Valeo and defense contractor Safran drove their self-driving Volkswagen CC around the National Army Museum in Paris on Friday. The two companies share their intelligence with each other to improve their products.
Eighteen months after signing a research partnership agreement on assisted driving and autonomous vehicles, Safran and Valeo are demonstrating the results of pooling their complementary skills and expertise. Developed in record time, the innovations concern four main areas:
1.“People as the core focus”, spotlighting Safran’s facial recognition technologies applied to Valeo’s automotive applications.
2.“Connectivity”, reflecting Valeo’s secure connection systems, coupled with Safran’s expertise in this field.
3.“See and navigate”, focusing on the development of a sensor able to “see” under difficult conditions, and associated applications, such as Valeo’s 360°Vue camera for military vehicles, and Safran’s inertial navigation technologies applied to automobiles.
4.“Robotization”, including the latest automated functions developed by the two companies for both systems and vehicles. In a world first, Valeo is unveiling its experimental, highly automated vehicle system, Drive4U®.
The self-driving VW drove in a simulated urban environment with winding roads, traffic lights and other cars on the Museum grounds. The Volkswagen is equipped with radar, lidar and 360-degree cameras and the Drive4U system.
The car stopped when a vehicle in front of it stopped, stopped for stop signals, and changed speeds to adjust to speed limits. When people walked onto the road at the finish line, the car stopped short of the line.
The auto-pilot function is activated by touchscreens on the steering wheel. The touchscreen options change according to function.
Four cameras, on front grill, the side mirrors, and on the back show an all-round view of the car on a dashboard display. The data from the cameras and sensors is used for the Drive4U functions.
The self-driving car was exhibited to show the future of technology of connected self-driving cars expected to be supplied to automakers by 2020. Although this type of car still requires a human driver, fully driverless cars are in expected to be deployed in the distant future.
The two companies collaborate by sharing knowledge, technology and software. Safran’s Amored vehicles use 360-degree camera software developed by Valeo for help with parking. Valeo self-driving cars rely on infrared imaging, algorithms and “dynamic mapping” used in Safran Patroller drones.