Even unprotected left turns... Autonomous driving car 'Level 3' completed > News (주)오토노머스에이투지

 

The final destination of future automotive mobility technology is perfect autonomous driving technology. The final step is to safely arrive at the desired destination without the driver or the driver's seat. Global automakers as well as IT giants are betting their future on the competition to preoccupy this technology.

However, there are ventures and start-ups that have jumped into competition with only one technology against mega-large companies with huge capital and infrastructure. Autonomous a2z (hereafter a2z), a developer of autonomous vehicle solutions, is a representative company.

a2z said that the autonomous driving technology they developed was “level 3 close to level 4.” Currently, autonomous driving ‘level 4’ is a technology that no other company in the world has completed. In fact, global automakers such as Tesla, Hyundai Motor, and Mercedes-Benz are competing with plans to develop driverless cars that meet Level 4 within this year. Volvo also announced Level 4 development in partnership with Google of Waymo.

The general view is that it is difficult to convince a domestic venture company that such advanced technology has been developed in close proximity. To check this, I recently rode a self-driving car developed by them in Daegu Metropolitan City, where the a2z headquarters and research center are located.

The test vehicle is a Genesis G80 equipped with autonomous driving solution. It is the 100th vehicle to receive an autonomous driving license to operate on real roads in Korea from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The vehicle was equipped with four lidars, six cameras, and one radar sensor on the front, rear and sides. It is also equipped with a sensor for GPS reception.

The test run was conducted three times in a 5km section near Daegu Alpha City and Samsung Lions Park. The driving course was a mix of 4, 6, and 10 lane round trip roads, and there were two tunnels. Unlike the test road dedicated to autonomous driving, it was a place where other vehicles were actually operating, so it was a condition where an unexpected situation could occur at any time. 

A company official was in the driver's seat. This is because, according to domestic laws, it is not permitted to drive an autonomous driving test vehicle with the driver's seat empty, no matter how much. When the engine was started, the screen of the panel displaying the data recognized by the Lidar installed in the vehicle began to move busily. Lidar emits a laser and uses scattered or reflected light to recognize the surrounding environment, and it recognizes objects up to 200m ahead depending on the number of channels.

LiDAR is a major sensor that secures the stability of autonomous driving technology. Autonomous driving with only radar and camera can measure the distance to an object, but it is difficult to determine the exact shape or location. On the other hand, LiDAR enables more accurate autonomous driving by understanding the distance and shape of front and rear vehicles, pedestrians, and buildings in three dimensions.

Not long after autonomous driving started, an illegally parked vehicle appeared on one side of the road 40-50m ahead. The vehicle then slowly slowed down. It was possible to change lanes by detecting the situation in the next lane immediately, but after decelerating, it showed the appearance of changing lanes quickly after securing maximum safety.

Entering into the first lane for a left turn from the far right of the 5th lane, where ordinary vehicles pass, is a course that even experienced drivers become very nervous. Especially if the entry distance is short. The test vehicle quickly but smoothly changed lanes as if checking the next lane with a side mirror, entered the left turn lane, and passed this difficult course safely.

The test vehicle also safely passed the unprotected left turn section of the intersection where the yellow flashing traffic light was installed. In the case of a flashing signal, there may be cars coming from the opposite side or from the right to the left, so there is a high possibility of an accident even when driving a normal vehicle. As the intersection approached, it slowed down and then stopped in front of the stop line. At that moment, a vehicle approaching from the right approached and stopped. The test vehicle recognized this, turned on the left blinker, and safely moved to the left turn section.

A company official who sat in the driver's seat throughout the test drive did not operate the accelerator or brake at all, let alone the steering wheel. Vehicle operation was limited to minimal operations such as starting and stopping. In addition to ‘conditional autonomous driving’, which is a requirement of level 3, it showed a technology close to level 4 that does not require the driver’s attention in the autonomous driving section.

Yoo Byung-yong, director of a2z, said, “We have almost resolved driving errors that threaten the safety of occupants, such as sudden acceleration and braking in some sections or environments.

Han Ji-hyeong, CEO of a2z, explained that it is the effect of the ‘digital precision map’ that enables such highly autonomous driving after the test drive. If 90% of autonomous driving is possible with various sensors such as lidar and cameras, the remaining 10% can be supplemented with digital precision maps and raised to a more perfect technology.

CEO Han said, “Digital precision maps are essential for the versatility of the domestic autonomous vehicle industry as well as scalability to other industries. This will be possible,” he said.