The highD Dataset: A Drone Dataset of Naturalistic Vehicle Trajectories on German Highways for Validation of Highly Automated Driving Systems

Scenario-based testing for the safety validation of highly automated vehicles is a promising approach that is being examined in research and industry. This approach heavily relies on data from real-world scenarios to derive the necessary scenario information for testing. Measurement data should be collected at a reasonable effort, contain naturalistic behavior of road users and include all data relevant for a description of the identified scenarios in sufficient quality. However, the current measurement methods fail to meet at least one of the requirements. Thus, we propose a novel method to measure data from an aerial perspective for scenario-based validation fulfilling the mentioned requirements. Furthermore, we provide a large-scale naturalistic vehicle trajectory dataset from German highways called highD. We evaluate the data in terms of quantity, variety and contained scenarios. Our dataset consists of 16.5 hours of measurements from six locations with 110 000 vehicles, a total driven distance of 45 000 km and 5600 recorded complete lane changes. The highD dataset is available online at: http://www.highD-dataset.comComment: IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC) 201

Becoming, belonging and sharing: Striving to live in the spirit of Ubuntu in Portugal

In this paper I examine the non-formal education programme of the Ubuntu Academy in Portugal, a non-profit organisation that aims to empower and train young adults with strong leadership potential. The participants, who come mostly from African immigrant communities and contexts of social exclusion, are trained to develop and implement social entrepreneur and outreach projects in their communities. I explore the Ubuntu Academy’s use of the Southern African communitarian philosophy of ubuntu and draw on ubuntu literature to argue that this specific education programme’s focus on the notions of humaneness and interdependence encapsulated in the concept of ubuntu has introduced a paradigm shift from an individualistic worldview prevalent in the West to a communitarian form of becoming, belonging and sharing. In this context, I consider the role of testimony and narrative in both promoting personal growth and developing a sense of interdependence and connectedness among people of diverse backgrounds and identities

Economic Analysis of Smart Roadside Infrastructure Sensors for Connected and Automated Mobility

Smart roadside infrastructure sensors in the form of intelligent transportation system stations (ITS-Ss) are increasingly deployed worldwide at relevant traffic nodes. The resulting digital twins of the real environment are suitable for developing and validating connected and automated driving functions and for increasing the operational safety of intelligent vehicles by providing ITS-S real-time data. However, ITS-Ss are very costly to establish and operate. The choice of sensor technology also has an impact on the overall costs as well as on the data quality. So far, there is only insufficient knowledge about the concrete expenses that arise with the construction of different ITS-S setups. Within this work, multiple modular infrastructure sensor setups are investigated with the help of a life cycle cost analysis (LCCA). Their economic efficiency, different user requirements and sensor data qualities are considered. Based on the static cost model, a Monte Carlo simulation is performed, to generate a range of possible project costs and to quantify the financial risks of implementing ITS-S projects of different scales. Due to its modularity, the calculation model is suitable for diverse applications and outputs a distinctive evaluation of the underlying cost-benefit ratio of investigated setups.Comment: Accepted to be published as part of the 26th IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), Bilbao, Bizkaia, Spain, September 24-28, 202