When people hear the word “spider”, they might think about a hairy, sometimes even creepy animal. Well, this one isn’t. SPIDER stands for “Smart Physical Demonstration and Evaluation Robot” – and is a mobile Hardware-in-the-Loop (Mobile HiL) platform for the development and testing of autonomous driving functions. It allows reproducible testing of perception systems, vehicle software and control algorithms under real world conditions. The main features of the SPIDER are highly dynamic omni-directional movement, a robust and splash-water proof design, extensibility, and the provision of power and data interfaces, allowing to control its movements within a built-in safety framework.

The SPIDER can move in any direction in any given angle and even rotate. The flexible driving capabilities allow to execute a wide range of driving scenarios, which are not possible with cars. The platform uses four high-power electrical motors, that can accelerate its 380kg up to its top speed of 50km/h, thus allowing to perform all kinds of urban driving scenarios. This vehicle is built for action: by using indoor and outdoor systems, it can operate even in harsh test environments or within buildings. In our new video, you can catch a glimpse of our SPIDER and some of its main features during a test run.