AImotive has integrated the Khronos Group’s Vulkan API into its aiSim 3.0 platform to improve ray tracing performance. aiSim enables real-time simulation for HIL (hardware in the loop) for even the most complex sensor setups.
aiSim is the world’s first ISO 26262 certified, automotive-grade open simulator tool for automated driving development. It is designed to accurately and efficiently simulate all major sensor modalities required for automated driving. The next generation of the simulator, aiSim 3.0, will launch in April 2021.
By utilizing the industry-standard Vulkan API, aiSim is able to provide the highest coverage for various hardware platforms, according to AImotive. The company says the addition of the Vulkan ray-tracing extension improves simulation performance by efficiently distributing rendering tasks to available GPU ray-tracing hardware. It also enables the creation of the next level of physically realistic input for the sensors, including cameras, lidar and radar through the correct simulation of lights and weather within a holistic environment.
“AImotive is committed to open standards that allow our customers and the entire industry to use all suitable components at the lowest cost without compromising on performance,“ said László Kishonti, CEO and founder of AImotive. “By using Vulkan ray tracing, aiSim can provide more realistic automotive simulation than ever in real time, and accelerate the further development and testing of automated driving systems.”
“Vulkan provides explicit control over GPU acceleration so that sophisticated developers such as aiSim can unlock the full potential of underlying platforms for their customers that demand high performance and visual realism,” added Neil Trevett, Khronos president. ”As an open standard, Vulkan ray tracing has now unlocked a real-time rendering technology previously only available in expensive cinematic visual effects on low-cost workstations and personal computers from multiple manufacturers. The accuracy and physical correctness of ray tracing are particularly well suited to simulation environments, and we are pleased to see professional automotive applications using this new Vulkan capability alongside gaming.”
AImotive, which claims to have secured the most European funding and one of the largest independent teams in the world working on automated driving technologies, is developing an AD ecosystem comprising self-driving software, proprietary simulation tools and neural network acceleration hardware IP.
The Khronos Group is an open, non-profit, member-driven consortium of over 150 industry-leading companies creating advanced, royalty-free interoperability standards for 3D graphics, augmented and virtual reality, and parallel programming including the new-generation Vulkan GPU API.