I plan to dedicate the blog to regular posts about what is happening at the GCDC test site over the coming days, and of course during the competition weekend. For those of you that are reading this blog for the first time I have tried to sum up some key points about the GCDC and cooperative driving in the form of questions and answers below.
What is the Grand Cooperative Driving Challenge?
-The GCDC is a competition to promote, develop and explore cooperative technologies for increasing traffic safety, efficiency and comfort. It is organized by the Dutch organization TNO for the first time this year.
Do you drive real cars?
Yes, we use a new Volvo S60 adapted so that gas and brake can be controlled by our software. Lateral control is performed by a safety driver who can also override the system at any time.
What do you mean by "cooperative technologies"?
Vehicles in the GCDC use wireless communication (a variant of good old WLAN adapted to the vehicular domain) to send information about themselves to other vehicles. This information includes the precise location, speed and heading of the vehicle but also platooning specific messages. A platoon is a group of vehicles that have negotiated with each other and agreed to form a group where the lead vehicle determines the speed for the followers. By communicating with each other the vehicles can react quickly to changes in speed, thus enabling them to better use the road surface and drive more economically as well as more safely.
I've seen platooning before, what's new about this?
Platooning is an old concept and demos have been performed (e.g. Demo '97 as part of the PATH project). What is a defining aspect of the GCDC is that we have no idea how the other teams have chosen to implement their platooning system. Just like in the real world we cannot expect to be in a platoon with vehicles that have been developed and tested together, instead we must address the uncertainty about other vehicles behavior in our system design. Recognizing and addressing this uncertainty is key to successful deployment of these types of technologies.
How do you compete in cooperation?
Teams are randomly divided into platoons and scoring is based on both individual performance as well as on the collective performance of the platoon in an urban and a highway scenario. By reorganizing the platoons between heats a vehicle that has been on winning teams often is likely to have been a good team player. See the Rules and Technology Document for details on judging.
