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16 In conversation | Graham Smethurst guiding drivers down lanes too small for the vehicle, or into rivers, and while luckily many of these problems can be overcome by linking into the local sensor networks, GPS systems are not infallible. The map data also has to be transmitted to the vehicle, and the protocols and usage of the network agreed. In fact the problem extends even further, into a building say, where GPS navigation will not even work. Issues with self-parking One predicted use of driverless technology is the self-parking mode. This allows a user to drive (or be delivered) to a location, get out and have the car find a pre-arranged, prepaid parking space somewhere else. This avoids some of the problems with finding a parking space and makes more efficient use of city-wide resources. If a car goes off to an underground garage, however, then the GPS stops working. The car has to find a parking space but still know where it is (to let the owner know where it has parked, for example). It also has to be able to receive an authenticated command to pick up the owner at a particular location, which may also be in a building or underground, and the car may also have to pay for the parking. All of this is a major challenge, but it is being overcome by a form of self-parking technology, BMW’s Remote Valet Parking Assistant, also demonstrated at CES in an i3 research electric vehicle, which uses a laser scanner and a digital site map to replace the GPS signal. BMW’s collaboration here is with perhaps a surprising partner: Baidu, the Chinese web search engine equivalent of Google. Baidu has bought Chinese mapping technology company RITU, as well as investing $10m in US company Indoor Atlas, whose technology uses a magnetometer in a smartphone and natural variations in the geomagnetic field to navigate with an accuracy of a metre, even indoors. Conclusion We are seeing a clear window for collaborative technology in autonomous systems, says Smethurst. With the technology for autonomous operation being demonstrated on the road, the challenge now becomes the wider infrastructure to support the operation of these vehicles. Both the V2V and V2I technologies will play a key role in this, and these require technology alliances across a wide range of companies and organisations around the world. He is certain that it is no longer possible for one car maker to do everything – to make the driverless car work, he says, we need to work together. Spring 2015 | Unmanned Systems Technology Smethurst began his career in telecoms, in the UK, transferring to the automotive industry in 1989. During 11 years with Rover Group in the UK he was responsible for the successful delivery of projects ranging from embedded electronics to IT solutions. From March 1998 to 2000 he was head of vehicle information systems at Rover Group. In 2000 he transferred to BMW in Munich to lead the development of the Car Communication Computer, which was launched in the company’s 5 Series in 2003. Between 2003 and 2006 he led the team that defined the infotainment system launched in the new 7 Series in 2008. He is currently chairman of the Genivi Alliance, formed in March 2009, and over the past two years he has been the BMW Group representative in an industry collaboration investigating the feasibility of alternative approaches to delivering automotive infotainment solutions. The target of the collaboration is a method of ensuring the sustainable delivery of consumer-based infotainment functionality within the technical and commercial constraints of the automotive industry. Graham Smethurst BMW is solving the challenge of underground parking by collaborating with other technology companies