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The progressive introduction of 'connected' driving will make it possible to introduce a wide range of new driving applications to enable a more fluid and safer transport system for future innovations such as autonomous driving (AD), driverless vehicles and platooning.
For these applications to be fully functional, however, it is necessary to be able to locate the position of vehicles with greater accuracy than has previously been possible using GPS/Galileo technology alone.
The EU-funded HIGHTS project took on the challenge of achieving what was termed sub-metre accuracy – positioning with accuracy of under one metre. The project worked closely with car manufacturers and the research community to develop a novel approach to positioning based on cooperation.
By combining traditional satellite technology with information from the on-board sensors in cars and intelligent infrastructure, using cooperative wireless communication technologies, HIGHTS was able to achieve and demonstrate positioning accuracy of up to 25cm, even under GPS/Galileo coverage. This is important because it is the level of precision necessary to locate a car not just within a street but within a traffic lane.
Setting the standards
A significant challenge for the project was developing standards for the exchange of information to ensure interoperability. To achieve this HIGHTS worked closely with European and international standardisation organisations, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the CAR 2 CAR Communication Consortium.
Their combined effort resulted in the development of a number of advanced algorithms allowing for the integration of information from diverse sources. The aim was to provide consistent high-level accuracy positioning in diverse and challenging conditions, including the detection of other non-motorised road users.
'Thanks to EU funding, we managed to develop the algorithms to provide sub-metre accuracy beyond the state of the art, as well as small-scale prototypes that will be an important enabler for the introduction of AD,' says the project's technical coordinator, Jérôme Härri of EURECOM.
In addition, HIGHTS also laid the groundwork for the commercialisation of high-level precision-positioning services of the future. The project team introduced the principle of a market for algorithms and data where technologically-advanced road users could be rewarded for their contribution to the overall system and less-advanced road users can contribute to the overall cost.