Subaru does not "collide" even in the sky. Will unmanned aerial vehicle technology be used in self-driving car technology?

A big step toward the social implementation of small unmanned aerial vehicles

The SUBARU BELL 412EPX helicopter jointly developed by Subaru and Bell Textron of the United States.

On November 8, 2021, Subaru (SUBARU) conducted an autonomous collision avoidance test at a relative speed of 200 km/h, which is the actual operational speed range, for an unmanned aerial vehicle being developed with Japan Radio and Japan Avionics. announced that it was the first in the world to succeed. [Click here for photos] An image of the collision avoidance test. A test using an aircraft at a relative speed of 200 km/h (6 photos in total).As readers who love cars and mechanics know, the predecessor of Subaru is Nakajima Airplane, which produced the famous fighter "Hayabusa" during World War II. That's right. Inheriting the flow of Nakajima Airplane, Subaru still has a department called "Aerospace Company". Here, rotary wing aircraft (helicopters), unmanned aircraft, and main wings for fixed wing aircraft are being developed. Boeing's current flagship passenger aircraft 787 and the latest 777X aircraft center wing (the part that connects the left and right wings and the fuselage), and the start of delivery of new helicopters, etc., can be found in this web motor magazine. Introducing. On September 9-10, 2021, Subaru, along with Japan Radio (major telecommunications manufacturer), Nippon Avionics (electronic equipment manufacturer), ACSL (drone manufacturer), and Magellan Systems Japan (satellite reception module developer), will visit Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture. A miniaturized/low power consumption sensor is mounted on a 10kg class unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) in the city's wide airspace, and an autonomous collision avoidance test is conducted at a relative speed of 200km/h, which is the actual operational speed range. It was the first successful implementation in the world. To make it a little easier to understand, an unmanned aircraft and a manned helicopter are approached from the front at a relative speed of 200 km/h (unmanned aircraft: 50 km/h, manned helicopter: 150 km/h), and various sensors mounted on the unmanned aircraft Based on the detection data, a collision avoidance route is generated in real time, and the unmanned aerial vehicle performs autonomous avoidance flight along this avoidance route. After avoiding the manned helicopter, the unmanned aerial vehicle will return to its original flight path. Subaru has been developing a collision avoidance system for unmanned aerial vehicles for some time, and in 2019 successfully tested it at a relative speed of 100 km / h. In this experiment, we proved that the accuracy has further evolved. Currently, drones and medium-sized unmanned aerial vehicles, which are slightly larger than drones and can be equipped with larger sensors, are already being used in a wide range of fields, including agriculture. Great expectations are placed on applications such as infrastructure, and the number of operations is increasing. However, there have been reports of near misses in Japan between unmanned aircraft and manned aircraft such as doctor helicopters and sightseeing helicopters, and collision avoidance technology has become an urgent issue for safe use. In addition, collision avoidance technology can be applied to "beyond visual line of sight flight" (flight in which the unmanned aircraft's position and attitude cannot be confirmed by the operator's own eyes) and This technology is indispensable for the realization of "flying over a third party (flying over a third party who is not involved in the operation of an unmanned aerial vehicle)." Subaru will continue to use this result to establish a collision avoidance system and promote the social implementation of unmanned aerial vehicles. This time, Subaru has not announced the automatic driving of the car, but there is no doubt that this technology will be fed back. In the first place, the stereo camera of Subaru's driving support technology "EyeSight" was developed as a sensor for unmanned aerial vehicles. At present, Subaru's EyeSight equipped vehicles, which are capable of automatic driving equivalent to level 2, have problems with the road environment and legal development, but they should aim for fully automatic driving in the future. Technology cultivated in aircraft will also be introduced there, and conversely, technology refined in cars will also be used in aircraft, and both will evolve. In addition, aircraft technology such as the development of aerodynamics and CFRP parts is also being fed back and adopted in cars. Subaru's cars are evolving not only with cars, but also with the know-how gained through the development of aircraft. (Text: Web Motor Magazine Editorial Department Masaaki Shinohara)

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