Japan’s new autonomous driving technology will be launched in 2023: no camera, using Japanese version of GPS, the error is less than 20cm

On June 6, according to Japanese media reports, East Japan Expressway Corporation (NEXCO East Japan) said that it will use the quasi-zenith satellite “Guide” technology toThe automatic driving system for snow removal vehicles will be put into practical use as early as 2023In the case of not using the camera, the snow removal vehicle can drive with an error of less than 20 cm in snowy days with poor visibility.

The quasi-zenith satellite “Guide” is calledJapanese version of Global Positioning System (GPS), At present, many Japanese companies hope to use this technology to achieve autonomous driving. According to reports, only using GPS will produce an error of several meters, but if the “Guide” number is used, the minimum positioning information error is only a few centimeters, without a steering wheel, and snow plows with a width of more than 2 meters can basically drive automatically on the envisaged route. During snow removal operations on the highway, the snow removal vehicle will not deviate from the white line of the road, nor will it touch the roadside guardrail.

Katsuyoshi Abe, Technical Planning Section Chief of NEXCO’s Hokkaido Branch Office in East Japan, said, “It would be very difficult to achieve an error of less than 20 centimeters at the snow removal site without the signal of the “Guide”.

The first satellite was launched in 2010, and was developed by Mitsubishi Electric and operated by Nippon Electric Co., Ltd. NEC. 3 additional satellites will be added in 2017, and the current 4 satellites will be operated by 2018. “With the increase in the number of applications, the driving stability has also been improved.” Abe Katsuyoshi said.

NEXCO East Japan confirmed the performance of the autonomous driving technology with the help of the “Guide” signal in the test in 2021, and strives to complete the system in 2022, and by 2023, Iwamizawa – Bibai Interchange (IC) in Hokkaido Get started.

In the field of passenger cars, some autonomous driving and driving assistance technologies that use the “Guide” positioning information have been put into practical use. For example, Nissan’s pure electric vehicle “Ariya” supports positioning information with an error of only a few centimeters, Subaru (SUBARU) and Honda Some of the models will also use the “Guide” number.

In order to provide stable location information, the Japanese government plans to increase the number of “Guide” satellites, which will be increased from the current 4 satellites to 7 around 2023. It is expected to operate alone without relying on US GPS.