ATLASCAR - technologies for a computer assisted driving system on board a common automobile

The future of intelligent vehicles will rely on robust information to allow the proper feedback to the vehicle itself, to issue several kinds of active safety, but before all, to generate information for the driver by calling his or her attention to potential instantaneous or mid-term risks associated with the driving. Before true vehicle autonomy, safety and driver assistance are a priority. Sophisticated sensorial and perceptive mechanisms must be made available for, in a first instance, assisting the driver and, on a latter phase, participate in better autonomy. These mechanisms rely on sensors and algorithms that are mostly available nowadays, but many of them are still unsuited for critical situations. This paper presents a project where engineering and scientific solutions have been devised to settle a full featured real scale platform for the next generation of ITS vehicles that are concerned with the immediate issues of navigation and challenges on the road. The car is now ready and running, and the data gathering has just begun.