CAR DETECTION WITH OBSTANEX ON A REGULAR COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE : LOW DEPLOYMENT COST, LOW ENERGY CONSUMPTION, LESS HEAT, etc.
Here is a snapshot of car detection using RoadNex.
The big differenciation of ObstaNex is that is runs on a regular computer architecture (on a smartphone for instance) : no need for a heavy computing system. It is then much cheaper for mass volume deployment (new cars and aftermarket), because heavy computing architectures bring computing speed, but also high deployment cost, Energy consumption, heat, etc … not that good for onboard systems.
FREE SPACE IN THE DIRECTION OF THE WHEEL ON SHORT DISTANCE (URBAN DRIVING APPLICATION) : ON A REGULAR COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE IN REAL TIME
RoadNex Short (free space detection in front of the car) runs on regular computer architectures (even on a smartphone). This module is made for fast sensor fusion with lidar and radar.
It works even on dusty roads, stones (image below), cobblestones, etc …
RoadNex brings interpretation (drivable surface), telemeter (radar; lidar, …) brings measurement precision (in mm).
No need for a big computer (it means deployment cost reduction).
This disrupts some electronics architectures big firms that try to convince car manufacturers to put their computers Inside cars, but they do not bring only computing efficiency (they do), they also bring additional cost, weight, heat, integration room need, etc …
RoadNex runs on a regular ARM chip (for instance) and may be the next generation solution.
The next generation autonomous POD (Shuttle) MILLA made by ISFM uses RoadNex and will be shown at CES Las Vegas in Jan 2019.
Come to see it.
Watch this 2 minutes video showing 5 concrete examples of driving situations where the eyes of the driver and the ADAS sensors of the vehicle are not sufficient to prevent accident.
NEXYAD Automotive & Transportation Newsletter #22, April 17th, 2018
4 disruptive AI algorithms for automotive mobility by NEXYAD
Headlines :
– SafetyNex episode 4 : Driving Risk Assessment for Automotive (Driving Assistant, ADAS, Autonomous Driving)
– CNEJITA Seminar on Artificial Intelligence: who will be responsible ?
– SafetyNex : driving robot maybe will mitigate human errors, but first they have to imitate good drivers
– « Theory of Water Flush » and Impact on the Prevention of Accidents for Autonomous Vehicles
– 4 disruptive AI algorithms for automotive mobility
The new video on SafetyNex, on board driving risk assessment in real time.
* * * * *
CNEJITA Seminar on Artificial Intelligence: who will be responsible ?
April 10th, CNEJITA (National Company of Legal Experts on Computer Science and Associated Techniques) organized a Seminar, whose objective is to determine the responsibility in terms of artificial intelligence through the understanding of technology and the dialogue with the actors of the sector.
It is therefore around this theme of topicality and future which is the artificial intelligence that the best experts in terms of computing met at the Commercial Court of Paris.
AI: concepts, technological breakthroughs and new risks
– Understanding the Concepts and Landscape of AI – Jean-Claude HEUDIN (Artificial-Creature.com – Teacher Researcher in AI)
– IA: state of play and perspectives – Jean-Philippe DESBIOLLES (IBM head of France IA WATSON)
Roundtable – Which Expertise fo AI ? was animated by Serge MIGAYRON (Honorary President of CNEJITA)
– The acceptability and limits of IA – JA CAUSSE (CNEJITA Expert)
– The Autonomous Vehicle and Traceability of IA – Jean-Louis LEQUEUX (Former President of VeDeCoM Tech)
– Auditability and risk control in the design of an IA – Gérard YAHIAOUI (NEXYAD)
– Evolution of the world of insurance, towards an objective responsibility – Nicolas HELENON (Co-manager Firm NEO TECH Assurances)
Roundtable – The Legal Challenges of AI. Animation – A MEILLASSOUX (ATM Lawyers – President of AFDIT)
– Introduction to Classical and New AI Concepts by Law: Applicable Regime and Evidence – L SZUSKIN (BAKER McKENZIE Lawyer)
– Tort liability in the face of AI: adaptation of traditional categories or creation of a responsibility specific to AI? – P GLASER (Lawyer TAYLOR WESSING)
– Contractual liability in the face of the IA: risk management during the contractualization of an IA system – FP LANI (DERRIENNIC Associate Lawyer)
– Synthesis on the current legal landscape – G de MONTEYNARD (Attorney General at the Court of Cassation)
Gérard YAHIAOUI, CEO of NEXYAD
* * * * *
SafetyNex : driving robot maybe will mitigate human errors, but first they have to imitate good drivers
BEWARE with the statistics : « 94% of severe personal damage accidents are due to human errors » doesn’t mean that you’ll save 94% of severe accident with autonomous driving : drivers do not only make mistakes they also drive well (1 accident every 70 000 km, 3 dead every billion km – OCDE) … It is important to study also good driving and near misses (when driver has the right behaviour to avoid accident or to mitigate severity)… That’s what NEXYAD did during 15 years of research programs on road safety ^^ (that led to SafetyNex). See image (if you do not provide the « green » features, you will lose lives more than you gain with your driverless car. Our AI algorithm SafetyNex was made for this.
