Driverless buses are being tested
The first vehicles to obtain the driving number plate of the road test vehicle of intelligent networked vehicles
How to achieve unmanned driving?
The autonomous vehicle itself is equipped with a lot of sensors, such as lidar, millimeter wave radar, cameras, etc., through the fusion perception algorithm of a variety of sensors, it can accurately obtain the surrounding environment of the vehicle, so as to tell the vehicle what it should do. In addition to the equipment of the vehicle itself, the entire test section has also been intelligently transformed.
Recently, the first batch of intelligent networked vehicle road test vehicles in Chengdu were officially issued. According to the regulations, the first batch of 12 intelligent networked vehicles will carry out driverless tests on designated public roads in Chengdu.
What are these vehicles testing?
On the morning of March 1, a row of cars and buses with the words "automatic driving test" posted on them was debugging before road tests in the nearby section of Chengdu Xinchuan Innovation and Technology Park. Chengdu Business Daily - Red Star News reporter saw at the scene that each car is followed by staff to ensure safety, of which the rear of the bus is also followed by a safety car to provide protection.
According to the person in charge of the project site, during the test, the staff will follow the vehicle to do a good job of data collection and further optimize the vehicle system. It is expected that during the Universiade, driverless buses will be officially put into operation, and in the near future, driverless taxis will also operate in the area.
More than 500 roadside devices were installed at 35 intersections
For the citizens of the Xinchuan area, in the future, they will often see vehicles with "autonomous driving" signs driving in the area, and they will also see a mini-compact bus with blue circular columns installed on the roof and sides, which are vehicles undergoing unmanned tests.
It is understood that a total of 12 vehicles participating in the road test, including 8 cars and 4 buses, will carry out road tests in the area of north to Jilong Road, south to Guangdu Metro Station, west to Yahe North 2nd Road, and east to Jinhan Road.
According to Du Yu, deputy general manager of Baidu's intelligent transportation Sichuan business unit, the autonomous vehicles currently used in the test are based on the development of Baidu's Apollo autonomous driving platform and apply the latest Apollo technology. Although the technology is relatively mature, in order to ensure safety and make driverless vehicles smarter and safer, it is still necessary to train algorithms with road samples and constantly let artificial intelligence learn how to drive vehicles in the area.
In fact, the autonomous vehicle itself is equipped with a lot of sensors, such as lidar, millimeter wave radar, cameras, etc., through the fusion perception algorithm of a variety of sensors, it can accurately obtain the surrounding environment of the vehicle, so as to tell the vehicle what it should do. Du Yu told reporters that in addition to the equipment of the vehicle itself, the entire test section was also intelligently transformed.
"In the process of autonomous vehicle operation, intelligent facilities on the side of the road can be used to tell the traffic situation at the intersection of these autonomous vehicles in advance or beyond the visual distance, providing higher driving safety for autonomous vehicles." Du Yu said that at present, 35 intersections in the test section have been reconstructed, and more than 500 various types of roadside equipment have been installed, including lidar, RSCU (roadside calculation unit), RSU (roadside wireless transmission equipment), high-definition cameras, etc.
In the future, it is possible to hit driverless taxis in the Xinchuan area
At about 10:00 a.m., the reporter saw in front of the Xinchuan International Conference Hall that 8 cars and 1 bus with test number plates were parked in front of the door. According to Tan Xin, project manager of Chengdu 5G Smart City Intelligent Driving Project of Chengdu High-tech Zone Electronic Information Industry Development Co., Ltd., the bus tested this time, if all goes well, is expected to be put into operation during the Universiade.
And during the test, how do the staff ensure the safe operation of the bus?
"From the perspective of the vehicle itself, there is a lidar on the top, on both sides and behind the bus, and there are also 6 millimeter-wave radars distributed around the body, as well as two sets of cameras in front and rear." According to Ji Yajun, a bus autonomous driving test safety officer, through these facilities, road information is perceived in real time, the data is transmitted to the wisdom center, and after AI calculation, the information is sent to the vehicle to make the correct operation instructions.
At the same time, during the road test, the bus is equipped with a safety officer in front of and behind, and the main driver safety officer in front is an experienced A-photo driver, who will quickly take over the vehicle in the event of an emergency. The rear safety officer pays attention to the information on both sides of the vehicle in time and reports to the front safety officer in time. In addition, there is a safety vehicle behind the bus to deal with unexpected situations.
Not only driverless buses, in the future, citizens in the Xinchuan area may also hit driverless taxis.
"We are currently conducting a non-manned test, and then when the policy supports it, we will carry out a manned test. In the future, there may also be a commercial demonstration of the charging, and the citizens can call these driverless taxis that are being tested when they call the taxi through the taxi software. Du Yu said that after the completion of the manned test, a driverless test will also be carried out, that is, the safety officer will no longer be riding in the main driver's seat of the vehicle, and the vehicle will be taken over through remote monitoring through remote monitoring and driving through 5G cloud.
Chengdu Business Daily - Red Star News reporter Yan Yuheng Intern Wei Linshan Photojournalist Lv Guoying