How can cities prepare for flooded streets and harsh weather conditions or wearing roads? Accurate data are needed in planning, as collected by the self-driving car of the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute (FGI) of the National Land Survey of Finland (NLS) in Espoo and Helsinki. Its high-precision sensors collect vast amounts of data from the surrounding environment during every drive.
The ‘Self-driving Cars and Future Data (Big Data)’ project led by FGI is studying the various purposes for which the data collected by a self-driving car could be used. The project is carried out in cooperation with the Aalto University’s Research Institute of Measuring and Modeling for the Built Environment (MeMo). There are so many application possibilities that not all of them are yet known. The Big Data project studies the theme using case examples.
‘We use an autonomous car to collect data on the environment. The collected data has many different uses. Now we are studying the type of data that can be obtained regarding the condition of ruts, roadside trees, and carbon sinks in trees,’ says Professor Juha Hyyppä from FGI.
Data collected by self-driving cars benefit startups and cities
There are not many self-driving cars in Finland. The Autonomous Research Vehicle Observatory (ARVO), the Big Data project’s self-driving research vehicle, has been developed by FGI’s researchers. Its state-of-the-art sensors observe the environment and make it a research laboratory on the road.
In the future, autonomous or self-driving transport is expected to grow. This also offers the opportunity to have all the self-driving cars of the future collect data from the environment while driving. However, new legislation is required to guide companies to share the data collected by autonomous vehicles for the benefit of companies and society.
‘Cities could use the data collected by self-driving vehicles to meet their various needs. To succeed in this, cities must be able to take into account the format in which data are collected and how the data are processed,’ says Juha Hyyppä.
Researchers at FGI help municipalities with the basics of autonomous vehicle data so that they can get the most out of the data. The geospatial data collected by self-driving cars also offer opportunities for startups. Companies are assisted by the EU project Location Innovation Hub, which guides companies in the development of business based on geospatial data.
‘Self-driving Cars and Future Data (Big Data)’ is a joint project of FGI and Aalto University carried out with support provided by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Further information
Juha Hyyppä, Professor, Finnish Geospatial Research Institute of the National Land Survey of Finland, +358 41 519 4451, firstname.lastname@nls.fi