* * * * *
« Theory of Water Flush » and Impact on the Prevention of Accidents for Autonomous Vehicles
« THEORY OF WATER FLUSH » AND IMPACT ON THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
by NEXYAD
INTRODUCTION
Let’s suppose that the flush does not exist in our toilets, and then let’s suppose that engineers able to create complex systems or even « systems of systems » are consulted to invent it, and that they apply exactly the same method than they do in the field of ADAS and Autonomous Vehicles.
METHOD OF SCENARIOS
We propose to apply the method of scenarios, which consists in crossing all the factors that can modify the situation, then in each case of the complete combination, propose a solution. For this, it is necessary to note the number of possible shapes for the tank, the possible volumes, all the possible locations for the water supply entry, the possible diameters of the inlet pipe, the flow rates and possible pressures of water, the possible residual water levels before filling. We can generate the combinatorial of these factors, which allows us to generate all the possible scenarios of the « flush » problem. In each case, it is possible to give a solution, namely, the duration of filling of the tank (opening and closing of the water tap).
This approach is fully compatible with deep learning, which will also interpolate between two reference cases (quality of interpolation/generalization to be controlled, of course) if characteristics had to drift over time. Of course, the tank must integrate a system of sensors to evaluate the configuration (diameter of pipe, pressure of water, position pipe, capacity of the tank, etc …). We can use a camera, lasers, ultrasounds, etc. So that this recognition of situation is as accurate as possible. For such an approach, automation/control engineers talk about open-loop (feed forward) control because the data flow is as follows:
COST AND ROBUSTNESS OF THE SCENARIOS METHOD
It is easy to understand that the flush thus designed will be perfectly functional (there is no reason for it does not work), but for a high cost due to the sensors to integrate. Similarly, the robustness of the system to a measurement error or to a bad situation recognition is not guaranteed : we can very good to fill too much or not enough. The accuracy of the configuration case recognition is very important.
SOLUTION OF WATER FLUSH IN THE REAL WORLD
If you have the curiosity to disassemble your flush, you will notice that it is much simpler than the system described above: A float indicates when the water supply valve should be closed. The figure is as follows:
Automation engineers call this a closed loop control (servo control). The feed forward « open » control is reduced to « open the tap thoroughly without worrying about the flow of water, the volume of the tank, and turn off the tap as soon as the float asks for it « . Note that this method works regardless of the configuration of the flush : we do not even need to know the volume of the tank that can be modified (for example: by filling half of the tank with glass beads) without affecting the operation of the flush. It is a robust and cheap system.
TRANSCRIPT OF THESE REMARKS IN THE FIELD OF ADAS AND AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES: SERVO CONTROL IN DECISION
The information processing chain of the autonomous vehicle follows the general feed forward form :
NEXYAD has developed the SafetyNex system which dynamically estimates in real time the risk that the driver (human or artificial) takes. However, the autonomous vehicle may be functionally specified as follows:
« transport someone from point A to point B as quickly as possible, and safely. »
The « quickly » aspect is the historical business of the automobile. The « safely » notion integrates intrinsic safety of the system (its dependability: it should not explode, sensors or power supply may not be disabled, etc.), and since it is a vehicle, its ability to move with a good road safety, that is to say by « not taking too much risk in driving ». Since SafetyNex estimates this driving risk dynamically and in real time, it can be said that SafetyNex is a dynamic indicator of « SOTIF » (Safety Of The Intended Function). SafetyNex acts as a « driving risk float » : when the risk arrives at the maximum accepted level (like the float of the flush) we stop the action that raised the risk (example: we stop accelerating or we slow down). Thus, the response of an autonomous driving system is made adaptive (at the decision level) : even if the feed forward open loop is not perfect, it can correct itself to take into account, among other things, the instruction and the measure of driving risk. This system is completely independent of the automatic driving system in terms of information processing, so it represents redundancy of processing.
SafetyNex uses to estimate risk :
. risk due to inadequacy of driving behaviour to the difficulties of the infrastructure : navigation map, GPS, accelerometers
. risk due to inadequacy of driving behaviour to the presence of other road users (cars, pedestrians, …) : data extracted from the sensors (camera, lidar, radar, etc) such as « time to collision », « inter distance (in seconds) », number of vulnerables around, etc.
. risk due to inadequacy of driving behaviour to weather conditions: in particular to atmospheric visibility (fog, rain, snow, sand, penumbra). Knowing that when visibility is low, vehicle must pay more attention (and slow down) even if this autonomous vehicle is not impacted by the decrease in visibility (if it only uses a lidar for example) because the avoidance of an accident is done at the same time by the two protagonists : if one of them (pedestrian, human driver), does not see the autonomous vehicle, then it finds itself only to be able to avoid the accident, which doubles the probabilities of a potential accident.
