NAV-CAR Feasibility Study: Improved Navigation in Challenging Areas by Robust Positioning

NAV-CAR is based on results of the EU Integrated Project COOPERS (FP6-2004-IST-4, grant agreement 026814) and leads beyond COOPERS with respect to high accuracy and lane-specific positioning and navigation.

Motivation for the project

Robust, lane sensitive car navigation will be an important contribution to road safety and traffic management. Currently there is no system that can provide the necessary lane specific information since positioning by navigational satellite is not accurate enough and the necessary map data for map-referencing are not available either.

For this reason NAV-CAR addresses the

• Improvement of positional information as well as
• Development of a lane specific map prepared for high precision geo referencing

By combining existing technologies of in-car navigation and in- car sensors with new algorithms for data fusion, NAV-CAR makes an important contribution to the development of robust, high precision positioning. With the experience gained in this project, Austria can start to play a major role in this field, bringing benefit both to research and industry.

Examples of benefits of lane-specific high accuracy positioning (beyond COOPERS):

• In mountain areas and in tunnels with high traffic density where satellite based navigation is not guaranteed, being a safety risk for road users and maintenance staff, safety and service availability will be improved.
• Improved traffic management by precise local speed profiles: Locating events on the road on a specific lane and hereby reducing the disturbing effects of that event for the other road users, facilitates e.g. to keep an unaffected lane open to vehicles to pass at a reduced speed.
• In case of heavy traffic or critical situations, the road operator can re-direct lane traffic to emergency lanes or exits/entries via the onboard unit.

In the feasibility study, the NAV-CAR value chain was developed describing the stakeholders involved and the benefits gained from NAV-CAR services (see figure). The study resulted in a considerably improved proposal for NAV-CAR development, which was finally accepted by the ASAP Program (NAV-CAR2 project).

Coordinator

AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH - Erwin Schoitsch

Partners

• AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Österreichisches Forschungs- und Prüfzentrum Arsenal Ges.m.b.H. - Martin Reinthaler
• BRIMATECH Services GmbH - Susanne Fuchs

AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
Erwin Schoitsch
Donau-City-Straße 1
A-1220 Vienna
Tel.: +43 (505) 50 4117
E-mail: erwin.schoitsch.fl@ait.ac.at
Web: www.ait.ac.at