Land Rover Video Demos Off-Road V2V Connected SUVs
A video from Jaguar Land Rover shows the firm’s luxury off-road SUVs conducting vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communications, and automatically taking control of a vehicle when the road surface changes.
The video is posted on The Auto Channel YouTube site. It is two videos from Jaguar Land Rover pasted together, then duplicated in what appears to be a glitch. There’s is no voice over describing the activity.
The vehicles are equipped with a mix of cameras, lidar, radar and ultrasonic sound, according to engadget. Jaguar Land Rover did not report when all the technology in the video would be available commercially.
The video shows two of the Land Rovers in an off-road test area with difficult conditions performing what the auto OEM calls ‘Connected Convoy’ research, or a form of vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communications.
The demo shows a front car driving through the difficult road area and stopping after about 50 yards, where the driver decides to change his vehicle’s Terrain Response to adapt to conditions.
That change is automatically transmitted wirelessly to car 2, where the driver can decide whether to make the same change.
In another capability, car 1 travels over some rocks and hilly terrain, and the vehicle wirelessly shares wheel slip and suspension data with the rear car. In this demo, car 2 activates its Optimum Terrain Response mode to better handle the road.
The vehicles also apply technology that helps them to identify and predict upcoming road surface changes.
A camera on the front of a vehicle scans the road ahead and finds it will change from asphalt to gravel. The vehicle then prompts the driver to change the terrain response mode.
That capability is pushed further when the vehicle automatically reduces speed to adjust to a new road surface, in this case standing water about a foot deep. The vehicle then automatically returns to its previous speed when the car has driven past the water.
Jaguar Land Rover is a UK-based subsidiary of India’s Tata Motors.