Photo: Opel
Chances are that if a company builds cars for a living in this day and age, it is also researching autonomous driving, as not having such a system in the works is like tempting faith.
Even if self-driving cars will not come to pass as the next wave in transportation in the next two decades or so, research developed for them might just as well spawn industry-defining technologies.
Opel is one of the few carmakers that conducts its autonomous vehicles research under the radar. But for a while now, the carmaker has been working on such tech as part of a German project called Kooperatives hochautomatisiertes Fahren (Ko-HAF) that started in 2015.
It the time that has passed since, Opel developed a good-enough technology to present it at its Test Center in Rodgau-Dudenhofen this week.
What the Germans showed was not pure Level 5 automation, but one of a lower degree. Deployed on an older Insignia model, Opel’s system is called cooperative because, despite not needing supervision all the time, it might at times require human intervention and cooperation.
The system developed by Opel and Ko-HAF uses a server where the data sent from the car’s sensors is stored and processed. Once that is done, the data is sent back to the vehicle upon request as a precise map of the surroundings.
To better localize itself, the vehicle uses visual mapping and data taken from the maps and GPS system. This capability was tested by Opel on the motorways around Frankfurt am Main.
Ko-HAF is a project that involves not only Opel but also Audi, Daimler, and BMW. The goal of the research being conducted is to create the tech required to allow cars to drive themselves, at least most of the time.
The rise of self driving cars is believe to be essential for creating safer conditions for all motorists and perhaps even help reduce the congestion that suffocates major cities.
Opel is one of the few carmakers that conducts its autonomous vehicles research under the radar. But for a while now, the carmaker has been working on such tech as part of a German project called Kooperatives hochautomatisiertes Fahren (Ko-HAF) that started in 2015.
It the time that has passed since, Opel developed a good-enough technology to present it at its Test Center in Rodgau-Dudenhofen this week.
What the Germans showed was not pure Level 5 automation, but one of a lower degree. Deployed on an older Insignia model, Opel’s system is called cooperative because, despite not needing supervision all the time, it might at times require human intervention and cooperation.
The system developed by Opel and Ko-HAF uses a server where the data sent from the car’s sensors is stored and processed. Once that is done, the data is sent back to the vehicle upon request as a precise map of the surroundings.
To better localize itself, the vehicle uses visual mapping and data taken from the maps and GPS system. This capability was tested by Opel on the motorways around Frankfurt am Main.
Ko-HAF is a project that involves not only Opel but also Audi, Daimler, and BMW. The goal of the research being conducted is to create the tech required to allow cars to drive themselves, at least most of the time.
The rise of self driving cars is believe to be essential for creating safer conditions for all motorists and perhaps even help reduce the congestion that suffocates major cities.
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