Simulation of sensor systems for mobile robots are described in this paper. By simulation of smart sensor systems, the performance of semi-autonomous vehicles / mobile robots can be enhanced. Smart sensor systems used in the field of mobile robotics can utilise adaptive algorithms. e. g. artificial neural nets, fuzzy logic or hybrid variants of these systems. The development, training and evaluation of adaptive algorithms for sensor systems can be done within a virtual environment in which graphical models are built to simulate an intelligent vehicle, its sensors, and its environment. The virtual sensors are validated by comparing the characteristics of the virtual sensors with those of the real devices.