Mixed operation is also conceivable: a real vehicle reacts to virtual objects. Every scenario and every eventuality can be played out in this way – even those that cannot be rehearsed in real life for safety reasons: the car in front brakes unexpectedly an animal runs into the road the sun blinds the on-board cameras. This is why Porsche Engineering is moving training into the virtual world: game engines simulate the drives with which the algorithm practices.

This would require many real test drives – and by no means every event necessary for training would occur. For example, they have to learn how to detect a traffic situation at lightning speed using various sensors and react appropriately over a number of test kilometres. The background: the algorithms of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) need a lot of training and validation. “Game engines provide the technology to create the necessary environment for simulating driver assistance systems as a standard feature,” explains Frank Sayer, Senior Manager Virtual Vehicle Development at Porsche Engineering. New developer types: Porsche Engineering in Cluj employs software experts with a gaming background and an understanding of the automotive industry. Thanks to gaming technology, customers will soon be able to take a virtual seat in the vehicle they have just ordered, long before it leaves the assembly line. What otherwise brings virtual battles to the screen is an everyday tool at Porsche Engineering: game engines teach assistance systems or help designers to visualise components. This is because Watzl uses Unreal software in his work – a game engine that generates the images in the hit computer game Fortnite, among others. It is no coincidence that the digital road looks like a computer game.

There’s a reason he looks so closely: as part of the Porsche Engineering team, he creates virtual worlds every day, using a computer to recreate parts of highways in order to train driver assistance systems, for example. “Sometimes I wonder, for example, how the developers managed to get a certain reflection or texture – instead of defeating my enemies,” he says with a laugh. However, the 28-year-old sees the games differently to most players. When Tobias Watzl comes home from work, he occasionally sits down in front of the Playstation to relax.

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