Continental drives Automated Valet Parking with AI startup investment
Continental is investing an undisclosed sum in the Leipzig-based start-up Kopernikus Automotive. A specialist in autonomous driving technologies, Kopernikus develops solutions for infrastructure-based manoeuvring of vehicles. The technology is based on sensors installed in the infrastructure and artificial intelligence-based algorithms that control the vehicles through a central computing platform. The first two use cases of this technology are automated parking in multi-storey or underground car parks, also known as Automated Valet Parking (AVP), and autonomous manoeuvring of, for example, newly produced vehicles at vehicle manufacturers or in logistics areas.
Already today, the first vehicles are being driven through vehicle factories without a driver and based on infrastructure – according to Continental experts, this technology will also significantly change parking in the near future. For Automated Valet Parking, the driver gets out – for example at an airport terminal -, hands over the vehicle to the infrastructure via an app and the car is parked autonomously. The vehicle is guided through an infrastructure installed in the car park. In the case of Continental / Kopernikus, cameras are used as sensors. At the heart of the system are AI-based algorithms that ensure safe orchestration and guidance of all vehicles. Kopernikus Automotive provides such a solution, with which car parks, hotels and airports can be equipped at relatively low cost and is thus ready for autonomous parking.
The prerequisite for the use of the solution is an additional vehicle function called Central Motion Control, which converts the trajectory specified by the intelligent infrastructure into the control of the corresponding actuators. The components required for this in the car are automatic transmission, electric parking brake, electric power steering and an intelligent communication unit. These are already installed as standard in many vehicles.
“In the future, cars will be moved autonomously in factories and also in car parks. A safe, comfortable and affordable solution is being developed by Kopernikus and Continental together. At Continental, we are working on both solutions, autonomous parking, which is based on vehicle sensor data, and a solution based on intelligent infrastructure – similar to intelligent intersections. The participation in Kopernikus is the logical next step for us to further advance both topics and to offer a marketable solution in a timely manner,” says Ralph Lauxmann, Head of Strategy and Future Solutions for the Autonomous Mobility and Safety business unit at Continental.
At the IAA Mobility 2021 (Munich 6 to 12 September), the collaboration between Continental and Copernicus can be experienced in action for the first time: Together with Ford, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar-Land Rover as well as Volkswagen’s automotive software subsidiary Cariad, Continental and Kopernikus will be showing a driving demonstration in the IAA exhibition car park in Munich. As part of the VDA Automated Valet Parking (AVP) project, the interoperability of the infrastructure-based solution with several vehicle manufacturers and other infrastructure providers will be demonstrated in particular.
https://www.kopernikusauto.com/
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