. other
The use of SafetyNex allows to make adaptive an artificial intelligence of autonomous driving, on the following diagram :
If you have a lean computer, then you only apply one loop between t and (t+1) as it is shown on the figure. If you have a powerful computer, you can then even simulate a big number of decisions and take the less risky one (like automaticians do with predictive control systems). Of course, SafetyNex is only ONE way to close the loop (on a crucial notion : driving risk). This figure may be extanded to other variables of contol that make sense for an autonomous vehicle. More complex adaptation rules may switch from a decision to another if risk simulation shows that finally it is less risky (ex : slow down or turn wheel ?).
CONCLUSION
SafetyNex uses the map in addition to sensors (same sensors as the driving system or parallel tracks) and does not need to accurately identify the situation but instead to estimate a risk (this is a different task). SafetyNex is a knowledge-based AI system (knowledge extracted from human experts in road safety, from 19 countries – Europe Japan USA – who validated the system over 50 million km. Total research program duration : 15 years). This technology is still being improved, of course, but it can already be integrated into autonomous vehicles and avoid a large number of accidents by its ability to make the system adaptive to unknown situations. In particular, in the case of autonomous urban vehicles (autonomous shuttles, robot taxis), the adaptation of driving behaviour to complexity of infrastructure is made possible by SafetyNex, which decodes this complexity by reading the navigation map in front of the vehicle. SafetyNex makes the autonomous vehicle anticipate more by following « rules of safety » : with SafetyNex emergency situations (that still will need emergency braking and other emergency actions) become much more rare. Autonomous vehicle acts like an experienced cautious driver. Note : if you modulate Maximum Accepted Risk, then you modulate aggressiveness of the autonomous vehicle. This might make sense not to let the autonomous vehicle trapped in complex human driving situations (where the autonomous vehicle would stopped indefinitly).
* * * * *
4 disruptive AI algorithms for automotive mobility
. ObstaNex detects obstacles with a simple cam (a la Mobileye).
What is disruptive ?
ObstaNex runs in real time on a regular smartphone… it means it doesn’t need a big computing power to run. It can be trained/re trained on a « small database » using the methodology A.G.E.N.D.A. (Approche Générale des Etudes Neuronales pour le Développement d’Applications or General Approach of Neuronal Studies for Application Development) – important is you improve your cam !
. RoadNex detects drivable part of the lane borders and free space.
What is disruptive ?
RoadNex works even in the Streets of old cities as Paris, London or Roma, and it runs in real time on a regular smartphone. it means it doesn’t need a big computing power to run.
. VisiNex detects lacks of visibility (fog, heavy rain, snow, sand storm …).
What is disruptive ?
VisiNex is an artificial vision tool which is correlated with human perception. If there is something to see, VisiNex is able to give a score of visibility. Except Daimler, we haven’t seen such a military background-based detection elsewhere.
. SafetyNex is the only fusion Artificial Intelligence algorithm (sensor + map fusion) that estimates driving risk dynamically and in real time.
What is disruptive?
SafetyNex allows to have an explicit value of driving risk. It is a total revolution for car insurers, fleet managers, and autonomous driving engineers. These algorithms are already under integration into products for telematics /connected car, ADAS, Autonomous Vehicle.
BEWARE with the statistics : « 94% of severe personal damage accidents are due to human errors » doesn’t mean that you’ll save 94% of severe accident with autonomous driving : drivers do not only make mistakes they also drive well (1 accident every 70 000 km, 3 dead every billion km – OCDE) … It is important to study also good driving and near misses (when driver has the right behaviour to avoid accident or to mitigate severity)… That’s what NEXYAD did during 15 years of research programs on road safety ^^ (that led to SafetyNex). See image (if you do not provide the « green » features, you will lose lives more than you gain with your driverless car. Our AI algorithm SafetyNex was made for this.
« THEORY OF WATER FLUSH » AND IMPACT ON THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
by NEXYAD
INTRODUCTION
Let’s suppose that the flush does not exist in our toilets, and then let’s suppose that engineers able to create complex systems or even « systems of systems » are consulted to invent it, and that they apply exactly the same method than they do in the field of ADAS and Autonomous Vehicles.
METHOD OF SCENARIOS
We propose to apply the method of scenarios, which consists in crossing all the factors that can modify the situation, then in each case of the complete combination, propose a solution. For this, it is necessary to note the number of possible shapes for the tank, the possible volumes, all the possible locations for the water supply entry, the possible diameters of the inlet pipe, the flow rates and possible pressures of water, the possible residual water levels before filling. We can generate the combinatorial of these factors, which allows us to generate all the possible scenarios of the « flush » problem. In each case, it is possible to give a solution, namely, the duration of filling of the tank (opening and closing of the water tap).
