Testing that communication in a lab first prevents failures on real roads.
As autonomous vehicles edge closer to the roads we share, the invisible language they speak — signals exchanged with infrastructure, other cars, and the world itself — must be proven trustworthy long before any human life depends on it. In June 2021, Keysight Technologies introduced a testing platform designed to give automotive engineers a controlled space in which to stress, break, and ultimately validate those communication systems. It is a quiet but consequential step in the long work of teaching machines to navigate a world built for human judgment.
- Autonomous vehicles depend on flawless vehicle-to-everything communication, and a single untested failure in that chain could prove catastrophic on a public road.
- The complexity of non-line-of-sight driving scenarios — where vehicles cannot see each other directly — creates testing challenges that real-world trials alone cannot safely or repeatably address.
- Keysight's C-V2X Autonomous Drive Emulation solution attacks this problem by recreating those dangerous edge cases inside a lab, feeding time-synchronized sensor inputs to actual vehicle hardware around the clock.
- The platform covers all four critical testing layers — transmitter, receiver, protocol, and application — while integrating with existing hardware-in-the-loop systems to protect prior industry investments.
- Built to evolve alongside 5G NR C-V2X standards, the solution positions automotive teams to keep validating continuously rather than rebuilding their testing infrastructure as the technology advances.
Keysight Technologies unveiled a new testing platform in mid-2021 aimed at one of autonomous vehicle development's most demanding challenges: proving that the communication systems connecting cars to each other and to the surrounding world actually work before those cars reach public roads.
The C-V2X Autonomous Drive Emulation solution runs on Keysight's UXM 5G Wireless Test platform and addresses four layers of validation. At the hardware level, it measures signal power, frequency accuracy, and unwanted emissions. It tests how well a device isolates the signal it needs from surrounding interference. It verifies that communication protocols meet the standards required by certification bodies like GCF and PTCRB. And at the application layer, it integrates real C-V2X scenarios with hardware-in-the-loop systems — the method the automotive industry uses to simulate the full ecosystem of components surrounding a device under development.
Thomas Goetzl, who leads Keysight's Automotive & Energy Solutions division, pointed to non-line-of-sight scenarios — situations where vehicles cannot directly see one another — as the kind of complex, high-stakes cases that make lab-based emulation essential. The platform generates a complete simulated environment, feeding synchronized inputs to actual vehicle sensors so that advanced driver-assistance software can be exercised against scenarios ranging from the routine to the extraordinarily rare.
The architecture is open and designed to grow: new sensor types can be added as technology evolves, and the system integrates with tools teams already own, preserving existing investments. A built-in continuous regression testing capability means that as software updates are released — even after a vehicle enters production — teams can automatically verify that nothing has broken. The solution is also forward-compatible with future 5G NR C-V2X releases, sparing companies the cost of replacing their testing infrastructure as standards develop. Keysight, which reported $4.2 billion in revenue in fiscal 2020, positioned the platform as a foundation for validating autonomous systems across the three major automotive markets: China, Europe, and the United States.
Keysight Technologies announced a new testing platform designed to help automotive engineers verify the communication systems that autonomous vehicles will rely on to talk to each other and their surroundings. The tool, called the C-V2X Autonomous Drive Emulation solution, runs on Keysight's UXM 5G Wireless Test platform and lets developers measure how well vehicle-to-everything communication devices perform before they ever leave the lab.
Building a truly autonomous vehicle means writing extraordinarily complex software infused with artificial intelligence—code that has to interpret streams of real-time data flowing in from infrastructure, from other vehicles, and from dozens of sensors mounted on the car itself. Before any of that software can be trusted on a public road, it needs to be tested exhaustively. That testing happens in controlled environments where engineers can repeat scenarios exactly, adjust variables, and watch what breaks. Keysight's new solution is built to support that kind of rigorous, repeatable validation.
