autoregion international 2/2020 - Greater Region Mobility Innovation

Luxinnovation www.luxinnovation.lu Research partnership for next-level HD maps Ever since its arrival in Luxembourg, Civil Maps has been in close contact with the University of Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) that is conducting high-level research on self-driv- ing cars. In July 2020, the company launched a research partnership with the SnT focused on autonomous driving technology, aimed at ex- panding the capabilities of its high definition (HD) maps service. HD maps are crucial for autonomous vehicles to function since they provide information that road signs and markings traditionally give to drivers as they navigate to their desti- nation. They are exponentially more detailed than standard definition (SD) maps, which is what traditional navigation services such as car GPS systems and mobile apps use. Civil Maps’ HDmaps are extremely precise and include information about surrounding objects for safe and reliable navigation. The research collaboration will use the SnT’s expertise in machine learning and visual recognition to further develop and automate the map cre- ation process, one of the key components to accelerate the proliferation of self-driving cars and delivery robots worldwide. “We see Luxembourg as the European hub for innovation in the smart mobility sector,” says Mr Safko. “The work that the SnT is doing rein- forces that position. By teaming upwith highly reputed universities such as the University of Luxembourg, we see incredible potential in what we can build together.” Cross-border testbed for self-driving cars Over the past few years, the Luxembourg government has launched several initiatives targeting companies that develop next-gener- ation mobility solutions for the European mar- ket. “We are dedicated to becoming Europe’s number one living lab for autonomous driv- ing,” confirms Joost Ortjens, Head of Business Development – Automotive at Luxinnovation, who supported the set-up of the research partnership. One of the main initiatives is the cross-border digital testbed for automated and connected driving that Luxembourg has set up together with Germany and France. The testbed is an innovation platformopen to all companies and researchers working on automated driving and related services and addressing the chal- lenges of local differences in road markings and traffic signs as well as of uninterrupted connectivitywhen changing from the national mobile network in one country to that of an- other. The testbed consists of over 200 km of motorways and public roads in the three countries, and parts are soon to be covered by 5G connectivity. “Due to legislative restrictions and liability risks in Europe, most of the development work with autonomous vehicles is done at closed R&D facilities, but their next step is to be out there on the roads,” says Mr Ort- jens. “When this takes place, the testbed will be extremely useful. However, scalable and commercially viable HD mapping technology as provided by Civil Maps is definitely a miss- ing component in the European autonomous driving ecosystem. Supporting the company with developing its European business and meeting its research goals is therefore ben- eficial both for Civil Maps and for us, as we work towards mutual goals.” Pushing technology boundaries The SnT has autonomous vehicle innovation as one of its key focus areas, and its 360Lab is the research centre’s dedicated team for exploring smart mobility solutions. Using ar- tificial intelligence, the team has turned a Kia Soul into a self-driving vehicle. Its researchers have developed a machine learning system able to capture images from the camera and data from the steering wheel when the car is manually driven around a track and use the information to let the car take over and drive around the track on its own. The SnT is one of the first Luxembourg organ- isations to conduct tests on the cross-border digital testbed. The centre collaborates with French and German partners in a European project aimed at testing cross-border automo- tive shuttles. “There is a huge future market for self-driving cars and related services,” em- phasises Raphaël Frank, professor at the SnT and head of the 360Lab. The centre is strongly orientated towards industrial projects and has a wide range of company partnerships in place. The cooper- ation with Civil Maps is the latest in a series of projects initiated to support innovation in the field of autonomous driving. “In or- der to make self-driving cars a reality, a lot of technology development is still required, making this a vibrant research field,” says Dr Frank. “We are interested in doing rele- vant research with industrial partners from Luxembourg and abroad. By partnering with Civil Maps we are able to collaborate closely with a promising start-up in the sector that will ensure we push innovation in the field much further.” Image: © vchal/shutterstock.com