Dimitrakopoulos G. The Future of Intelligent Transport Systems 2020

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The Future of Intelligent Transport Systems. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818281-9.00001-
Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Sensing and perception

systems for ITS

1.1 Introduction: highly automated vehicles and the
importance of perception

The ever-increasing utilization of vehicles along with the ongoing immense
research in novel vehicular concepts has brought about the concept of highly
automated and autonomous vehicles. The automation of vehicles—ultimately
aiming at fully autonomous driving—has been identified as one major enabler
to master the Grand Societal Challenges “Individual Mobility” and “Energy Ef-
ficiency”. Highly automated driving functions (ADF) are one major step to be
taken. One of the major challenges to successfully realizing highly automated
driving is the step from SAE Level 2 (partial automation) to SAE Levels 3
(conditional automation), and above. At Level 3, the driver remains available
as a fallback option in the event of a failure in the automation chain, or if the
ADF reaches its operational boundaries. At higher levels (4 and 5), the driver
cannot be relied upon to intervene in a timely and appropriate manner, and con-
sequently, the automation must be capable of handling safety-critical situations
on its own. This is shown in Table 1.1.
The automation of vehicles is strongly linked to their interconnection (V2V
communications), as well as to their connection to the transportation (and also
telecommunication) infrastructure (V2I), as those kinds of communications can
pave the way for the design and delivery of innovative services and applications
supporting the driver and the passengers (cooperative, connected automated
mobility—CCAM). Despite the numerous advances in several initiatives related
to CCAM, there are still plenty of limitations to be overcome, especially in the
following areas:

1. Deployment cost reduction: At this time, CCAM solutions are associated
   with high costs that are associated with the distribution of the necessary
   infrastructure for their deployment.


2. Communication availability improvement for CCAM: Availability of state-
   of-the-art communication infrastructure/technologies nation-wide.


3. Vehicle cooperation improvement: In-vehicle intelligence, connectivity, and
   coordination among heterogeneous technologies.