Innovation / Products & Technology | 29 Sep, 2016
| 5 min
Valeo’s autonomous vehicle completes 24 hours on the Paris beltway in a world first
Paris, September 29, 2016 – It’s a world first: Valeo's Cruise4U autonomous vehicle has completed 24 hours on the Paris beltway. The car logged a total of 766km, the equivalent of driving around Paris more than 20 times, and nearly 99% of the distance and time was completed in autonomous mode, not counting breaks and changeovers.
The 35km Paris beltway is characterized by a number of specific features that make driving particularly challenging: scooters and motorcycles driving between lanes, traffic jams, roadworks, faded road markings, priority on the right and short exit and entrance ramps. The Valeo prototype was able to process and anticipate these situations over the full 24-hour period, day or night, demonstrating its unique technological prowess.
This breakthrough innovation in mobility is the result of a unique combination of solutions: a Valeo camera; radar and laser scanner technologies arranged around the entire vehicle to form a “cocoon” able to detect any obstacles at distances from as little as 10 centimeters to as much as 200 meters or more; and a sophisticated software program that can process data in real time to effectively analyze the vehicle’s surroundings and adjust its behavior accordingly.
The way it works is very simple: when the situation allows, when the driver selects the automated driving mode designed and developed by Valeo, this mode then takes over driving, steering, accelerating and braking in real driving situations.
The 24 hours spent on the Paris beltway follow the approximately 21,000km driven in the United States in summer 2016 and the 4,000km road trip taken around France in 2015. Valeo Cruise4U now has 125,000km on the clock, 97% of which were driven in autonomous mode, making Valeo one of the most advanced companies in terms of vehicle development.
As leader of the driving assistance systems market and inventor of the Cruise4U technology, Valeo can now promote innovative active safety features and move ahead toward fully automated driving.
INSIDE VALEO CRUISE4U
- Valeo SCALA™ laser scanner 1st mass production laser in 2017
- Radar cocoon
- Caméra cocoon
- Algorithm-based software
Valeo is an automotive supplier, partner to all automakers worldwide. As a technology company, Valeo proposes innovative products and systems that contribute to the reduction of CO? emissions and to the development of intuitive driving. In 2015, the Group generated sales of 14.5 billion euros and invested over 10% of its original equipment sales in research and development. Valeo has 148 plants, 19 research centers, 35 development centers and 15 distribution platforms, and employs 88,800 people in 32 countries worldwide. Valeo is listed on the Paris stock exchange and is a member of the CAC 40 index.
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