Dynamic virtual object generation for testing autonomous vehicles in simulated driving scenarios

Abstract

A system, method and tangible memory provides a graphical display output including a simulation for testing a design for a vehicle. The method extracts object data from accident data describing an object that contributed to a roadway accident occurring in a real world. The method extracts behavior data from the accident data describing the erroneous behavior of the object. The method constructs an error model that describes a virtual object that represents the object in the simulation based in part on the behavior data, a frequency input and a severity input. The method generates the graphical display output including the simulation based on a roadway model, a vehicle model and the error model. The simulation graphically depicts a virtual vehicle present on a virtual roadway system that includes the virtual object behaving dynamically in the simulation based on the error model.