The SET Level project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action under grant number 19A19004R, ran from 1 March 2019 to 31 October 2022 and was concluded with a final report dated 25 April 2023. Its goal was to create a simulation‑based framework for the development and testing of highly automated driving functions in urban environments, targeting Level 4 and Level 5 automation. The effort brought together major German automotive manufacturers, suppliers, IT vendors and research institutes to co‑develop methods, tools and standards that can be transferred to industrial production.

Volkswagen AG contributed to three of the five sub‑projects: TP 2 (Use‑Case Management and functional requirement analysis), TP 3 (simulation‑based and virtual development/testing), and TP 5 (embedding and critical reflection). In TP 2 and TP 3, Volkswagen’s role focused on the practical applicability of the results. The company supplied requirements for test‑ready scenario formulation, including definition, derivation of test cases, and foundations for test control and evaluation. It also defined the mapping of simulated subsystems onto the simulation architecture from an industrial perspective and specified the reference implementation of the simulation environment. Volkswagen provided input on the necessary framework conditions for simulation use, such as Model‑in‑the‑Loop integration. In TP 3, the company helped shape the simulation architecture and the modelling of subsystems, ensuring that the resulting methods could be adopted in a production setting. In TP 5, Volkswagen evaluated the developed concepts in an internal proof‑of‑concept (PoC) that demonstrated the feasibility of the simulation framework for real‑world testing scenarios.

The technical outcomes of the project include a credible simulation framework that integrates safety and controllability concepts aligned with ISO 26262. The framework supports the definition of simulation principles, formalises a coordinated simulation methodology, and provides a reference implementation that can be instantiated for specific vehicle platforms. The project also produced a set of processes that link requirement packages, result packages, and verification activities, thereby creating a coherent workflow from scenario definition to test execution and assessment. Quantitative evidence of the framework’s effectiveness was gathered during the PoC, showing that simulation‑based testing can achieve comparable coverage to conventional test methods while reducing the need for physical test drives. Although the report does not list specific performance metrics, it reports that the PoC validated the industrial applicability of the simulation environment and confirmed that the approach can improve quality in the development process.

The collaboration structure involved a consortium of automotive OEMs, suppliers, IT vendors and research institutes, each contributing domain expertise and resources. Volkswagen’s participation was limited in scope but strategically focused on ensuring that the simulation tools could be integrated into existing development pipelines. The project’s timeline included an initial onboarding phase that was delayed by the COVID‑19 pandemic, after which tasks were clearly defined and executed according to the project plan. The final report highlights that the results lay a foundation for future cooperation between industry partners and research institutions, with the potential to produce marketable, series‑produced simulation tools. The economic assessment indicates that adopting the simulation framework could reduce development costs, offering a competitive advantage that could be passed on to customers.