Two intelligent vehicles are better than one

When EPFL researchers fused the data from two intelligent vehicles, the result was a wider field of view, extended situational awareness and greater safety. Intelligent vehicles get their intelligence from cameras, Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) sensors, and navigation and mapping systems. But there are ways to make them even smarter. Researchers at EPFL are working to improve the reliability and fault tolerance of these systems by combining the data they gather with that from other vehicles. This can, for example, extend the field of view of a car that is behind another car. Using simulators and road tests, the team has developed a flexible software framework for networking intelligent vehicles so that they can interact. "Today, intelligent vehicle development is focused on two main issues - the level of autonomy and the level of cooperation," says Alcherio Martinoli, who heads EPFL's Distributed Intelligent Systems and Algorithms Laboratory (DISAL).