Project description
Increasing road safety with self-driving vehicles
Car accidents resulting in human error are a major concern due to their high frequency. One way to improve road safety is to develop and implement autonomous vehicles that use smart technologies. One of the main difficulties in the production of autonomous vehicles is the creation of embeddable software that can use vehicle sensors to detect and analyse the surrounding environment and plan the safest movement for the vehicle. Embotech is the supplier of a novelty software for autonomous cars with an advanced Embotech motion planner (EMP) that has already proven itself in tests. The EU-funded EMP project aims to test the software in autonomous cars with the help of several automotive industries and enter the market as independent suppliers.
Objective
Today, more than 90% of road accidents are attributed to human errors. To cope with this, smart technologies are being developed to enable autonomous driving, with the goal of making road traffic safer. With the advent of autonomous driving, less than ten years from now, new business models will appear enabled by autonomous shuttles, robo-taxis, last-mile autonomous delivery vehicles, connected truck platoons and private self-driving cars. One of the major challenges the autonomous car industry faces is the development of embeddable software that, using information from the vehicle sensors, is capable to real-time plan the vehicle motion. Motion planning is the part of the autonomous vehicle operating system responsible for defining the path to follow, avoiding obstacles and ensuring safety, comfort and efficiency. Embotech is a leading supplier of decision-making software developing cutting-edge motion planning technology for autonomous cars. Since 2017 we are working with principal carmakers and Tier 1 suppliers of the automotive industry in proof of concepts of our revolutionary software EMP (Embotech Motion Planner). Using a deterministic approach and physics-based models, EMP generates high-dimensional motion trajectories that enable various self-driving tasks such as valet parking, highway driving pilot and urban driving pilot. EMP provides fully flexible, safe and certifiable motion planning, capable to perform complex manoeuvres real-time on standard automotive grade ECUs. As a SME highly specialized in decision-making technology, our plan is to bring a solution already proven in aerospace and industrial applications, to jointly test it in Level 4 autonomous cars with the support of several automotive industry players. In the market of autonomous driving, growing at a CAGR 19%, and expected to reach €71.3 Bn by 2026, we aim to become the world independent leader supplier of motion planning software for autonomous driving.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringautomotive engineeringautonomous vehicles
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwaresoftware applicationssystem softwareoperating systems
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementbusiness models
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
8005 Zurich
Switzerland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.