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

  • Tolling faces up to unprecedented challenge
    October 9, 2020
    The next five years are likely to see a number of changes – but the tolling industry will be equal to them, thinks the IBTTA’s Bill Cramer. The best minds in the business are on the case…
    Read More
  • Google maps the future of traffic and travel information?
    March 16, 2012
    Will the relentless growth of Google lead to it becoming the ultimate provider of travel information services? Huw Williams investigates Google’s strategy and David Crawford discovers what two principal rivals are doing to keep pace. In the first weeks of 2012 one company staked two divergent claims on the future of transport. One is the science fiction of only a decade ago, turned into reality: the driverless car. The other seems more prosaic, yet in its own way is just as significant a marker of the futur
    Read More
  • Bluetooth and Wi-Fi offer new options for travel time measurements
    November 20, 2013
    New trials show Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals can be reliably used for measuring travel times and at a lower cost than an ANPR system, but which is the better proposition depends on many factors. Measuring travel times has traditionally relied automatic number plate (or licence plate) recognition (ANPR/ALPR) cameras capturing the progress of vehicles travelling along a pre-defined route. Such systems also have the benefit of being able to count passing traffic and have become a vital tool in dealing with c
    Read More
  • Co-operative infrastructure reduces congestion, increases safety
    January 30, 2012
    ITS Japan's Chairman Hiroyuki Watanabe talks to ITS International about his country's progress with cooperative infrastructures and how the experience gained to date can benefit similar initiatives elsewhere. Japan gave the rest of the world a taste of the cooperative infrastructure future when, in 1996, it went live with the Vehicle Information and Communication System (VICS). Designed to provide real-time traffic information and alerts to in-vehicle navigation systems with the dual aims of increasing safe
    Read More

Highlighted Content