Swedish automobile manufacturer Volvo Car Group has completed a research which uses magnets to help the self-driving car determine its position.
Conducted in a strategic co-operation with the Swedish Transport Administration, the project is considered to be important in the implementation of self-driving vehicles.
According to the company, road-integrated magnets will not be affected by certain conditions such as physical obstacles and poor weather conditions.
Volvo Car Group preventive safety leader Jonas Ekmark said that the magnets create an invisible 'railway' that literally paves the way for a positioning inaccuracy of less than one decimetre.
"We have tested the technology at a variety of speeds and the results so far are promising," Ekmark added.
"Our aim is for the car to be able to handle the driving all by itself. Accurate, reliable positioning is a necessary prerequisite for a self-driving car."
For the research, Volvo team created a 100m long test track at its testing facilities in Hllered, Sweden. The research is aimed at assessing crucial issues such as detection range, reliability, durability, cost and the impact on road maintenance.
Ekmark said: "Our experience so far is that ferrite magnets are an efficient, reliable and relatively cheap solution, both when it comes to the infrastructure and on-board sensor technology. The next step is to conduct tests in real-life traffic."
