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Navigation System Helps Autonomous Cars Tackle Country Roads


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A country road.

The MapLite navigation system was developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory to help autonomous vehicles drive on previously unencountered roadways.

Credit: cloudfront.net

MapLite is a navigation system developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) that helps autonomous vehicles drive on previously unencountered roadways by employing "parameterized" models that embody somewhat similar multiple situations.

"Our minimalist approach to mapping enables autonomous driving on country roads using local appearance and semantic features such as the presence of a parking spot or a side road," notes MIT professor Daniela Rus.

By integrating global-positioning system data with sensor input of road conditions, MapLite enables self-driving autos to drive on unpaved roads and accurately read the road more than 100 feet ahead.

"A system like this that can navigate just with on-board sensors shows the potential of self-driving cars being able to actually handle roads beyond the small number that tech companies have mapped," says CSAIL researcher Teddy Ort.

From R&D Magazine
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Abstracts Copyright © 2018 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA


 

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