVs in the future of transportation, providing an interactive platform for attendees to engage with the authors and explore future research directions. For detailed information check the workshop website:
https://www.fzi.de/veranstaltungen/iv-workshop-intelligente-infrastruktur-und-uav/

Join us at the IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium to witness these innovative contributions to the field of intelligent vehicles!

Melih Yazgan (FZI)
Min Hee Jo (Bosch)
Mihai Kocsis (HHN)

Special Interest Session organized by Dr. Florian Schiegg at ITS World Congress 2023 in Suzhou

Modern transportation systems are increasingly equipped with different types of sensors in order to perceive their environment by detecting unoccupied regions, presence of road users and other safety-relevant objects. Collective Perception allows traffic participants and infrastructure to exchange sensor information via V2X communication and, therefore, substantially enhance their environmental perception. Following several years of intense research and standardization efforts, specifications of Collective Perception are being accomplished in the US, China, and Europe.

In this context, Dr. Florian Schiegg organized a Special Interest Session at the ITS World Congress 2023 held in Suzhou, China, titled “Sensor Data Sharing in ITS - Status and Outlook”. It introduced key concepts for sensor data sharing, before the leaders of the standardization efforts, carried out by SAE (USA), C-SAE (China), and ETSI (EU), highlight the main distinctive features of their regions' implementation. Finally, future development directions and potential deployment scenarios were discussed, rounding up the session.

Relevant contributions of Shuttle2x regarding infrastructure assisted collective perception were presented in the scope of the talk “Sensor Data Sharing in Europe”.

Dr. Keno Garlichs (Bosch)

5GAA Week & Tech Showcases Berlin

Project partners Bosch and Keysight participated in the 5GAA Tech Showcase Event, taking place on October 24, 2024, in Berlin, where they demonstrated technologies which have been used and improved as part of the Shuttle2X project.

Bosch presented a Vulnerable Road User (VRU) Protection Demo, in which a virtual vehicle equipped with Bosch hardware and software components is receiving information about surrounding pedestrians and cyclists based on which it can take measures such as warning the driver or initiating emergency braking. The VRU is detected by a Bosch camera placed in the roadside infrastructure and transmitted to the virtual vehicle via a roadside unit using direct device-to-device communication, by utilizing 5G NR V2X transceivers developed by Autotalks. The Collective Perception Message (CPM) is used as the communication protocol, development of which was a part of the Shuttle2X project.

Shuttle2X at the AVF Tagung event in Berlin

Following an invitation from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) and the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV), the Shuttle2X project was presented at the symposium “Research and Technology for Autonomous Driving” held on November 27-28 in Berlin. The interested symposium participants had a chance to find out more about the Shuttle2X project through a poster and a screen presentation. Thereby, interesting conversations and discussions were held on the topic of infrastructure-supported autonomous driving. The exchange with the visitors showed the relevance of the project and valuable impulses for future work were received. The symposium also offered interesting insights into the related work from other projects within Germany. In particular, the scaling of autonomous driving and the associated broad market launch in the areas of logistics, public transport and private transport as well as the topic of open-source software were discussed with a common agreement that autonomous driving systems will be an integral part of our future society.

Shuttle2X at the AVF Tagung in Berlin (November 2024)

Johannes Buyer (Hochschule Heilbronn)

5G NR Sidelink implementation

As part of the efforts within the Shuttle2X project, development of a software-defined radio (SDR) implementation of the 5G NR Sidelink has been in focus at the Fraunhofer institute. The implementation is based on the open-source 5G NR software stack implementation from OpenAirInterface and complies with the 3GPP-Rel. 16 Sidelink.

While primarily intended as a research platform with full access to all protocol layers, the implementation includes the main features of the standard, ensuring compliance and interoperability. The implemented features include all physical layer aspects and the medium access procedures, with the focus on autonomous resource selection mode, i.e., Mode 2 defined in 3GPP-Rel. 16. This mode relies on sensing-based semi-persistent scheduling to enable direct communication between vehicles without the need for network infrastructure, which is critical for autonomous shuttles operating in coverage-limited areas or during network outages.

The SDR-based 5G NR Sidelink transceiver has been successfully tested, with over-the-air bidirectional transmission of various payload types demonstrated in the lab. Notably, in close collaboration with Keysight, the system successfully transmitted Collective Perception Messages (CPMs) generated on a Keysight WaveBee Road (AV1023A) and received on a Keysight WaveBee Plus (AV1022A) using 5G NR Sidelink. The next steps include integration of the transceivers with Roadside Unit (RSU) sensors and the Keysight WaveBee Touch (AV1021A) for object visualization of the CPM, which will be demonstrated at upcoming events - updates will be shared on this website.

Stay tuned!

Kenan Turbic (Fraunhofer HHI)
Björn Gernert (Keysight)