Road Surface Conditions From NIRA Dynamics Supporting Future ADAS Functions of Cariad

Cariad is leveraging the sensor fusion technology provided by NIRA Dynamics to develop advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving functions. The companies are using NIRA’s Road Surface Conditions product to create a grip map, a digital map base that provides valuable information on road conditions to enable ADAS in varying road conditions while improving safety on the roads.

The foundation is built with high-precision data from millions of Audi, Skoda, Seat and Volkswagen customer vehicles. They estimate the coefficient of friction between their tires and the current road segment they are driving on. This data is uploaded to the cloud, anonymised and processed by NIRA Dynamics, where it is made available for driver assistance systems in Europe and North America.

The grip data as a digital map base is a crucial enabler for future ADAS and autonomous driving functions. It provides locally precise, real-time information on road conditions, essential for safe and efficient driving.

To complement the vehicle grip data with comprehensive road weather data and forecasts, NIRA partners with Vaisala, utilising Vaisala Xweather’s leading sensor-enhanced weather and environmental data. With this cooperation, NIRA Dynamics’s Road Surface Conditions can combine and assess data from multiple data points, including connected vehicles, RWIS, radar/satellite images and weather prognoses to provide a real-time picture of the road status – with unmatched data coverage. This, in turn, helps to enable SAE Level 2 and 3 vehicle functions in all kinds of weather and road conditions.

“Cariad’s road condition map base is a significant step towards safer and more efficient driving, and we are proud that Nira’s Road Surface Conditions is playing a key role in its development,” said Lisa Åbom, CEO of NIRA Dynamics. “Our sensor fusion technology provides high-precision data that is essential for the development of ADAS and autonomous driving functions, and we are excited to see how our collaboration with Cariad will help to shape the future of mobility.”

Cariad and NIRA Dynamics are leading the way in road safety. Since 2021, the Local Hazard Information service has used connected vehicle data from NIRA in Volkswagen Group vehicles. Also, infrastructure and road maintenance operators use the data to improve road maintenance planning and performance.

With Vaisala’s 40 years of road weather expertise, Xweather is a global market leader in enabling weather-aware vehicles and drivers across multiple OEM brands, including Volkswagen Group.

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