This approach is fully compatible with deep learning, which will also interpolate between two reference cases (quality of interpolation/generalization to be controlled, of course) if characteristics had to drift over time. Of course, the tank must integrate a system of sensors to evaluate the configuration (diameter of pipe, pressure of water, position pipe, capacity of the tank, etc …). We can use a camera, lasers, ultrasounds, etc. So that this recognition of situation is as accurate as possible. For such an approach, automation/control engineers talk about open-loop (feed forward) control because the data flow is as follows:
COST AND ROBUSTNESS OF THE SCENARIOS METHOD
It is easy to understand that the flush thus designed will be perfectly functional (there is no reason for it does not work), but for a high cost due to the sensors to integrate. Similarly, the robustness of the system to a measurement error or to a bad situation recognition is not guaranteed : we can very good to fill too much or not enough. The accuracy of the configuration case recognition is very important.
SOLUTION OF WATER FLUSH IN THE REAL WORLD
If you have the curiosity to disassemble your flush, you will notice that it is much simpler than the system described above: A float indicates when the water supply valve should be closed. The figure is as follows:
Automation engineers call this a closed loop control (servo control). The feed forward « open » control is reduced to « open the tap thoroughly without worrying about the flow of water, the volume of the tank, and turn off the tap as soon as the float asks for it « . Note that this method works regardless of the configuration of the flush : we do not even need to know the volume of the tank that can be modified (for example: by filling half of the tank with glass beads) without affecting the operation of the flush. It is a robust and cheap system.
TRANSCRIPT OF THESE REMARKS IN THE FIELD OF ADAS AND AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES: SERVO CONTROL IN DECISION
The information processing chain of the autonomous vehicle follows the general feed forward form :
NEXYAD has developed the SafetyNex system which dynamically estimates in real time the risk that the driver (human or artificial) takes. However, the autonomous vehicle may be functionally specified as follows:
« transport someone from point A to point B as quickly as possible, and safely. »
The « quickly » aspect is the historical business of the automobile. The « safely » notion integrates intrinsic safety of the system (its dependability: it should not explode, sensors or power supply may not be disabled, etc.), and since it is a vehicle, its ability to move with a good road safety, that is to say by « not taking too much risk in driving ». Since SafetyNex estimates this driving risk dynamically and in real time, it can be said that SafetyNex is a dynamic indicator of « SOTIF » (Safety Of The Intended Function). SafetyNex acts as a « driving risk float » : when the risk arrives at the maximum accepted level (like the float of the flush) we stop the action that raised the risk (example: we stop accelerating or we slow down). Thus, the response of an autonomous driving system is made adaptive (at the decision level) : even if the feed forward open loop is not perfect, it can correct itself to take into account, among other things, the instruction and the measure of driving risk. This system is completely independent of the automatic driving system in terms of information processing, so it represents redundancy of processing.
SafetyNex uses to estimate risk :
. risk due to inadequacy of driving behaviour to the difficulties of the infrastructure : navigation map, GPS, accelerometers
. risk due to inadequacy of driving behaviour to the presence of other road users (cars, pedestrians, …) : data extracted from the sensors (camera, lidar, radar, etc) such as « time to collision », « inter distance (in seconds) », number of vulnerables around, etc.
. risk due to inadequacy of driving behaviour to weather conditions: in particular to atmospheric visibility (fog, rain, snow, sand, penumbra). Knowing that when visibility is low, vehicle must pay more attention (and slow down) even if this autonomous vehicle is not impacted by the decrease in visibility (if it only uses a lidar for example) because the avoidance of an accident is done at the same time by the two protagonists : if one of them (pedestrian, human driver), does not see the autonomous vehicle, then it finds itself only to be able to avoid the accident, which doubles the probabilities of a potential accident.
. other
The use of SafetyNex allows to make adaptive an artificial intelligence of autonomous driving, on the following diagram :
If you have a lean computer, then you only apply one loop between t and (t+1) as it is shown on the figure. If you have a powerful computer, you can then even simulate a big number of decisions and take the less risky one (like automaticians do with predictive control systems). Of course, SafetyNex is only ONE way to close the loop (on a crucial notion : driving risk). This figure may be extanded to other variables of contol that make sense for an autonomous vehicle. More complex adaptation rules may switch from a decision to another if risk simulation shows that finally it is less risky (ex : slow down or turn wheel ?).
CONCLUSION
SafetyNex uses the map in addition to sensors (same sensors as the driving system or parallel tracks) and does not need to accurately identify the situation but instead to estimate a risk (this is a different task). SafetyNex is a knowledge-based AI system (knowledge extracted from human experts in road safety, from 19 countries – Europe Japan USA – who validated the system over 50 million km. Total research program duration : 15 years). This technology is still being improved, of course, but it can already be integrated into autonomous vehicles and avoid a large number of accidents by its ability to make the system adaptive to unknown situations. In particular, in the case of autonomous urban vehicles (autonomous shuttles, robot taxis), the adaptation of driving behaviour to complexity of infrastructure is made possible by SafetyNex, which decodes this complexity by reading the navigation map in front of the vehicle. SafetyNex makes the autonomous vehicle anticipate more by following « rules of safety » : with SafetyNex emergency situations (that still will need emergency braking and other emergency actions) become much more rare. Autonomous vehicle acts like an experienced cautious driver. Note : if you modulate Maximum Accepted Risk, then you modulate aggressiveness of the autonomous vehicle. This might make sense not to let the autonomous vehicle trapped in complex human driving situations (where the autonomous vehicle would stopped indefinitly).
