Acura has unveiled its second-generation automated development vehicle, a modified version of the RLX Sport Hybrid SH-AWD. The RLX is fitted with a new suite of radar, lidar, camera and GPS sensors, complemented by higher performance CPUs and GPUs, and improved cabling, heat management and circuitry. These enhancements have been combined with new, more intelligent software algorithms to support more complex testing scenarios.
The development vehicle is designed to achieve high reliability by fusing overlapping information from various sensors. This concept enables test engineers to validate information from each signal with a higher degree of accuracy than can be obtained from any one of the sensors independently. For example, the vehicle’s radar sensors are adept at detecting the relative position and velocity of off-board objects with pinpoint accuracy, while the camera system is best suited to helping detect and identify objects based on size and shape.
The vehicle will be tested by the Honda Research Institute USA at the GoMentum Station, a 5,000-acre automated and connected vehicle proving ground in the San Francisco Bay Area. The GoMentum Station has 20 miles of paved, city-like roadway grids, buildings and other urban infrastructure, providing a realistic environment that will help accelerate the development of automated and connected vehicle technologies.
23 May, 2016