A Method to Assess and Compare Proving Grounds in the Context of Automated Driving Systems

Automotive proving grounds currently face an increasing complexity in testing requirements, especially in the field of automated driving. Thus, the variety of necessary test infrastructure grows. This challenges proving ground operators to constantly satisfy the demand. Requirements are a quick adoption of existing test tracks including its facilities and enhancements of the test infrastructure portfolio. Commercial proving ground operators usually strive to provide a broad set of test tracks so their customers can conduct most tests at one location. Customer loyalty is a key success factor for proving ground operators. A sufficient variety of test tracks and test infrastructure is a lever for customer loyalty. This paper provides a method to measure the quotient of testing demand satisfaction for automated vehicles. This allows benchmarking with other proving grounds. Furthermore, this method can be used to identify gaps between the current portfolio and the demand. Afterwards, action plans can be generated in order to close these gaps.