u‑blox, a provider of positioning and wireless communication technologies for the automotive, industrial, and consumer markets, has announced that Siemens has integrated the u‑blox ZED‑F9K high precision dead reckoning module into its Toyota Prius V2X (vehicle‑to‑everything) test fleet. Siemens carried out live demonstrations of the technology at the ITS European Congress 2019 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
As the only available source of absolute position, satellite-based positioning plays a crucial role in advanced driver automation systems and driverless vehicles. The same is true in V2X communication, in which vehicles continuously share their location and other information with other traffic participants – cars and pedestrians – as well as surrounding infrastructure, improving road safety and reducing traffic congestion.
V2X test vehicles typically determine their position using high‑end, expensive GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) receivers. While these provide highly accurate position information, they fail to realistically represent the hardware that will be deployed in vehicles produced for the mass market. By opting to use the ZED‑F9K turnkey solution for high precision dead reckoning, Siemens was able to align the performance of their test fleet with real world conditions while also reducing the cost and the engineering effort required to develop their vehicles.
The collaboration with Siemens shows the extent to which the ZED‑F9K turnkey solution saves OEMs time, cost, and engineering effort while providing decimeter‑level positioning performance.