– CES 2018 Nexyad Report
– SafetyNex animated video of a use case : The Car Insurer’s Choice
– Nexyad in media
– SafetyNex can bring Artificial Intelligence into Autopilots in respect of ASIL ISO 26262
– Nexyad team wishes you an happy New Year 2018
For the second time, NEXYAD went to CES (2018) in Las Vegas (from 9th to 12th of Jan).
Takeoff at Paris CDG AirportArrival in Las Vegas
Flight to Vegas from Paris is long but it’s worth the trip for a high-tech startup like NEXYAD.
Of course, for NEXYAD, it is the year of deployment in series for our onboard software modules (Connected car/Car telematics, ADAS, Autopilots, Drive and Car sharing), and especially for SafetyNex (estimation of driving risk 20 times per second), and we had organized for a while 6 meetings per day : ADAS and Telematics OEMs that are already currently integrating SafetyNex, and of course new prospects. Very good new contacts too with qualifies prospects from the USA, Japan, Europe.
We also got some interest for RoadNex that integrates a computer vision based free space detection that works perfectly for large round abouts and intersections. We brought a real time RoadNex implementation into an android smartphone (using the smartphone cam and CPU) and we could do some real time demos that show that RoadNex works in a regular smartphone in real time (for those who care of CPU consumption) :
This year we had a barrow on the LeddarTech booth located at Central Plaza, close to Faurecia, Valeo, Google, Visteon, etc … : LeddarTech is member of the MOV’EO Groupement ADAS, and the whole Groupement was part of the « LeddarTech ecosystem » showcase area.
Leddar Ecosystem Pavillon at LVCCGroupement ADAS Desk
We also used some time slots to do our homeworks on Business Intelligence and visited many boothes including competitors of NEXYAD.
From this visits we could extract some heavy trends : of course, CES deals with quite EVERY subject, then we focused on mobility and what is connected to mobility issues.
First, we must notice that 2018 is THE year of Lidar :
Of course, our partner LeddarTech, but also many other solutions from Startups to Major automotive companies :
LeddarTech;
InnovizVelodyne
QuanergyPioneer
Startup II – VIStartup AEye
Toyota
Another heavy trend is smart cities :
Itron (Energy issues) Deloitte (Complete systems and strategy)
LoRa (IOT) Ericsson (Telecom 5G)
Mobility was a big part of Smart Cities and Urban mobility this year in Las Vegas.
Some soft mobility solutions (electric and connected 2-wheels vehicles) :
UjetGenze
And of course, autonomous shuttles were numerous this year :
As you may notice, you can find shuttles from : a pure leader player, an IT major firm, a major car manufacturer, a major operator of urban mobility, and a high-tech startup.
At least, another completely new trend is the autonomous flying vehicles :
Volocopter
* * * * *
SafetyNex animated video of a use case : The Car Insurer’s Choice
SafetyNex by NEXYAD is a Driving Risk Assessment App/API for prevention (accompanied driving, young drivers, individuals, professional drivers, seniors) in every kind of 4 wheels vehicle. SafetyNex is worth for UBI (risk profiles, usage profiles) at the end of every trip; reduction of costs (lower rate of accident and in particular of personal injuries + transformation of some severe personal injuries accidents into material accidents); Detection of behaviour modifications in time and Distraction detection (mobile phone …) : under implementation.
* * * * *
Nexyad in media
Rémi Bastien interview, the new President of competitive cluster Mov’eo and also President of VEDECOM Institute and VP Automotive Prospective of Renault Group.
For English subtitles click the button on the video
Mov’eo is a Mobility and Automotive R&D competitiveness cluster, which since 2006 has been mobilizing its energies at the service of its members to meet the objectives assigned by the State to competitiveness clusters: to foster the development of collaborative projects between members, to contribute to development in the regions of companies, in particular SMES, and to promote innovation in the sector.
Created in february 2014, VEDECOM is a French Institute for Public-Private Partnership Research and Training dedicated to individual, carbon-free and sustainable mobility.
The new MOV’EO President quote NEXYAD SafetyNex at the beginning of its intervention…
* * * * *
SafetyNex can bring Artificial Intelligence into Autopilots in respect of ASIL ISO 26262
Complex Automation MUST be ASIL ISO 26262.
