Ansys Helps Drive Electric Autonomous Vehicle Safety for EasyMile

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EasyMile, an all-electric autonomous technology supplier headquartered in Toulouse, France looked to Ansys software for a single-source, turnkey solution to demonstrate the safety of their driverless vehicles. With CADFEM France, Ansys enabled engineers to work from a single model for all safety activities across platforms—significantly shortening development cycles, speeding time to market and reducing operational costs for the company’s driverless shuttle and tow tractor solutions.

Both electric vehicles (EVs) operate at level 4 (L4)—meaning they are fully autonomous until a system failure is detected. EasyMile deployed Ansys software to conduct functional safety analysis of infrastructure and connected architecture for both vehicles.

Autonomous vehicle (AV) function depends on a high level of information to operate safely. The real-time data-processing supporting AV functionality is driven by input from a complex system of lidars, radars, cameras, internet of things (IoT) sensors, GPS and navigation software, all working together to give a 360-degree perspective of vehicle surroundings. To demonstrate safety at this level is difficult and requires clearly defined methods and tools for managing the complex architecture of these nonclassical systems.

Using Ansys software, EasyMile identified a single solution with all the tools needed to analyze their very complex AV system architecture. With Ansys’ help, EasyMile established clear guidelines for safety analysis, along with the unique templates and supporting documentation needed to successfully demonstrate the safety of their AV solutions for customers and various government regulatory bodies.  

“It has been difficult in the past to demonstrate the safety of our products to clients,” says Romain Dupont, R&D for EasyMile. “Ansys medini analyze really helps us to streamline the process and bring it all together in a way that our clients can understand. Together with Ansys’ support, we’re helping shape future standards for autonomous vehicle safety.”

medini analyze is a software toolset supporting safety analysis for electronically-controlled safety related functions. It allows for the consistent and efficient application of industry guidelines specific to autonomous vehicle applications, helping to eliminate inconsistencies during analysis to accelerate certification. 

“Autonomous vehicle technology is developing at a lightning-fast pace,” says Shane Emswiler, senior vice president of products at Ansys. “This challenges manufacturers and OEMs to reliably test and demonstrate the viability of these incredibly complex systems. We’re continuously evolving medini analyze to meet ever-changing safety criteria in support of successful customer deployments.”