New Development Platform for Autonomous Vehicles

In a recent interview with Autonomous Industries, Applanix’ Director of Land Products Louis Nastro was able to break down how system developers for autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles can reduce cost through platform standardization, without sacrificing the high-performance accuracy of environment-based optimization.   

In the discussion, Mr. Nastro underscores the benefits of Applanix’ unique approach: a turnkey Development Kit for quick integration, which is then modified by working closely with manufacturers through their testing and prototype phases, before scaling for mass production.

He also explains the significance of properly balancing both real-time solutions and post-processing data in order to keep the autonomous vehicle reactive in even the most adverse of conditions.

AI: Developers of systems for autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles are faced with the challenge of reducing cost through standardization across platforms, while at the same time having to design systems for vehicles operating in very different environments… How [does Applanix’] new Autonomy Development Platform address this challenge?

Nastro: Whether a manufacturer is starting their program or wishes to qualify new equipment for testing, customization is a salient factor in choosing which partner to work with. An example is OEMs which develop on and off-road equipment. On-road you have a truck which goes several hundreds of miles on highway, but an off-road truck has to operate in a deep open pit mine or even underground. With our new platform, manufacturers have the option of standardizing their designs while optimizing performance with sensors they already have on the vehicle. For example, taking LIDAR and camera data and utilizing it as a source of data to aid positioning so the system works with the same accuracy across a number of different use cases. With respect to GNSS, customers have a choice of using Trimble RTX with our equipment or their own base stations in a mining environment.

Read the Complete Interview