What’s Happening
Nexar, an AI computer vision and mapping company, recently revealed a novel mapping layer aimed at offering insights into the difference between official driving rules and actual driver behavior. By leveraging data from its network of 700,000 dashcams, Nexar illuminates the disparities in everyday driving scenarios versus the rules, thus supplying automated driving systems with critical context. This additional layer of driver behavioral maps could significantly enhance road safety and interaction with human drivers.
Why It Matters
The successful implementation of automated driving technology comes with its share of hurdles, particularly when it comes to integrating with unpredictable elements like human drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. Nexar’s innovative mapping layer complements existing layers, thereby offering a comprehensive perspective of the driving landscape. The layers range from the basic “Base Map” to more intricate “Lane Semantics” and “Road Furniture” layers, with each one providing a unique degree of detail.
Key Points
Nexar is enhancing its mapping services by identifying instances where human driving behavior strays from the prescribed rules of the road. This divergence can affect autonomous vehicles that lack the intuition and contextual understanding inherent to human drivers. Examples of these scenarios include virtual stop-lines and crosswalks, variations in turning lanes, discrepancies in speed limits, and changes in school zone behavior during pick-up and drop-off times.
The company’s extensive research underscores the value of real-time driver behavioral maps in improving Autonomous Vehicle (AV) and Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) performance. These real-time maps provide a comprehensive understanding of driving patterns that can influence autonomous vehicle operation. They allow for the identification of anomalous driving behaviors like hard braking and aggressive lane-cutting, and their real-time mapping.
For instance, Nexar found that there is a twofold higher chance for a driver to execute a hard brake on a highway exit compared to the highway itself. Additionally, drivers are 14 times more prone to hard braking on residential roads than on highways. In specific sections of Florida’s Turnpike in Miami, close to 90% of drivers exceeded the 70 mph speed limit by more than 10 mph. This starkly contrasts with overall highway driving in Miami, where only 6% of drivers exceed the speed limit by more than 10 mph.
Bottom Line
Ilan Kadar, Nexar’s VP of AI & Automotive, emphasizes the vital role of driver behavioral maps in deepening the understanding of human driving habits and the unspoken rules of the road. This fresh mapping layer, stemming from Nexar’s extensive network, significantly augments the company’s mapping solutions. It promises to pave the way for safer advanced driving assistance systems and a smoother integration of these systems into daily commutes.
