SIEMENS
“ It ’ s important to accurately diagnose the current status of the system before you can implement change . You might want to deploy autonomous shuttles across Paris , but without understanding the overall impact it will have on the city , we might end up creating many unpriced externalities . Therefore , it is crucial to create a digital twin of the city before you implement any large-scale changes to be able to properly evaluate the overall system impact of the changes . Paris is already on track with this approach , and countries like Singapore are building on the work already done with analogue twins .
The synergy between the digital twin of the autonomous vehicle and the smart city it will operate within needs to be nurtured . “ By interfacing with a digital version of the smart city infrastructure we can show that when these vehicles are produced in reality will behave properly in thousands of important scenarios ,” adds Fritz .
The ability to communicate across that environment will be supported by cloudbased data handling that allows vehicles to understand , recover and re-use information . Chandra highlights that fast data requirements will rely on low latency communications , which the advent of 5G will further enhance .
“ The next step would be to take a vehicle into a real urban environment for testing ,” continues Fritz . “ In effect , the vehicle would have earned its learner ’ s permit in the virtual world before it is tested to ensure the physical vehicle behaves as the digital twin predicted it would . This requires the application of a practical methodology based on engineering principles to deliver a safe vehicle .”
To gain traction , Siemens is working with major metropolitan municipalities to develop this synergy and put together a certification process to provide a pathway for autonomous vehicles to get their learner ’ s permit . “ It ’ s the same process your smartphone has to go
Siemens – Driving the future of mobility
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