This paper describes the development of evaluation methods to asses the suitability of a 3D surrogate vehicle for use in automotive safety tests for vehicles instrumented with radar. A vehicle with advanced driver assistance technology is tested in scenarios where it should take measures to avoid collisions. This is the Vehicle Under Test (VUT). In some scenarios, it is desired to see how the VUT performs in the presence of other vehicles. For safety reasons, the surrogate vehicle acts as the other vehicles in these situations. The term 3D surrogate vehicle is used to describe a surrogate suitable for tests from any approach direction. The 3D surrogate vehicle must satisfy three principal requirements:​

1. The target must not cause injury or damage to test driver and vehicle.
2. The target must present a realistic response to advanced driver assist sensors and algorithms
3. The target should require minimal effort and time to re-construct following crash events.

The international community of automotive system and parts manufacturers, along with automotive safety assessment groups, is intent on accepting an initial 3D surrogate vehicle, referred to as the harmonized target, for testing advanced driver assistance systems. Measurements are being made by teams in the US and Sweden to compare the response of radar to the harmonized target along with real vehicles. This paper describes the rationale and theoretical foundation for these methods.