Augmented Perception by V2X Communication for Safety of Autonomous and Non-Autonomous Vehicles

As autonomous driving vehicles are to transform the road transportation, it cannot be realized without passing a transition period during which autonomous vehicles and non-autonomous vehicles have to cohabit. This transition period presents great challenges to the safety of the various road users, including vulnerable road users (VRUs), particularly at road sections such as intersections, roadworks areas, and bus stations that are often subject to accidents due to poor visibility conditions. In the paper, we introduce an augmented perception system, which has been developed in the French national project PAC V2X. By relying on V2X communication and sensors, equipped in autonomous vehicles and road side units (RSU), an augmented perception is provided in safety critical zones. A cooperative fusion module is proposed in the work and its impacts on autonomous vehicles have been evaluated using the computer simulator Pro-SiVIC. Our results show that by relying on precise positioning with the local sensors, an augmented perception system can overcome the limitation existing in current cooperative vehicle which are oftentimes due to degradation of the Global Positioning System (GPS). These results also highlight the potential benefit of using RSU in critical zones for extending the time horizon available for safety applications.