Artificial Intelligence CANNOT BE ASIL ISO 26262 (by definition) and acts only on parameters of Complex Automation doing ++/– – variations, never skipping « reflexes actions » (emergency braking, etc), but allowing anticipation speed adaptation to reduce frequency of emergency situations (and then give more margin to reflexes actions and also improve comfort). Maximum acceptable Driving Risk can be changed depending on driving situation in order to set « aggressivity level» of HAV.
SafetyNex by NEXYAD is a Driving Risk Assessment App/API for prevention (accompanied driving, young drivers, individuals, professional drivers, seniors) in every kind of 4 wheels vehicle. SafetyNex is worth for UBI (risk profiles, usage profiles) at the end of every trip; reduction of costs (lower rate of accident and in particular of personal injuries + transformation of some severe personal injuries accidents into material accidents); Detection of behaviour modifications in time and Distraction detection (mobile phone …) : under implementation.
Nexyad has developed a smartphone App which is a driving assistance system that alerts the driver IF AND ONLY IF speed of the car is not adequate with the road infrastructure. Then SafetyNex allows the driver to slow down or brake BEFORE a situation of danger. SafetyNex is also available as an API to be integrate into devices or other applications.
Nexyad explains in this video the key notion of driving risk. From zero risk when the car is sleeping into the garage to 100% risk when driving behaviour is by far not adapted to a particular road context.
– Come to meet Nexyad at CES 2018 in Las Vegas – January 8-12
– NEXYAD giving the award of the best Insurtech startup «prix coup de cœur des assureurs 2017»,
organized by Cercle LAB (Laboratoire Banque Assurance) at Allianz Tower in Paris La Défense
– Nexyad invited speaker at UNESCO Conference on Artificial Intelligence : use case of autonomous vehicle
– SafetyNex driving risk assessment (20 times per second while driving): anticipation of danger
– INTEMPORA and NEXYAD, members of MOVEO Groupement ADAS interviewed on BFM Business (Major French TV)
– Bitumen Free Space Detection by Nexyad RoadNex module in real time on a Smartphone
– Nexyad on Groupement ADAS booth at Equip’Auto 2017
– Validation of ADAS Nexyad Database with ground reality
– Individual driving risk assessment and car insurance : what applications ? what business models ?
– SafetyNex can bring Artificial Intelligence into Autopilots in respect of ASIL ISO 26262
– Welcome to YOGOKO, new member of “MOV’EO” Groupement ADAS cluster
Come to meet Nexyad at CES 2018 in Las Vegas (Jan 8-12)
Nexyad invite you to visit us at the Leddar Ecosystem Pavillion at East LVCC – Central Plaza (booth CP-23)
If you want to reserve a meeting slot, please contact us at nexyadCES2018@nexyad.net
* * * * *
NEXYAD giving the award of the best Insurtech startup « prix coup de cœur des assureurs 2017», organized by Cercle LAB (Laboratoire Banque Assurance) at Allianz Tower in Paris La Défense
Gerard Yahiaoui at Cercle Lab
Last year Nexyad won the special prize « Coup de Cœur » by french insurers of Cercle Lab with SafetyNex the driving risk assessment App in real time. For this, Gerard Yahiaoui CEO of Nexyad handed the 2017 new prize to the winner KAP-Code represented by Adel Mebarki. Kap-Code is dedicated to improve the care of chronic diseases and the detection of drug safety signals on social networks thruth 3 solutions : helping patients and health advisors with connected objects, Digital Health that allows profesionals to provide care for their patients and harnessing Big Data for science.
Adel Mebarki, head of innovation of Kap-Code
* * * * *
Nexyad invited speaker at UNESCO Conference on Artificial Intelligence : use case of autonomous vehicle
Nexyad CEO Gérard Yahiaoui A.I. expert was invited to speak (invited paper) in a conference in Paris on Artificial Intelligence (JNI/IESF, Under the patronage of UNESCO, 2017 Oc 19). He talked about Artificial Intelligence for Autonomous Vehicle : « Intelligence Artificielle pour le Véhicule Autonome, et exemple de réalisation : SafetyNex ». Very interesting papers during this day showing a broad range of AI applications (automotive, fashion, HR management, Legal, …). More than 400 people in the audience.
Gerard Yahiaoui explaning difference between A.I. and complex automation for autonomous driving
* * * * *
SafetyNex driving risk assessment (20 times per second while driving): anticipation of danger
SafetyNex estimates driving risk 20 times per second, during driving (real time).
On the following figure, you can see risk rising when approaching a stop sign with an inappropriate car speed :
Speed of the car is quite high before the STOP sign and Risk goes to the maximum with a vocal alarm to the driver which have time to slow down or brake to stop.
This estimation is computed INSIDE the local device (inside the car). Current implementation is on smartphones (IOS and Android), then computing of risk is completely done INSIDE the smartphone : that makes SafetyNex compliant with all driver’s privacy regulations and laws in Europe.
