The future of autonomous vehicles speeds ahead

Trimble’s Louis Nastro, director of on-road strategy and marketing at Trimble Autonomy, explains how autonomy on your terms is essential to vehicles of today – and tomorrow.

With millions of miles of real-world data on-hand and already being used to support safety-critical applications, Trimble Autonomy is in the driver’s seat when it comes to solving automakers’ challenges for autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicular systems. Here Trimble’s Louis Nastro explains today’s challenges and how the right solutions revolve around acquiring the right data, synthesizing and analyzing it, verifying its accuracy and reporting it back to vehicles – all at the right time. Automotive OEMs and top-tier suppliers are speeding ahead, knowing that the roadmap for autonomous-vehicle growth will center on achieving high-accuracy positioning and orientation in support of safety-critical applications. Read on as Nastro provides a snapshot of where the industry has been, where it is now, and what the road ahead looks like for autonomous cars and trucks.

Q: What is crucial to the successful widespread adoption of self-driving cars and trucks, both by automakers and the public?

It’s all about the data. The importance of precise positioning cannot be overstated. And you can’t achieve this without centering on data. OEMs and Tier 1 and 2 suppliers are onboard with this concept. It’s crucial to focus on every data point we can by collecting data, analyzing it, validating it and then sending the resulting insights to the systems and people who need it – when they need it and on their terms. Think of all the data you get from land mapping, radar, lidar, vehicular sensors, smart roads, etc., and how you must fuse data sets together by receiving and integrating real-time and near-time data. Vehicles need to be mapping as they go, and their systems and software need to validate that data and convert it from the physical world into the digital world, then back again into the physical realm.

Q: What has Trimble learned that can help the auto industry safely accelerate to autonomy?

When we started down the path toward autonomous vehicles some 20 years ago, we thought we simply needed to safely move a vehicle from point A to point B. But that wasn’t enough. Now we focus first on the data. We realized that the vehicle is really a mapping device on wheels, constantly recording information about its surroundings. So we focused on looking at and characterizing all that geographic data. We no longer just look at the car or truck as an autonomous vehicle, but more so as a high-definition mobile mapper. When we made this transition, it inspired us to ask different questions and generate new ideas.

During the past 20-plus years, we have delivered high-precision positioning systems to the automotive industry and many leading OEMs and top-tier providers utilize our technology.

For us, it’s not just about being automotive autonomy experts. Trimble’s agriculture, construction, geospatial and transportation divisions all have contributed crucial information that is put to use in developing solutions for automakers to solve autonomy challenges. Not surprisingly, the answers almost always center around data solutions. And we leverage our toolkit of cross-platform hardware and software to serve our clients’ mobility needs.

Q: Vehicles generate a lot of data and learning. How has this benefited drivers?

First and foremost, remember that what matters to drivers most is the next mile they’re about to drive.

Precise positioning gets you in the door. Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are ubiquitous. We need to ensure that a very precise solution is qualified, not only from an Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) certification standpoint, but also to ensure our integrity monitoring solution gives the client – and ultimately the user in the vehicle – assurance that the reported result matches the exact vehicle location.

Of course, vehicles are armed with multiple sensors in on-board systems. But if there’s a driving snowstorm and your radar goes out or your ultrasonics don’t work, for example, or they get clogged with road grime and snow and ice, that can be a major issue. As we move forward with this incremental march toward autonomy, everything we’ve learned has helped power a system that allows drivers to rely on existing data to always find lane-level positioning. If your sensors are off-line, you will still know where you are, in terms of localization. It’s all about quantifying, gathering and qualifying data, and the integrity of maps and other data, and then doing real-time quality assurance and quality control with on-line and off-line processes.

We offer more than precise positioning; our other value bundles also set us apart. The Trimble solution provides sensor fusion, qualification, calibration and the ability to turn all that data into actionable insights via real-time online and off-line processes.

In short: The right data, interpreted the right way, empowers drivers to always know where they are at all times.

