Toyota Research Institute (TRI) has signed an agreement with GoMentum Station to test autonomous vehicle technology at the 5,000-acre autonomous vehicle proving grounds located in Concord, Calif.
Managed by the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA), this partnership enables TRI to expand closed course testing of its two-prong approach to vehicle automation—Guardian and Chauffeur.
TRI recently demonstrated Platform 2.1, its new advanced safety research vehicle that allows for testing of both Guardian and Chauffeur in a single vehicle. In the Guardian approach, the human driver maintains vehicle control, and the automated driving system operates in the background, monitoring for potential crash situations. It can intervene to protect vehicle occupants when needed. Chauffeur is TRI’s version of full vehicle autonomy where all occupants are passengers as the car drives itself. Both approaches use the same technology stack of sensors and cameras.
TRI will use GoMentum Station for further testing of Platform 2.1, which includes a new high-fidelity LIDAR system that provides a longer sensing range, a much denser point cloud to better detect positions of three-dimensional objects and a field of view that is dynamically configurable. With proximity to TRI research headquarters located in Los Altos, Calif., GoMentum Station enhances TRI’s public road testing with testing of extreme driving events that are unsafe to conduct on public roads.
GoMentum’s varied terrain and real-life infrastructure—including roads, bridges, tunnels, intersections and parking lots—provide the environment needed to accelerate testing of the “difficult miles” needed to advance both Guardian and Chauffeur.
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Source: Contra Costa Transportation Authority
