The arrival of the winter in the northern hemisphere has provided a new test scenario for automated driving. Last month, Waymo announced that its self-driving vehicle will be tested on the snow and ice road in Detroit, USA. Soon after, Russian technology giant Yandex also announced autopilot testing on snow-covered roads. The latest challenge to the snow is the Dutch company VTT.
Founded in 1942, VTT is the largest comprehensive research institute in the Nordic region. It has developed an autopilot prototype Martti based on the Volkswagen Touareg and tested it in northern Finland. The VTT may also be the first self-driving company to fully test on snow-covered roads because the Waymo and Yandex cars were tested on thin, snow-covered roads.
Judging from the exposure information, Martti traveled 3 inches (about 7.6 centimeters) of snow on roads and traveled at about 25 mph. According to the information released by VTT, prototypes are equipped with cameras, antennas, lidars, and other sensors.
As can be seen from the figure below, the road surface on which the vehicle is traveling is completely covered by snow, and the lane lines and road edges cannot be clearly seen. Lei Feng Network (public number: Lei Feng network) speculated that VTT should use a high-precision map plus GPS to achieve vehicle positioning.
The VTT vehicle's automatic driving level may be between L3-4 and there is no driver control during the entire journey, although there are test personnel in the vehicle.
The winter in Finland generally lasts 4-6 months, with an average of 3-5 cm of snow. Perhaps VTT can be the first to develop an autonomous driving system that can adapt to the harsh winter in Finland.
VTT also cooperates with Ecsel, an electronic technology company in Europe, on the DENSE project and is developing new sensors that can be used for heavy rain and heavy fog.
At present, auto-pilot companies relying on local scenes have emerged in many countries. However, overall, China and the United States have the most advanced autonomous driving development, and the largest number of innovative companies have been established.
Plug-In Connecting Terminals,Insulated Spade Terminals,Cable Connector Double Spade Terminals,Vinyl-Insulated Locking Spade Terminals
Taixing Longyi Terminals Co.,Ltd. , https://www.longyiterminals.com