In recent years, laser radar has the advantages of high precision, strong directionality, fast response, and no influence from ground clutter. It provides the necessary information for the control system for autonomous vehicles. It is considered to be the current unmanned environment. The most effective solution for testing. Recently, foreign media revealed that Ford said that drones will soon become the eyes of self-driving cars to help it detect road conditions.
Ford is studying the use of drones to navigate autonomous vehicles, helping drivers to detect surrounding environments that are not detected by car sensors during off-road exploration. Users can remotely control drones through in-car entertainment systems or navigation systems to navigate their own self-driving cars.
Ford's internal technical department spokesperson Alan Hall said, "People sometimes drive autonomous cars into the forest or carry out some off-road adventures. Then, drones can help them lead the way." Hall added, this UAVs are very useful in places where GPS is not accurate enough, including urban suburbs, rural areas, and intercity highways that are not covered by map data.
Ford's idea of ​​using drones to guide autonomous vehicles is from the brainstorming sessions of the company's driverless car researchers and engineers. Ford Automated R&D spokesperson Tony Lockwood said in an AFP report: "At the end of the day, the beneficiaries of these emerging technologies are our customers."
Ford and Dajiang held a challenge to encourage the development of drone-to-car communication technology, and the winner will receive a $100,000 prize.
The Amsterdam-based TomTom Maps Company is also concerned about the development of the autonomous driving industry, which believes that digital maps are critical to the development of autonomous vehicles. “Actually, we have seen some self-driving cars using UAVs for navigation,†said Pieter Gillegot-Vergauwen, vice president of products, at a Microsoft-sponsored seminar in Detroit.
In fact, as early as January of this year, Ford and DCC jointly held a challenge to see if the drone can be used to navigate the car. The winner will receive a prize of 100,000 US dollars. Ford asked the participants to develop a system that would allow the driver to take off the drone directly from the touch screen on the Ford F-150 (which can be connected to the mobile app) while the car is still in driving. This idea hopes that the driver of the car will use the camera of the drone to observe the poor road conditions ahead and the extent of damage to the blocked roads in the event of a disaster.
In addition, Ford also wants to control the car in an emergency by means of a wireless connection, and establish a real-time connection between the drone, the car and the cloud so that the car data can be shared. “Similar technologies include the use of cameras and infrared systems to help drivers understand all the information about the surrounding environment and the blind corners of the road,†Hall said. “This is a cool challenge.â€
Ford is currently working with researchers at the Silicon Valley Research Center in Palo Alto, Calif., to explore how to use drones to solve navigation problems in future autonomous vehicles.
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