Equipment and Capabilities of the Vehicles for the VisLab Intercontinental Autonomous Challenge

This article summarizes VIAC, the VisLab Intercontinental Autonomous Challenge, a test of autonomous driving from Italy to China using four electric vehicles. The vehicles were equipped with a complete sensorial suite that involved different kinds of sensors like cameras, laser scanners, GPS, and others; they feature autonomous capabilities thanks to a x-by-wire subsystem able to control the steering wheel, brake and accelerator. Usually the tests were performed in a vehicle following fashion, namely following a manually operated vehicle, but in many trip stretches fully autonomous capabilities were tested. This paper focuses on vehicle equipment and capabilities, introducing the sensing systems that were tested during the journey. This work has been supported by the European Research Council (ERC) within the Open Intelligent Systems for Future Autonomous Vehicles (OFAV) Advanced Investigators Grant.