Test and measurement company TOYO Corporation announced that a major US automotive manufacturer recently selected TOYO’s vehicle-in-the-loop simulator (ViLS) for testing and validating its next generation of electric vehicles (EVs) and autonomous vehicles.

The ViLS allows automotive engineers to perform a wide variety of vehicle, environmental, and road testing under real-world conditions but in a more cost-effective and safer lab-controlled setting. In particular, the TOYO ViLS supports the CASE paradigm: “Connected” cars,” “Autonomous/Automated” driving, “Shared,” and “Electric”.

The TOYO ViLS is designed from the ground up. Among the components are Rototest Energy chassis dynamometers, Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), and True Sim, a professional-grade driving simulator co-developed by TOYO and Iwane that features augmented reality functionality.

After a multi-month technical assessment of the ViLS with one of the automaker’s EVs, the OEM established that the ViLS met both their current and evolving needs. In particular, the automaker needed dynamometers capable of coping with the high-torque forces generated by EVs and observed that the Rototest system met this stringent requirement.

The company has ordered two complete ViLS systems—the largest ever secured by TOYO for the ViLS with a valuation in the multi-millions of dollars. The customer worked closely with TOYO’s US subsidiary TOYOTech through all phases of the procurement cycle. Delivery and deployment of the platforms are expected to occur before the end of the year.

Some advantages of the TOYO solution include:

• Portable and short setup time (15 to 20 minutes per hub)

• Supports high-torque force

• 4-wheel independent control dynamometer system requiring only a flat surface and power

• Allows for steering control and feedback during a running test

• Uses a low-inertia drive motor unit

• Allows for a quick acceleration test by eliminating tires

• Allows for a running resistance test, also simulating hill conditions

• Available in different variations covering from single-axle (2WD) vehicles to dual-axle (4WD) vehicles

• Available in application-specific models such as a low-noise model for the NVH test (45dBA or less at 62mph/100kmh) and an environment test model (covering down to -95 °F/35°C)

• Allows for system customization with different options, such as a blower that generates headwinds according to the simulated running speed

• Interface to link external control systems such as a driving simulator or hardware-in-the-loop simulator

A key to closing this transaction was the proof-of-concept (POC) evaluation that the automaker partook in with our technology partner, Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee (ORNL). As a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the US Department of Energy, ORNL maintains a TOYO-supplied ViLS in DOE’s National Transportation Research Center at ORNL to support such endeavors. During the POC, the automaker validated requirements and witnessed first-hand the ViLS in operation with their electric vehicle.We are grateful to ORNL for supporting the POC and look forward to assisting with the deployment and commissioning of the ViLSs at the customer site.

—Bo Han, CEO of TOYOTech

The automaker’s key test requirements for the TOYO ViLS include support for:

• Advanced driver assistance system software modules

• High torque force tests

• Acceleration tests

• Adaptive cruise control tests

• Steering control and feedback tests

• Emergency and regenerative braking tests