The platform handles four distinct categories of testing. Transmitter testing measures power output, signal accuracy, frequency precision, and whether the device is leaking unwanted emissions into adjacent channels. Receiver testing checks sensitivity and how well the device can pick out the signal it wants while rejecting interference from nearby frequencies. Protocol testing ensures that the actual communication link works correctly—that the right messages are being sent and received in the right format, meeting the standards that regulators and certification bodies like GCF and PTCRB require. Application-layer testing goes a step further, integrating C-V2X communication scenarios with hardware-in-the-loop systems, which is how the automotive industry simulates the behavior of vehicle systems that surround and connect to newly developed components.
Thomas Goetzl, who leads Keysight's Automotive & Energy Solutions business, framed the problem the tool addresses: as autonomous vehicles become more common, the testing scenarios become more complex, especially cases where vehicles can't see each other directly. His team built the emulation solution to let engineers recreate those difficult, non-line-of-sight situations in a lab where conditions are controlled and repeatable, maximizing safety for both passengers and other road users.
The platform works by generating a complete simulated environment for testing. It feeds time-synchronized inputs directly to the vehicle's actual sensors, letting engineers exercise the advanced driver-assistance systems software against scenarios ranging from routine to extremely rare. This approach lets teams validate system performance earlier in the development cycle, before hardware is finalized. The architecture is open and flexible, so engineers can add new sensor types as technology evolves and requirements change. Because the solution integrates with existing test environments and hardware-in-the-loop systems, it protects the investments companies have already made in those tools and workflows.
One feature built into the platform is the ability to run regression testing continuously, twenty-four hours a day. That means as teams release updates and new features—even after a vehicle has started production—they can automatically verify that nothing broke and that all the communication systems still work as intended. The solution is also designed to support future releases of 5G new radio C-V2X technology, ensuring that companies won't have to replace their testing infrastructure as the standard evolves. Keysight, which generated $4.2 billion in revenue in fiscal 2020, positioned the tool as a way to help automotive teams navigate the increasingly complex task of validating autonomous vehicle systems across all the major markets: China, Europe, and the United States.
Citas Notables
As autonomous vehicles gain momentum, the complexities for non-line-of-sight test cases and drive emulation scenarios are becoming increasingly important. This solution enables automotive teams to emulate and verify complex closed-loop drive scenarios in a lab environment under controlled and repeatable test conditions.— Thomas Goetzl, VP and General Manager of Keysight's Automotive & Energy Solutions
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Why does testing communication between vehicles matter so much for autonomous driving?
Because a self-driving car can't rely only on what its own sensors see. It needs to know what other vehicles around it are doing, what traffic signals are saying, what road hazards are coming. That information travels through wireless signals. If those signals fail, get corrupted, or arrive late, the car makes bad decisions. Testing that communication in a lab first, under controlled conditions, is how you catch those failures before they happen on a real road.
So this isn't about testing the car's brakes or steering—it's purely about the wireless conversation?
It's about the wireless conversation and how the car's brain responds to it. The emulation platform simulates what the car's sensors would receive if it were in a particular scenario—say, another vehicle is approaching from behind a building. The platform sends that simulated data to the car's actual software and watches whether the software makes the right decision. It's the bridge between communication and action.
Why does it matter that this runs on an existing platform instead of being completely new?
Money and time. Automotive companies have already spent millions building test environments and training engineers on specific tools. If Keysight's solution plugs into what they already have, they don't have to start from scratch. They protect their investment and get the new capability faster.
The press release mentions "24/7 regression testing." What does that actually prevent?
It prevents the silent failure—the update that seems fine but breaks something subtle in the communication protocol, or introduces a timing issue that only shows up under specific conditions. By running the same tests automatically every day, you catch those problems immediately instead of discovering them in the field.
Is this tool only for companies building autonomous vehicles, or does it have other uses?
The core technology is C-V2X, which is vehicle-to-everything communication. That's broader than just autonomous vehicles. Any connected vehicle—even a regular car with advanced safety features—could eventually use this technology to talk to infrastructure or other vehicles. But right now, the main driver is autonomous vehicle development.