More than 120 persons test the future of driving in Hamburg
As part of the Europe-wide L3Pilot tests of Level 3 functions on public roads across Europe, more than 120 test persons drove through the center of Hamburg, Germany, in fully equipped research vehicles of Volkswagen AG from August 31 to September 4, 2020. The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg provided its test field for AD for the test rides.
During the journey, data on driving behaviour was collected. For example, a video camera recorded the mine game and all gestures of the test person. The interaction between driver and vehicle is evaluated based on this data. In addition, data was collected that will show during the evaluation process how the vehicle behaves in traffic, for example when interacting with cyclists and pedestrians, at traffic lights or using vehicle-to-X communication. Before and after the test drives, opinions of the study participants were assessed using questionnaires. This enquiry will inform about market launch potential. The entire anonymized process of data collection, conversion and evaluation is subject to the strictest data protection rules and was developed in accordance with the requirements of the German General Data Protection Regulation.
Protecting the health of the participants in the study is also a top priority within the framework of the L3Pilot project during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in order to be able to collect meaningful data via video, it is necessary to complete the test drives without a mask. Therefore, all vehicles were converted to meet the Corona requirements. At the medical recommendation and specifications of the VW Group, further measures were implemented in conjunction with the common hygiene and distance rules: Among other things, special ventilation concepts were developed and the driver and passenger areas were isolated from one another with the help of separating films.