Magnets Guide Self-Driving Cars

Mar-12-14 Volvo is researching the feasibility of using magnets to guide self-driving cars on the road, which they believe would overcome some of the limitations of GPS and cameras.

GPS and cameras can have difficulty performing in some conditions, such as fog or tunnels. In contrast, the magnet system from the Volvo Cars research team does not require visibility or a line of sight to operate. To test the system, the team embedded 40 x 50 mm ferrite magnets along a 100 meter test track at a depth of 200 mm. A test vehicle equipped with magnetic field systems was then sent down the track at a range of speeds.

According to Jonas Ekmark, Preventive Safety Leader at Volvo Car Group, the magnetic track adds other benefits as well, such as allowing the lanes to be narrowed and preventing accidental plowing of snow-covering objects. Said Ekmark, "Accurate, reliable positioning is a necessary prerequisite for a self-driving car. The magnets create an invisible 'railway' that literally paves the way for a positioning inaccuracy of less than one decimeter (10 cm/4 in)."

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