Drone captures map of EastLink tunnel for self-driving car trials

EastLink has used an aerial drone from Telstra to capture a Lidar map for its Mullum Mullum tunnel in Australia to help support safe trials of fully self-driving cars. Doug Spencer-Roy, EastLink’s corporate affairs and marketing manager, said that trial sites need to be mapped in high resolution to allow self-driving car prototypes to be conducted under controlled conditions to test their safe operation. Additionally, the process can also support the company’s maintenance activities, by allowing the deta
April 9, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

8735 EastLink has used an aerial drone from Telstra to capture a Lidar map for its Mullum Mullum tunnel in Australia to help support safe trials of fully self-driving cars.

Doug Spencer-Roy, EastLink’s corporate affairs and marketing manager, said that trial sites need to be mapped in high resolution to allow self-driving car prototypes to be conducted under controlled conditions to test their safe operation.

Additionally, the process can also support the company’s maintenance activities, by allowing the details of the tunnel infrastructure to be viewed in 3D when planning maintenance work, Roy added.

The self-driving cars are pre-loaded with a Lidar map of the trials area. In addition, the vehicle’s built-in Lidar scanner aims to capture a real-time Lidar view of the vehicle’s surroundings.

EastLink says the autonomous driving system compares the real-time Lidar view against the pre-loaded Lidar map to increase the accuracy of its self-positioning system. The solution also intends to identify objects that it needs to avoid such as pedestrians, cyclists, animals and other vehicles.

Andrew Wildblood, Telstra Enterprise’s executive director growth, said: “Drones are an important emerging technology that will have many applications and benefits for our business, our customers and the wider community.

“Telstra will continue to play an important role in this space, with our world class network enabling our customers to take advantage of drone technology now and into the future. Telstra has a dedicated cross-company drone team that are actively exploring the efficiency, cost reduction and safety benefits that drones can deliver our customers, like EastLink, across a number of different industry sectors.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • A new beginning for travel information, based on users' needs
    February 3, 2012
    Despite its name, the EU's forthcoming SUNSET project could represent a new beginning for travel information services. Here, Susan Grant-Muller and Frances Hodgson from the Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds detail a project which is intended to exert a greater influence on network users' travel habits
    Read More
  • Australia’s laws are ‘not ready for driverless vehicles’
    May 13, 2016
    Australia’s National Transport Commission (NTC) has released Regulatory Options for Automated Vehicles, a discussion paper that finds a number of legislative barriers to increasing vehicle automation. The paper proposes that there are barriers that need to be addressed as soon as possible to ensure clarity around the status of more automated vehicles on Australia’s roads and to support further trials. In the longer term other legislative barriers will need to be addressed to allow fully driverless vehic
    Read More
  • Moovit: Gut feelings no match for data
    August 7, 2019
    Cities that bring in mobility services without data might be missing out on areas where demand is highest. Ben Spencer talks to Moovit’s Alon Shantzer about how the company is helping customers to pinpoint the right locations Launching mobility services without taking into account public transportation data can lead to chaos in cities. That’s the view of Alon Shantzer, vice president international sales at Moovit, the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) provider and transit app. “The data we have can define
    Read More
  • TRL makes strategic appointment to advance business activities
    April 3, 2018
    TRL has appointed Chrys Stevenson sales and marketing director as part of a strategy to lead business activities domestically and internationally. He was previously chief executive officer for QinetiQ’s US-based export business and has also worked extensively with government agencies in delivering various objectives across the defence and security sectors. Stevenson said: “I am extremely excited to be joining an organisation that plays such a pivotal role in surface transport innovation. We are at a
    Read More

Highlighted Content