ASAM OpenSCENARIO® DSL

(The download of ASAM OpenSCENARIO DSL is free of charge)

To verify the safety and the correct functionality of an autonomous vehicle (AV) or an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), it is necessary to observe its behavior in various evolving situations that involve multiple entities like vehicles, pedestrians and other traffic participants. Using ASAM OpenSCENARIO, the behavior of the autonomous vehicle as well as other actors or entities in the environment can be described in so-called ‘scenarios’.

ASAM OpenSCENARIO DSL defines:

• A domain-specific language (DSL), with the characteristics of a human and machine readable software programming language 
• An extendable domain model, which represents the central concepts of the on-road driving domain. 

The standard is specifically designed for large-scale verification and validation (V&V) purposes to test safety and functionality of autonomous vehicles (AV) and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). It emphasizes composition and reuse of scenario descriptions, allowing simple scenarios to serve as building blocks for more complex ones. It enables both location-specific as well as map/ODD-agnostic scenario descriptions, enabling wide applicability. The language supports various concrete, logical and abstract scenario descriptions. These scenarios include maneuvers that involve multiple vehicles, other traffic participants, complex environmental interactions, complex variations of testing parameters, and the evaluation and analysis of complex or compound measurement criteria.

The standard is used in virtual development, testing, as well as validation of functions for driver assistance, automated driving, and autonomous driving. However, it is also suitable for testing on test tracks or proving grounds, for testing in a mixed environment (HiL), and for decoding real-word driving data.

ASAM OpenSCENARIO DSL may be used in conjunction with many other ASAM standards to enable fully-fledged V&V workflows.

ASAM OpenSCENARIO DSL and XML

ASAM OpenSCENARIO occupies a unique position among the ASAM OpenX standards in that there are two standards developed in parallel: ASAM OpenSCENARIO XML  and ASAM OpenSCENARIO DSL.

Differentiation
Each of these standards occupies a different position in the application toolchain. To help users determine the most appropriate standard for their use case, the standards are delineated by their primary use case. These use cases describe what the standard is intended for and are the basis for key considerations behind many design decisions. However, this primary use case is not exclusive, the standards may be (and are) used for a wide variety of additional use cases, with overlap, but these are not specified here.

Primary use cases:

• ASAM OpenSCENARIO XML: Predictable highly precise scenarios that may be used with an external test specification for V&V
• ASAM OpenSCENARIO DSL: Large-scale V&V of the safety and functionality of autonomous vehicles (AV) and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS)

Alignment
Continued alignment of the two standards is encouraged but not required by ASAM. It is not part of the formal roadmap of ASAM OpenSCENARIO. It is rather subject to the project participant's interests and will be driven by the market/members.

The main motivators of current participants for future & continued alignment are:

• Joint use of the scenario standards with ASAM's other standards (e.g. ASAM OpenDRIVE®, ASAM OSI®). Sometimes both scenario standards are used in the same toolchain. 
• Similar terminology and domain concepts ensure better shared understanding of the same concepts.
• Generation of scenario descriptions from one version to another (e.g. from abstract OpenSCENARIO DSL scenario descriptions to concrete OpenSCENARIO XML descriptions)
• Alignment of domain models between versions makes it easier for implementers by saving on implementation time, e.g., of misaligned features

Where will alignment be focused:

• Alignment should take place between standards on any topic where domain concepts are impacted. This means any new features or significant modifications to existing features as soon as any implications for domain concepts are identified.
• Core language development will not be subject to active alignment
• Domain model ( entities, actions ) changes in either version will be approached jointly, however complete alignment is not required
• Difference as of today: Alignment is neither migration nor conversion.

How will alignment take place

• The project will make a 'best effort' to achieve joint consensus on direction of features or domain model concepts between the standards. Where deviations occur, these shall be documented.
• The final decision process is independent between the standards. No overall consensus is required. Voting is constrained to enrolled participants of the projects or subgroups for the respective standards.

Standard authors

51WORLD High Technology Co.,Ltd., Akkodis Germany Consulting GmbH, AVENYR GmbH, AVL List GmbH, BMW Group, CARIAD SE, DENSO Automotive, dSPACE GmbH, Five AI, Foretellix Ltd, Fraunhofer Institut für Verkehrs- und Infrastruktursysteme IVI, e.V., Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence GmbH, IPG Automotive GmbH, Luxoft GmbH, MathWorks, PMSF IT Consulting, RA Consulting GmbH, Robert Bosch GmbH, Siemens AG, Tencent, Torc Robotics, TraceTronic GmbH, Vayavya labs Pvt Ltd., Vector Informatik GmbH, Volvo Autonomous Solutions, Volvo Car Corporation