ASAM OpenSCENARIO®

(The download of ASAM OpenSCENARIO is free of charge)

ASAM OpenSCENARIO defines a file format for the description of the dynamic content of driving and traffic simulators. The primary use-case of ASAM OpenSCENARIO is to describe complex, synchronized maneuvers that involve multiple entities like vehicles, pedestrians and other traffic participants. The description of a maneuver may be based on driver actions (e.g. performing a lane change) or on trajectories (e.g. derived from a recorded driving maneuver). Other content, such as the description of the ego vehicle, driver appearance, pedestrians, traffic and environment conditions, is included in the standard as well.

The standard describes vehicle maneuvers in a storyboard, which is subdivided in stories, acts and sequences. A story can describe the driving maneuvers of one single vehicle or specify the dynamic behavior of several entities (e.g. vehicles perform a lane change once they reach a specific position). Stories consist of acts, which are triggered when a specific condition is met, such as exceeding a defined speed, reaching a defined distance to a vehicle ahead or going off-road. By using the notion of sequences, the standard allows to define the maneuvers of multiple vehicles in response to that. The maneuver of one car could be a lane change, overtaking another car or driving in a traffic jam while creating a corridor for emergency vehicles. The detailed driving behavior of the vehicle is described via events (i.e. when does it happen?) and actions (i.e. what happens?). Actions may be related to one vehicle and can include speed changes, lane changes or drive to a specified position. Routes and trajectories can be defined that the vehicle shall follow. Actions may also be related to the environment and can include the change of a traffic light or the occurrence of a traffic jam.

Maneuvers, actions, trajectories and other elements can be organized in catalogs and can be parameterized. Additionally, complete scenario descriptions support parameterization, which allows test automation without the need to create a large amount of scenario files.

The data for maneuver descriptions in ASAM OpenSCENARIO is organized in a hierarchical structure and serialized in an XML file format. The schema is provided with the standard. The XML file can be easily validated, edited, imported and exported by simulation tools and content editors. The format is technology and vendor independent. 

Maneuver descriptions are an essential part in an effort to test, validate and certify the safety of driver assistance systems and autonomous driving cars. The industry, certification agencies and government authorities jointly work on the definition of maneuver libraries, which can be used to ensure the safe operation of such systems. A publicly developed and vendor-independent standard, such as ASAM OpenSCENARIO, is well suited for this purpose. However, despite the clear and unambiguous maneuver descriptions through a standardized format, it is common understanding that simulation results will not necessarily be the same on different simulators.

The standard is used together with road network descriptions from ASAM OpenDRIVE and can use road surface profiles from ASAM OpenCRG. The three standards complement each other and cover the static and dynamic content of in-the-loop vehicle simulation applications.
 

ASAM OpenSCENARIO occupies a unique position among the ASAM OpenX standards in that ASAM has developed two parallel versions of it. The two versions occupy different positions in the application toolchain.

• ASAM OpenSCENARIO 1.x is a low-level and concrete specification format, primarily designed to be read by simulation tools.
• ASAM OpenSCENARIO 2.x allows those users that create maneuver descriptions and tests to define scenarios at a higher level of abstraction as well as providing alternative expression methods to the current XML format of ASAM OpenSCENARIO 1.2.0 via a domain-specific language (DSL).

Both versions shall merge into one in the future.