Physical testing efforts for automated driving systems are increasing due to higher automation levels and more rigorous approval requirements. Consequently, front-loading the development process through virtual testing has become an increasingly important task for engineers. To establish credibility and comparability, virtual tests are validated against real-world data. Therefore, digital twins of the test environment, such as proving grounds, vehicles and software are employed. Researchers at Mercedes-Benz and partners have developed digital environment twins of the German proving ground in Immendingen and Swedish proving grounds in Arjeplog and Arvidsjaur. These digital twins enable virtual test drives for evaluating driving dynamics, comfort and automated driving functions. To facilitate shift-left testing in the development process, it is essential to provide credible justification for the simulation results. The researchers aim to establish a method for the credibility assessment of virtual simulations, utilizing a combination of local validation and structured credibility argumentation.

• State-of-the-art for digital environment twins
• Digital twin use cases for XiL approaches for driving automation
• Motivation for systematic credibility assessment
• Credibility assessment approach based on local validation and credibility argumentation