Towards a Model-Based Multi-Layered Approach to Describe Traffic Scenarios on a Technical Level

Highly automated vehicles are increasingly gaining the public’s attention. To achieve broad acceptance for the deployment of such vehicles, it is necessary to ensure their functionality and safety. One approach that has become popular in research is the scenario-based approach. However, manual testing of such complex systems is impractical and time-consuming. Using simulations to run and evaluate such scenarios appears to be the most viable approach. This, in turn, raises new challenges, especially in modeling the scenarios to be tested simulatively and incorporating the system under test as part of these. Since existing solutions do not solve these challenges satisfactorily—due to the strict separation of scenario and simulation model, among other reasons—this work addresses the need for a standardized, holistic, and extensible approach for modeling traffic scenarios to be executed simulatively. Requirements for such an approach are identified with focus on its application in simulation- and scenario-based verification and validation. Based on these, a model-based multi-layered approach is proposed. The foundations of this are then implemented utilizing a Meta Object Facility based heavyweight extension of the Unified Modeling Language metamodel. The resulting metamodel is used to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach by modeling a maritime traffic scenario.