Robotic self-driving car capable of dealing with snow and fog weather Marilyn. The Finnish VTT Technology Research Center upgraded the laser pointer auto-driving car named Marilyn, enabling Marilyn to achieve better vision than humans in fog and snow conditions. Ability to continue stable cruises to avoid forced parking.
According to VTT, by using a LiDAR (Lidar) sensor mounted on the roof that exceeds the human eye's perceived wavelength, the self-driving car can distinguish between pedestrians passing through fog and snow, and automatically avoid accidents. This is a big step for the successful cruising of autonomous vehicles in inclement weather.
According to the Memes Consulting, VTT has added 1550 nm wavelength LiDAR optics and intelligent software to its robotic self-driving car, which has greatly improved sensor performance. Additional software modules can filter point cloud data from LiDAR detection and evaluate scan reliability to ensure proper operation of the vehicle in snow and fog. In these environments, the laser pointer sensor can “see” visible and near-infrared spectra. range.
“Although Marilyn’s view in dense fog is only 30m, the new LiDAR can help vehicles run slowly in harsh weather and avoid being forced to stop completely,” said Matti Kutila, project manager of the VTT Robotics Autopilot Research Group. Among the many sensors assembled by Marilyn, the 905 nm LiDAR sensor does not work effectively in dense fog, and the new 1550 nm LiDAR is the only sensor that helps the vehicle make the right steering in dense fog."
VTT self-driving car assembly co-sensing car network V2X unit, can send the current vehicle speed, position and other information to surrounding vehicles
According to VTT, Marilyn combines radar and laser pointer technologies and takes advantage of their respective advantages, enabling Marilyn to cruise safer than human drivers.
However, VTT admits that there is still a long way to go to safely transport autonomous vehicles, but the assembly and detection performance of the new sensors has taken a big step toward the goal.
Marilyn will be on display at the recent RobustSENSE in Ulm, Germany, along with the University of Ulm, the Daimler, the FZI, the Fiat and the Ficosa. The Fraunhofer robot automatically drives the car. According to VTT, this is the first time in Europe that six robotic self-driving cars are running in the same park with pedestrians. These self-driving cars will challenge intersections, plan routes, and switch between manual and automatic modes.
In the next phase, VTT will test Marilyn's automatic parking capabilities without the help of researchers.