Some key technologies for the next car generation

Abstract

Modern cars include more and more sophisticated electronics, sensors, processing and control components. These new components are used both for controlling the main functions of the vehicle and for providing the driver with Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS). Such ADAS functionalities are increasingly based on Robotics technologies for partly automating some driving functions such as adaptive cruise control, acceleration/braking in a traffic lane, lane keeping, parking assistance, or even simple collision avoidance or mitigation actions (including braking or airbag actuation). Most of the automotive constructors are now proposing ADAS options, and the degree of autonomy of cars is progressively increasing. But the ultimate challenge addressed by many Academic and Industrial Research Laboratories and is to develop driverless cars. Impressive results have already been published and shown to a large public through the media, and many announcements concerning the future deployment of such vehicles have recently been done by several major Automotive Manufacturers and Multinational groups such as Google. This talk addresses both the socio-economic and technical issues which are behind the development of the next car generation. These future cars will include both smart ADAS and Driverless Car functionalities. An emphasis will be put on the main enabling technologies which are required for providing the vehicle with a Robust Embedded system, a Situation Awareness capability including Short term Prediction and Collision Risk estimation, and a Decisional and Control System for generating safe Navigation and Maneuvering actions. All theses functionalities have to be robust in the presence of sensing errors, uncertainty and traffic hazards. It will be shown that Bayesian Perception and Bayesian Decision are two key paradigms for developing the above mentioned functionalities. Experimental results obtained on real equipped vehicles provided by Toyota and by Renault will be used to illustrate the talk.