{"id":29000,"date":"2016-05-26T11:08:24","date_gmt":"2016-05-26T15:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sciencebusiness.technewslit.com\/?p=29000"},"modified":"2016-05-26T11:08:24","modified_gmt":"2016-05-26T15:08:24","slug":"self-driving-truck-software-based-on-biological-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/?p=29000","title":{"rendered":"Self-Driving Truck Software Based on Biological Model"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Self-driving<\/a>
Ola Benderius monitors a Volvo self-driving truck on a test track in Sweden. (Henrik Sandsj\u00f6, Chalmers University of Technology)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

26 May 2016. Researchers from Sweden are developing software for controlling self-driving trucks, using the way animals react and adapt to their environment as a model. The team from Chalmers University of Technology<\/a> in Gothenburg plans to demonstrate the package on Saturday, 28 May, in a Volvo heavy truck as part of the Grand Cooperative Driving Challenge in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

The Chalmers researchers from its Research Vehicle Resource<\/a> lab, a joint project of the university and Volvo with the regional government, took a different approach to designing control software for autonomous vehicles. Most software for self- or assisted driving vehicles is built to meet a specified set of functions, based on known driving patterns and activities. But problems — and crashes — can occur when the vehicle and its control software encounter scenarios they did not anticipate.<\/p>\n

Team leader Ola Benderius<\/a>, who studies vehicle drivers and their behavior, says the way animals observe and adapt to their environment provides a better model for designing control software. “Before humans walked the earth, nature already had a solution, so let’s learn from that,” says Benderius in a university statement. “A biological system absorbs information from its surroundings via its senses and reacts directly and safely, like an antelope running within its herd, or a hawk pouncing on its prey on the ground.”<\/p>\n

Like most autonomous vehicle software, the system called OpenDLV<\/a> gathers data from onboard cameras and sensors. But instead of feeding directly into one central control system, data are collected and processed by a set of smaller, independent modules. The modules then feed into a central controller that keeps the incoming data streams at a manageable level. OpenDLV also can learn from its incoming data, making it adaptable to unforeseen situations or dangers.<\/p>\n

Benderius and colleagues adapted OpenDLV from Open Davinci<\/a> software, an open-source infrastructure package for cyber-physical systems, such as autonomous vehicles. OpenDLV — DLV stands for driverless vehicle — includes modules for hardware communications, safety and override functions, sensor integration, decision making, and visualization. The software is open-source and freely available.<\/p>\n

The Chalmers team fitted the software into a Volvo FH16<\/a> tractor-trailer cab, which they entered into the Grand Cooperative Driving Challenge<\/a>, a Europe-wide competition for advances in self-driving vehicles, including vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. The 2016 competition takes place on 28 May, on a section of highway between Helmond and Eindhoven in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

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