VSI Labs Hits the Road - Launches Automated Drive Series
VSI Labs, industry-leading research company on active safety and automated driving, will soon hit the road on a national tour to demonstrate AV & ADAS technologies.
MINNEAPOLIS, June 25, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Starting next month VSI Labs will hit the road, embarking on a national tour as a means of demonstrating Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and automated vehicle (AV) technologies. The Automated Drive Series will provide technology suppliers with a chance to demonstrate their solutions in an automated demonstration vehicle. The series will consist of four quarterly, coast-to-coast, and border-to-border driving missions, to examine the functionality of these technologies.
The Automated Drive Series is VSI's answer to far fewer conferences and venues at which industry companies would normally exhibit their technologies. "Because of COVID-19, I don't expect much exposure through conferences this fall," said Phil Magney, Founder and President of VSI Labs. "With this program, developers of AV and ADAS technology have a new venue through which they can promote their solutions."
The VSI vehicle will be equipped with a full stack of sensors including visible cameras, thermal imaging, LiDAR, radar and precision localization. The onboard computer processes and records critical scenes and segments where the sensors are challenged. This recorded data will be useful for post-drive analysis as VSI will be able to annotate challenging segments and road scenes. VSI will launch its first event of the series, the Automated Drive North, on July 12th as it travels to Ann Arbor (MI) via northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Through extensive exposure to northerly environments, VSI expects to encounter a diversity of conditions such as winding roads, low visibility, changing weather, and wildlife. The journey will end at Detroit's American Center for Mobility, where VSI will continue its testing of Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) with FLIR Systems.
"FLIR's thermal imaging technology is crucial to improving the safety of motor vehicles, especially for nighttime driving or other low-visibility conditions that challenge human drivers and the existing ADAS sensor suites on vehicles today," said Mike Walters, Vice President of Product Management at FLIR. "The opportunity to collect thermal imaging data in unique settings across rural and urban environments through our collaboration with VSI will enable us to advance development of thermal sensing technology for ADAS, specifically AEB, and AV's."
One of the goals of the Automated Drive Series is to expose AV & ADAS solutions to a diverse set of driving environments. "It's a terrific way to understand the strengths and weaknesses of these technologies," said VSI's Phil Magney. Last year VSI made headlines with their groundbreaking Drive West and subsequent Drive East, racking up more than 10,000 miles traveling from Minnesota to Washington DC to California and back again. Earlier this year, VSI traveled over 3,200 miles to Las Vegas and back for CES in January.
Subsequent drives of the series will follow in September, November, and January. This will include the Automated Drive East to Washington DC, the Automated Drive South which is bound for Texas, and the Automated Drive West to California. These later drives will enable VSI to showcase new sensors and expose the vehicle to different environmental conditions, road types and scenarios. Those looking to follow along on the upcoming journeys can track the vehicle's progress on VSI's website, or keep up with live updates on their social media channels. To sponsor a subsequent drive in the series, get in touch with a member of the VSI team.
About VSI Labs
Established in 2014 by Phil Magney, VSI Labs is one of the industry's top advisors on AV technologies, supporting major automotive companies and suppliers worldwide. VSI's research and lab activities have fostered a comprehensive breakdown of the AV ecosystem through hands-on development of its own automated vehicle platform. VSI also conducts functional validation of critical enablers including sensors, domain controllers, and AV software development kits. Learn more about VSI Labs at https://vsi-labs.com/.
SOURCE VSI Labs
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