INTEMPORA and NEXYAD, members of MOVEO Groupement ADAS on BFM Business (Major French TV)
1st Nov 2017, the Tech & Co tv show on the subject : will self-driving car come sooner than expected ?
Nicolas du Lac & Gerard Yahiaoui
Nicolas du LAC, INTEMPORA, and Gerard YAHIAOUI, NEXYAD, presented their innovations and explained how the MOVEO Groupement ADAS helps to be stronger for their innovative startups.
Nicolas talked about RT-MAPS that is a software tool for R&D, making easy the task of developing applications with multiple sensors (cameras, lidar, radar, …) that of course are not synchronized and that must collaborate through algorithms of sensor fusion in order to get good objects detection and recognition.
Gerard talked about SafetyNex that is an onboard real time module that is the only module in the world that can estimate driving risk 20 times per second. Self-driving car can then know the risk it takes with and it simplifies the development of autopilot (example : « if risk too high then slow down »).
* * * * *
Bitumen Free Space Detection by Nexyad RoadNex on Smartphone
RoadNex detects free space on road with negative detection of obstacles as vehicle on the video below.
* * * * *
Nexyad present with Groupement ADAS at Equip’Auto 2017
Philippe Orvain, CEO of Nomadic Solutions
Nexyad was present with Groupement ADAS at Equip’Auto Congress in Paris. Groupement ADAS is a SME’s cluster : 10 companies with expertise in the field of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, Connected car and Autonomous vehicle. Philippe Orvain CEO of Nomadic Solutions and competitiveness cluster MOV’EO Vice President has responsed to journalist Laurent Meillaud on Congress TV channel.
Watch Philippe Orvain interview on the congress channel with SafetyNex video demo :
* * * * *
Validation of ADAS Nexyad Database with ground reality
Free space ground reality (for RoadNex) and obstacles ground reality (for ObstaNex)
The NEXYAD company is currently developing the construction of a database for the validation of systems of driver assistance and driving delegation, (ADAS and Autonomous car) using the AGENDA methodology published in the 1990s by Gérard Yahiaoui in the field of machine learning and artificial neural networks applications. Here is an example of ground reality : ground reality is needed in order to automate performance / KPIs measurement when you modify the perception system.(methodology initially intended to handle, among other things, the construction of learning databases and tests for the implementation of neural networks).
This database has two essential characteristics:
1) Real-life situations
Indeed, the AGENDA methodology recommends describing the possible variations of signals and input images as factors of variability and their crosses.
Example, for obstacle detection:
. weather (dry weather, sunny weather, rain, fog) . overall brightness (low, medium, high)
. vehicle speed (low, moderate, high)
. type of road (motorway, road with marking, road without marking, …)
. coating (bitumen 1, bitumen 2, …, pavers)
. day / night (car headlights and infrastructure lighting)
. season (spring, summer, autumn, winter)
. etc.
NEXYAD’s ambition is to propagate its methodological expertise and to enable everyone to evaluate the performance of vision systems for ADAS, be they systems developed by NEXYAD or others.
Individual driving risk assessment and car insurance : what applications ? what business models ?
As many people know now, NEXYAD has been developing the first real time driving risk assessment system called SafetyNex.
SafetyNex is currently available in B2B :
. as a smartphone App (Android and IOS)
. as a real time driving risk assessment API that OEMs and Insurers may integrate into their own smartphone App or into their own telematics or ADAS device (Android, iOS, Linux, Windows).
This real time driving risk assessment module has been validated on 50 million km, and applies proven methods for risk assessment, using, for instance, the Frank E. BIRD « safety triangle » concept, and running in real time a knowledge-based system AI that has been built by NEXYAD since 2001. It took 15 years to extract thousands of road safety knowledge atoms from experts of 19 countries. Some of this knowledge is directly operational, some is deep knowledge on detection theory (a mix of Information Theory and Knowledge on Human Brain abilities). And of course, SafetyNex also applies fundamental knowledge on mechanics (braking abilities, …) including complex issues such as grip for example.
Complex Automation MUST be ASIL ISO 26262.
Artificial Intelligence CANNOT BE ASIL ISO 26262 (by definition) and acts only on parameters of Complex Automation doing ++/– – variations, never skipping « reflexes actions » (emergency braking, etc), but allowing anticipation speed adaptation to reduce frequency of emergency situations (and then give more margin to reflexes actions and also improve comfort). Maximum acceptable Driving Risk can be changed depending on driving situation in order to set « aggressivity level» of HAV.
* * * * *
Welcome to YOGOKO, new member of « MOV’EO » Groupement ADAS cluster
In november, cluster Groupement ADAS, from Mobility and Automotive R&D competitiveness national cluster Mov’eo, welcomed YOGOKO as new member. It makes eleven players like a football team, and we hope to score goals in the Automotive market competition.