Q: What does the future look like for autonomy and where does Trimble fit into this roadmap?

Trimble already has on-board processes to navigate vehicles – tell them where they are with precise positioning. But the data leverage points are where the future lies. That is the key evolutionary aspect of this technology, especially as sensors improve even further over the next five years.

Think of what your mobile phone did with 2G technology and now look at the opportunities with 5G. It’s the same in our industry – everything is moving lightning fast. With more data, we’re going to get more data products. Instead of analyzing a road one time, it will be analyzed thousands – if not millions – of times a day.

We’re leveraging not just what’s going on in the vehicle, but what’s happening around the vehicle. There are so many moving parts – how camera data is being used, how lidar is being used, how radar is being used. What resolution are the images? Do we have sufficient overlap of data from sensors to protect against problems? How does the data play out? We are uniquely positioned to leverage that information for the current and future benefit of our clients – and their customers.

Q: Are we seeing a bit of that future today?

Definitely. Part of that future is happening right now. We just launched the Trimble RTX Integrity monitoring system that continuously validates the reliability of correction data processed by the relevant GNSS network. This then is broadcast to users in the agriculture, geospatial, construction and automotive industries, ensuring positioning data is right the first time. Through a unique two-step process, the RTX Integrity system verifies corrections data in the network server before the data is broadcast. It also performs a secondary post-broadcast check of the entire data-transmission process, which can detect and correct additional errors.

The integrity monitoring system is fully automated and reacts in seconds to detect, isolate and block faulty data, which provides even more highly accurate and reliable positioning.

Q: How does the new system work?

RTX Integrity comprises independent monitoring stations strategically positioned across RTX Fast networks in the United States, southern Canada and Europe. These stations continuously monitor data output during multiple stages of the RTX positioning process. Any suspicious satellite data is removed during the integrity-protection process and positioning is calculated using only validated data. Trimble Alloy global-navigation satellite system (GNSS) reference receivers power the independent monitoring stations, using redundant internet connectivity for added reliability. To date, no other positioning network offers the same level of data-integrity validation across such expansive and contiguous geographies.

Q: What do the next five years look like for Trimble?

We’re focusing on shared mobility not just for passenger cars, but for delivery trucks, 18-wheelers, and others. And last-mile delivery trucks will be key, too. We are looking at evolving different use cases, especially in light of the widespread driver shortage, which only intensifies the need for autonomous systems and services, and, in turn, increased safety solutions.

As such, we’re also focusing on both on-board and remote piloting, as well as monitoring vehicles as they move along their routes. This immediate future will be all about incorporating more and synthesizing data from multiple sensory inputs, centering on knowing where you are. And it’s not just about being the most accurate. The integrity monitoring piece will continue to be huge, because you need to stand by your results.

Of course, for Trimble, it’s always about what the client needs and how we can solve their challenges. We ride along for their entire journey. And facts and data matter. That’s where we shine. Trimble has always been a quietly confident company and our clients recognize that. So when we do collaborative and consultative work for the industry, it’s centered on domain expertise and “just the facts.” We see ourselves as the professionals who get the job done – and so do our clients and partners. They know that what’s under the hood, and under the chassis and in the central nervous system of vehicles is what’s crucial to autonomous and semi-autonomous mobility solutions.

So the next five years are all about delivering autonomy on our partners’ and clients’ terms – and on drivers’ terms, too. No matter where the OEMs and top suppliers are, we’re confident that we will continue to deliver for them as they travel the road ahead.

Trimble Autonomy delivers industry-leading autonomous positioning and orientation solutions to major industrial markets worldwide. Built on decades of intelligence, billions of acres covered and millions of miles driven, our breakthrough approach to autonomy delivers improvements to productivity, efficiency, safety and sustainability. Trimble’s autonomous technology enables advanced action in virtually any environment, designed to meet the unique needs of customers no matter where they are on their autonomy journey. For more information, visit: autonomy.trimble.com.