Future tech: Self driving car from France

The technology

This car features a new and modern technology, which allows it to drive itself without any driver. This car respects the traffic laws and avoids obstacles when driven by a robot driver. This one-of-a-kind self-driving car is developed by a French R&D organization named IFSTTAR in cooperation with Embedded Electronic Systems Research Institute at ESIGELEC, an engineering school in Rouen.

Self driving car from France

What’s new?

This self-driving car is actually a modified Renault Grand Espace and the researchers have added a Stahle "robot driver," cameras, sensors in this car. The roof of this car features a control bay. The traffic lights are detected by the cameras, while the location is determined by a GPS, inertial measurement unit, and wheel encoder, which also track the movements of this car. The robot car was first tested manually by the researchers using a joystick. After successful manual testing, the researchers tested this car on a test track. It is learnt that the researchers are planning to evaluate the safety features under various driving conditions using this self-driving car.

What’s refreshing?

The internal circuit of this car with LIDAR integration has been modified so that it can drive without any manual help. The roof box features sensors, which help the car to detect the obstacles. This car was tested successfully on a 160m track and it achieved a speed of 55 kph in rainy conditions. This car features emergency brake too.

How it works

The teams of researchers, who have designed and developed this self-driving car claim that they can control the exact trajectory of this vehicle using a "driving robot". The speed and behavior of this vehicle can also be controlled using the driving robot. GPS RTK and an iXSea inertial unit are used to guide this car. The researchers have used RTMaps multisensor engine in this self-driving car. This engine is used to acquire and process the data. This car features three cameras, which are fitted at strategic places to monitor the surrounding of this self-driving vehicle. The road lanes and markings on the roads are tracked and detected using a camera which is fitted in the front end of this vehicle. The front end of this car also features a LIDAR unit, which allows the car to detect obstacles, be it cars, pedestrians or any other thing.

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Self driving car

The project is part of a large R&D program called Quasper, which involves a number of French companies and labs, including the Thales Group and INRIA

The impact

This self-driving car has been developed as part of a large R&D program called Quasper. Several French companies and labs are involved in this ambitious program. Some big companies like the Thales Group and INRIA are also involved in this program. The purpose of this project is to design and develop sensors and "perception systems", which can be used in transportation and improve the overall safety systems in the future. The researchers are hopeful that this technology will not only make the transportation safer and secure, it will also increase the efficiency of the transportation. The researchers have already successfully tested this car in manual mode using joystick and they have also tested this car without any manual support.

The car has performed as per the satisfaction of the researchers on the test track and they are hopeful that they can use the technology used in this car in conventional vehicles as well. The success of the technology developed by this team will definitely improve the safety standards of the vehicles in the coming days. Besides this, it will also prompt other researchers to work on developing improved and better technologies. This self-driving car will greatly impact the researchers who are working to develop similar technologies. It is certain that many companies would come forward to support the organizations or teams, which are willing to develop technologies, which can improve the safety standards because it would improve the sales of their vehicles. To conclude, we can say that this self-driving car has the potential to open several new chapters in the field of the safety standards for vehicles.