YoGoKo is a startup company founded in 2014 by employees from three research institutes : Mines ParisTech, Telecom Bretagne and Inria. YoGoKo makes use of software developed in teams specialized in Internet technologies (RSM at Telecom Bretagne) and robotics (CAOR at Mines ParisTech and RITS at Inria). These research teams have been working together since 2006 on innovative communication solutions applied to Intelligent Transportation Systems. They contributed to several collaborative R&D projects related to ITS (CVIS, ITSSv6, GeoNet, DriveC2X, SCORE@F, …).
In 2012, these laboratories engaged together into the development of a common demonstration platform which comprises connected vehicles (fleet of conventional vehicles from Mines ParisTech and fleet of autonomous vehicles from Inria), roadside equipments and cloud-based services.
YoGoKo demonstration platform was finally revealed on Feb. 11 th 2014 during the Mobilité 2.0 event organized by the French Ministry of Transport. This successful demonstation and the extremely warmfull feedack gained at this occasion triggered the launch of YoGoKo as a company.
Nexyad was present with Groupement ADAS at Equip’Auto Congress in Paris. Groupement ADAS is a SME’s cluster : 10 companies with expertise in the field of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, Connected car and Autonomous vehicle. Philippe Orvain CEO of Nomadic Solutions and competitiveness cluster MOV’EO Vice President has responsed to journalist Laurent Meillaud on Congress TV channel.
Watch Philippe Orvain interview on the congress channel with SafetyNex video demo :
The NEXYAD company is currently developing the construction of a database for the validation of systems of driver assistance and driving delegation, (ADAS and Autonomous car) using the AGENDA methodology published in the 1990s by Gérard Yahiaoui (methodology initially intended to handle, among other things, the construction of learning databases and tests for the implementation of neural networks).
This database has two essential characteristics:
1) Real-life situations
Indeed, the AGENDA methodology recommends describing the possible variations of signals and input images as factors of variability and their crosses.
Example, for obstacle detection:
. weather (dry weather, sunny weather, rain, fog) . overall brightness (low, medium, high)
. vehicle speed (low, moderate, high)
. type of road (motorway, road with marking, road without marking, …)
. coating (bitumen 1, bitumen 2, …, pavers)
. day / night (car headlights and infrastructure lighting)
. season (spring, summer, autumn, winter)
. etc.
Type of obstacle: – static obstacle
. linked to the infrastructure: works terminals, tolls, …
. related to users: tire on the roadway, package dropped from a truck, motorcyclist lying on the road following an accident, vehicle broken down stopped on the roadway, pedestrian stationary on the edge of the roadway (visible / hidden) – moving obstacle
. truck, car, vulnerable (pedestrian, bike, motorcycle) with the typical trajectories (longitudinal in the direction of travel, longitudinal in the opposite direction of travel, lateral) and the position (opposite, right, left) .
. Etc.
Real-life situations examples :
We see that if we combine these factors, we can find quite quickly a very large number of cases. Now, the development of ADAS systems is complex, and it is necessary to proceed by successive iterations, from simple situations to complicated situations.
Our database allows this, since all records are described such as cross-referring of modalities of the factors of variability. We thus know exactly in which cases the system was tested or not.
The formalism of ‘cross-referring of modalities of the factors of variability’ makes it possible to use experimental designs, and in particular orthogonal fractional plans, to greatly reduce the number of cases to be tested while guaranteeing maximum coverage of real-life situations. In this context, we can develop an ADAS on an orthogonal fractional plane and test it for other orthogonal fractional planes, for example.
2) Ground reality
It is a question of define the obstacles and elements of the infrastructure (markings, road edges, etc.) on the images so as to constitute a reference allow measuring the performance of the system.
1.1, summer, cloudy, unmarked road, moderate speed, tire on roadway, dry weather
1.2, summer, cloudy, unmarked road, moderate speed, package on roadway, dry weather
2.1, summer, cloudy, unmarked road, moderate speed, visible static pedestrians at the edges of the roadway, time
2.2, summer, cloudy, unmarked road, moderate speed, human lying on roadway, dry weather
etc.
It is not certain that one can meet these few cases, even by driving 1 million km on open road!
Target of this database :
NEXYAD starts its collection of images and data:
. video (towards the front of the vehicle) color
. accelerometers
. gyros
The files are synchronized by the RT-MAPS tool of the company INTEMPORA.
The files are saved in RT-MAPS format and directly replayable on this tool.
NEXYAD is currently looking for contributors on this internal project. Contributors co fund and have in return free access to the database, unlimited in time. This contribution will accelerate the work of collection and labeling.
NEXYAD wishes to make this database available soon, free of charge to give material to the ADAS community and the autonomous vehicle, in a reduced version of the database, and in a paid way (in the form of subscriptions) for the complete base.
NEXYAD’s ambition is to propagate its methodological expertise and to enable everyone to evaluate the performance of vision systems for ADAS, be they systems developed by NEXYAD or others.
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Takeoff at Paris CDG Airport Arrival in Las Vegas
Leddar Ecosystem Pavillon at LVCC Groupement ADAS Desk
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