Advancements in Mixed Reality for Autonomous Vehicle Testing and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems: A Survey

Although the interest in autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) is significantly increasing, they won’t be viable until their system outperforms human drivers and can adapt to face unpredictable scenarios. Over the years, several testing methods have been developed, allowing vehicles to evaluate models and algorithms. However, these methods face many challenges, including the differences between conditions in simulation and in real world during the transfer of models. In response to these challenges, mixed-reality technology has shown some great potential in ensuring safer experiments. It enables vehicles to interact simultaneously with physical and virtual objects, thereby, duplicating critical scenarios to help the vehicle to learn how to adapt. In this paper, we present a comprehensive literature review of the use of mixed-reality techniques for self-driving systems and ADAS. We explore various applications and limitations of this approach. Additionally, we discuss possible directions for future work, highlighting the necessity of ongoing progress in this developing field.