An international standard on audio signal sensors for autonomous driving led by China was officially released recently, giving a boost to the safety of autonomous driving.
The standard fills a global gap in the field of audio signal sensor interfaces for autonomous driving and will equip vehicles with standardized "ears," effectively enhancing driving safety in complex traffic scenarios.
"Audio signals are a core element in a vehicle's perception of its environment. The audio sensors in an autonomous driving system function much like the ears of a human driver. They can detect audio signals, effectively giving the system 'hearing,' which greatly enhances its ability to anticipate and respond to complex environments. Therefore, establishing a scientific and unified audio interface standard is of great significance for accurately evaluating and improving the safety of autonomous driving," said Chen Chen, a senior engineer at China National Institute of Automotive Standardization.
The standard explicitly relies on multiple types of audio algorithms to detect and identify all categories of acoustic signals, covering various sound sources, including sirens from special-purpose vehicles such as police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances; road environmental noise such as wind noise, rain and hail; external warning sounds such as surrounding vehicle horns, collisions and reverse parking alerts; sounds generated by the vehicle itself, such as the engine, brakes, and horn; as well as sounds related to other road users.
"Before an autonomous driving system identifies priority vehicles like ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars, through visual signals, it can rely on their sirens to determine the direction and distance of the target sound source in advance, thereby responding to these vehicles. For example, when a vehicle encounters an ambulance in autonomous driving mode, it can rely on a fusion of acoustic and visual perception to give way to the ambulance," said Chen.
The release and implementation of the standard unifies the acoustic interface for autonomous driving, providing autonomous driving algorithms with standardized "auditory" signals.
This will accelerate the iteration of related products and offer greater safeguards for driving safety in complex scenarios.
China-led int'l standard on audio signal sensors for autonomous driving released
