Mitsubishi Fuso Starts Research With Woven Alpha For Self Driving & Mapping

Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation has partnered with Woven Alpha with an intent to combine the autonomous driving support technology and mapping technology of the automated mapping platform to make commercial vehicles safer. When combining the technologies this research project will attempt to balance the benefits between technological sophistication and cost. 

Both the companies have said that there are 10 potential areas of collaboration and the joint research will start this year with a verification of the ECSW technology that will be used on Mitsubishi's heavy-duty super great truck to implement the automated mapping platform. 

"We at MFTBC approach automated driving assistance technology, and the autonomous driving technology beyond that, as a strategic point of focus in producing safer commercial vehicles. We are doing the utmost to develop these technologies because we believe that they will soon be indispensable in our world. Woven Alpha's AMP has the potential to be an important part of this future, and we are therefore convinced that the joint research will prove to be mutually beneficial. We hope to participate in active knowledge-sharing with our partners to the maximum extent possible, for the ultimate goal of safer roads everywhere," said Hironobu Ando, Senior Vice President, Head of Product Engineering, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation. 

The Automated Mapping Platform is by Woven

"I am delighted to collaborate with Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation, one of the leading truck and bus makers in Japan, perfectly suited to push the envelope on the safety of commercial vehicles. Our work is not only about getting people and goods from A to B, it is about saving people's lives and reducing the burden on the driver. Over the last few years, we have been working on developing highly accurate semantic HD maps updated automatically frequently, and inexpensively. We are building the platform to be highly scalable and open to future collaboration with global manufacturers of all sizes. This is the first step in our commitment to helping maximize safety for commercial vehicles," added Mandali Khalesi, Vice President of Automated Driving Strategy and Mapping, Woven Planet Holdings. 

Mitsubishi Fuse developed automated driving support technology in partnership with Daimler Trucks. In 2019, it launched the heavy-duty super Great Truck which integrated the active drive assist which is a level 2 autonomous driving technology. Since then, Mitsubishi Fuse has developed even more features with an emergency stop assist feature which is a first for a commercial vehicle in Japan. It plans on scaling this technology to level 4 autonomous or something that's equivalent. 

Woven Alpha's automated mapping platform is a crowdsourced software-based mapping platform. It supports the creation, development, and distribution of high-definition maps which is key for autonomous driving. 

The two are also developing something called entering curve speed warning ECSW which aims to give drivers sufficient warning before entering a sharp curve. This allows drivers to slow down to safe speeds before difficult sections of roads. It takes into many things - like the condition of the truck, its speed, the curvature of the road ahead and it collates this information to issue warnings to drivers at appropriate times.