Nissan SAM: When Autopilot Intelligence Isn't Enough

Nissan unveiled its advanced Seamless Autonomous Mobility (SAM) platform, which aims to help robotic vehicles move safely and accurately in unpredictable situations.

Autopilot systems use lidars, radars, cameras and all sorts of sensors to get comprehensive information about the situation on the road. However, this information may not be enough to make a competent decision in an unforeseen situation - for example, when approaching an accident site, near which a policeman stands and manually regulates traffic. In this case, the signals of the police officer may conflict with road markings and traffic lights, and the actions of other drivers may “confuse the autopilot”. In such conditions, the SAM system should come to the rescue.

With SAM, an autonomous car becomes smart enough to know when it shouldn't try to solve a problem on its own. Instead, he makes a safe stop and requests help from the command center.

Within the framework of the platform, a person comes to the rescue of a robomobile - a mobility manager who uses images from vehicle cameras and data from on-board sensors to assess the situation, decide on the right actions and create a safe route around obstacles. The specialist creates a virtual lane for the car so that it can pass. When the police signal the vehicle to pass, the mobility manager restarts the vehicle and directs it along the detour route. After the car leaves the area with obstructed traffic, it will resume fully autonomous movement.

As part of the SAM concept, other vehicles with autopilot located in a problem area will be able to automatically use a previously created detour scheme. Moreover, as statistics accumulate and autonomous driving technologies develop, cars will less and less need the help of a mobility manager.

Thus, SAM, in fact, combines the capabilities of robotic vehicles with human intelligence, making movement as efficient as possible. It is assumed that the use of Seamless Autonomous Mobility will help cars with autopilot to merge into the current transport infrastructure. 

Source: 3dnews.ru