Intelligent speed assistance next step toward automated driving

The anticipation for autonomous driving reached a fever pitch long ago. For more than a decade, automakers and startups have been racking their brains trying to navigate the complex issues, and there are still several hurdles to overcome before vehicles can navigate autonomously across our extensive road networks. But progress is happening, and the automotive world will take another important step forward this year.

Automotive manufacturers worldwide are increasingly relying on advanced driver-assistance systems, which provide drivers with more comfort, efficient driving and increased safety. Compliance with prescribed speeds on the roads is crucial to avoiding accidents.

The mandatory introduction of intelligent speed-assistance systems in the European Union aims to reduce speeding-related road fatalities, and the technology that will support that marks another step toward our vision of mainstream autonomous driving. According to the European Transport Safety Council, mass adoption and use of intelligent speed-assistance systems is expected to reduce collisions by up to 30 percent and deaths by 20 percent in Europe alone.

The in-vehicle assistance system informs drivers of the speed limit, warns them if they exceed it and may even prevent them from speeding. This is particularly helpful when drivers are distracted, have missed traffic signs or warnings, have impaired visibility in bad weather or have difficulty recognizing situational speed limits. However, implementing the driver aid requires a well-thought-out system that combines cameras, an electronic horizon and digital maps.

A key challenge for driver aids such as intelligent speed assistance and autonomous driving is that vehicle cameras cannot detect all speed limits. In some countries, signs are more explicit than in others. Some roads also have speed limits that vary depending on time of day, weather conditions and type of vehicle. As such, speed limits are not always perceptible to cameras.

For advanced driver-assistance systems to remain effective, automakers should consider investing in map data that provides the speed limits and conditions for every road segment, regardless of visibility or availability of signs, weather, vehicle type and time of day.

Intelligent speed-assistance systems access various data points to determine the permitted speed. Forward-facing cameras, global navigation satellite systems for positioning the vehicle on the road, an electronic horizon and map data that includes all speed limits — whether sign-posted or not — are the minimum requirement for intelligent speed-assistance systems today.

The electronic horizon is a software that combines digital map data with information about position and road conditions from sensors to create a model of the road ahead. Data from the electronic horizon is made available to the speed-assistance system to ensure it functions without error, meeting system requirements that cannot be done purely via sensors.

The map data the electronic horizon consumes is built and constantly maintained using a highly diverse mix of Here Technologies' and third-party sources. We have local field experts, a global organization with diverse backgrounds that source and add local road rules and unobservable data to our map. We use vehicles to gather highly precise data, more precise than production vehicle sensors can provide.

To maintain the data and identify changes, we use a growing pool of sensor and probe data that all feed into our mapmaking process. Highly automated mapmaking and publication pipelines allow real-world changes to publish faster — thus creating stronger intelligent speed-assistance solutions.

The technologies used in intelligent speed assistance can also be used in advanced driver-assistance solutions that go well beyond detecting and displaying speed, including displaying a warning for drivers who exceed the limit. Moving past a relatively simple driver-assistance system such as intelligent speed assistance and into advanced driver assistance requires ultrasonic, radar and lidar sensors. These can provide additional information about the immediate driving environment and distances to obstacles or other objects. The applications include adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assistant, systems that ensure greater efficiency, control systems in hybrid vehicles that switch back and forth between the internal combustion engine and electric motor, emergency braking systems, rearview cameras, and parking aids.

Many auto manufacturers have begun to implement intelligent speed-assistance systems across other regions driven by consumer safety ratings, including the U.S. With these systems, technologies such as camera systems and digital maps will become the new norm. They will provide drivers with accurate and reliable information on speed limits and motivate them to comply with regulations.

This will see us raising road safety standards to a new level while taking us one step toward mainstream automated driving.