Volvo To bring Self-Driving Cars by 2017

By the year 2017, Volvo is planning to bring 100 self-driving cars on the roads around Gothenburg with real traffic conditions. As the company’s Drive Me project enters its second year, the automaker looks confident in integrating self driving cars into the roads with real time changing traffic conditions.

The system uses Sensor technologies, combined radar and camera, surround radars, 360° surround vision, multiple beam laser scanner, trifocal camera, long-range radars, ultrasonic sensors, high definition 3D digital map, high performance positioning and cloud services.

Apart from all the advance features, the car also gets a backup security function which will work when one or two system fails. “Making this complex system 99 per cent reliable is not good enough. You need to get much closer to 100 per cent before you can let self-driving cars mix with other road users in real-life traffic,” says Erik Coelingh. “Here, we have a similar approach to that of the aircraft industry. Our fail-operational architecture includes backup systems that will ensure that Autopilot will continue to function safely also if an element of the system were to become disabled.”

The upcoming Volvo car will also feature 76 GHz frequency-modulated continuous wave radar and camera which is placed in the windscreen. Four radars are placed on the front and rear bumper (one on each corner). The radar sweeps both the left and right direction thus monitoring an entire 360 degree of the car.

The car will also carry multiple beam laser scanner which scan the objects in front of car. The unique laser sensor has a range of 150 metres for vehicles and covers a 140° field of view.

Source : CarDekho