Development of a test rig for the precise positioning of a pedestrian dummy in driving tests

Preventive pedestrian protection systems are validated by means of driving tests reproducing safety–critical traffic situations with pedestrian involvement on a testing ground. Hence, a test rig is needed to position the dummy which replicates the pedestrian during the manoeuvre. This paper presents the development of a new test rig ensuring a precise and reproducible positioning of the pedestrian dummy according to the tolerances defined in the corresponding test specifications. The test rig is designed for the use in outdoor environment and features a high flexibility achieved by a modular design, which enables also an easy assembly. Furthermore, a special dummy mounting is developed preventing damage due to collisions between the Vehicle Under Test (VUT) and the pedestrian dummy. Finally, based on measurement results of an appropriate test scenario the high positioning accuracy of the new test rig is presented.