Thanks to modern communications and sensor technology, it will soon be possible for cars to know what's immediately around them even when the line of site is blocked, in a sense making them able to see around corners.
This ability is one of the core pillars of most self-driving systems being developed, including that from Jaguar Land Rover. But even if you prefer to drive yourself the ability for a car to know what's around a blind corner is definitely a bonus.
Jaguar Land Rover on Friday announced it is leading a project called Autoplex that looks to create a system combining car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communications with highly detailed maps with real-time updates. The system can then be used by a self-driving car to gather more detailed information about its surroundings.
Jaguar Land Rover self-driving prototype
It's not just blind corners where such a system could prove helpful. Just some of the other situations could be junctions, merging and roundabouts. It could also be developed to help you find a parking spot.
The upcoming 5G network is expected to support the necessary bandwidth required to reliably send back and fourth so much data.
Jaguar Land Rover late last year started testing its self-driving cars on public roads in the United Kingdom. The automaker is developing both partially and fully self-driving systems and has a long-term goal to make self-driving cars viable in the widest range situations, including in off-road conditions. The automaker also in March entered a deal to supply Waymo with up to 20,000 Jaguar I-Pace electric SUVs over the coming years for Waymo's expanding self-driving fleet.
