SEAT

Brand tests an autonomous driving system that will pick up and leave the driver at the destination

Seat is testing a prototype capable of collecting the passenger at the point defined by him and leaving him at his destination, or even looking for a place to park and do it alone. All of this autonomously, that is, without the need for a driver. The project, called Diana in evocation of the Roman goddess of hunting, is based on a Leon equipped with five LiDAR sensors, as well as radar, to which six cameras, 12 ultrasonic sensors and eight computers are added. Basically, a paraphernalia of equipment that aims to give the Advanced Driving Assistance System (ADAS) a 360º view.

In the cities of the future, as they are seen in the present, the driver's seat will be free, as it will be up to the vehicle to take over the steering. It is also anticipated that the concept of ownership will lose out to that of sharing, which in itself will be enough to reduce the number of vehicles in circulation and the usual traffic jams. But none of this will be possible without autonomous driving, which today is legally limited to level 2, which not only obliges the driver to assume his/her seat, but also assumes responsibility for supervising the vehicle.

The prototype that Seat has been testing at its facilities in Martorell and, more recently, on a closed urban circuit, is a level 3 on the range of autonomy. In other words, the vehicle itself is able to control and resolve most situations it encounters, which means that the driver does not have to intervene to accelerate, brake, corner or change lanes. However, the legislation defines that, even without having your hands on the wheel, the vehicle is responsible for it. Hence, the Leon in tests always has someone on board, ready to intervene, if necessary.

In collaboration with the Automobile Technological Center of Galicia, Seat engineers are developing this pilot project for an autonomous car which, for now, performs three functions without a human hand: Chauffeur, Valet Parking and Summoning. The latter will be the most “refined” from a technological point of view, although its operationalization should not require any kind of miracle. The proof is that Tesla has been offering Smart Summon since 2016, for short distances.

In the case of Leon, the objective is to go further and guarantee a “smooth journey”. Seat Oriol Mas's R&D engineer explains that “thanks to the high accuracy, to the centimeter, of the HD map location system, the car always knows it's in the right lane”. When it stops to pick up the user who called it through an application, Diana signals the immobilization and unlocks the doors. With the passenger on board, as soon as he closes the door, the Seat automatically locks them again, signals the departure and proceeds to the intended destination. Having arrived at the defined location, it leaves the user behind and goes alone in search of the closest place to park, a maneuver which it also performs in a 100% autonomous way and which corresponds to the function that Seat calls Automated Valet Parking. As for the Autonomous Chauffeur feature, this will be particularly useful for dealing with traffic queues, as the car makes its own start and stop whenever necessary, to follow the flow of traffic and minimize the “accordion” effect.

Rubén Pérez, another R&D engineer at Seat, assumes that the technology still needs to be strengthened to “ensure that the system is 100% safe”, but says he believes this is the right path towards urban centers with fewer cars on the road. “In the future, a vehicle with greater autonomy will be able to offer and encourage new intelligent mobility services and decongest large cities and areas of complex mobility”, he says.

It is evident that, for this to happen, car manufacturers cannot be dependent on chip suppliers, as is the case today. At the same time, the equipment that ensures the ADAS cannot compromise the vehicle's energy consumption because, in an tram, the way the battery is managed to optimize autonomy is crucial.

Autonews