Cohda Wireless trials driverless cars on Adelaide CBD streets

On a quiet Sunday, in a closed-off section of roads in the Adelaide CBD, iMOVE partner Cohda Wireless conducted a test of its V2X technology, to demonstrate safety aspects of self-driving connected cars.

The test area was just east of Victoria Square, and the vehicles involved were two Lincoln MKZ sedans. Inside the purpose-built cars was ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems), ROS (Robot Operating System) various sensors including lidar and radar, cameras, GPS as well as in-vehicle computer platform and Cohda’s GNSS-independent positioning technology. This trial, and the vehicles, are part of Cohda Wireless’ Smart Cars Smart City initiative, funded by the South Australian Department of Transport and its Future Mobility Lab Fund.

What was this trial about?

‘We demonstrated that when vehicles are connected to each other using our smart V2X technology, Car 1, the connected autonomous vehicle, would detect that Car 2 is approaching the red light at speed and is probably not going to stop. This allows the connected autonomous vehicle to pre-emptively identify and respond to the threat by slowing down and stopping,’ said Cohda Wireless’s CEO Professor Paul Alexander.

‘Cohda’s V2X technology allows vehicles to ‘speak to each other’ to extend their perception horizon.’

The goal

‘Our goal today was not only to demonstrate the efficacy of our technology in enabling self-driven vehicles to communicate with each other but also to do so in a city environment where so-called ‘urban canyons’ significantly affect the ability of systems reliant on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) to achieve accurate positioning,’ added Professor Alexander.

‘The area in the city of Adelaide in which the trial was conducted was one such urban canyon where positioning through GNSS can be off by up to 40 metres, but with our V2X Locate technology positioning accuracy is improved to within a metre.’

To the video …

For more information about the trial, the technology, and an interview with Paul Alexander, watch the video at the top of this page.