Navigation for Driverless Vehicles

Navigation for Driverless Vehicles

Who’s driving this car?  More than likely it’s an EMCORE Inertial Navigation device.  Our Fiber-optic gyroscopes (FOGs) and quartz micro-electromechanical systems (QMEMS) gyroscopes support inertial navigation in many driverless vehicles such as autonomous taxis, delivery vans, and long-haul trucks. Our customers rely on the precision needed, cost constraints, and integration with other sensors like lidar, radar, and GNSS.

FOGs deliver extremely high accuracy, ultra-low drift, and excellent temperature stability. For precise orientation and dead-reckoning performance when GNSS reception is poor – such as in tunnels, urban canyons, or under heavy foliage – FOGS are most reliable. FOGs are also attractive for commercial fleets requiring consistent navigation over thousands of operating hours.

QMEMS gyroscopes are smaller and lighter, making them ideal for many manufacturers. Their compact, chip-scale or small-module form factors are recommended for automotive integration where space and cost are tightly constrained. They also provide good robustness and adequate accuracy for most automotive inertial measurement tasks, particularly when combined with high-quality GNSS, lidar, and visual-inertial odometry.

For autonomous taxis and delivery vans, QMEMS gyroscopes are generally the best match. These vehicles operate in environments where sensor fusion is rich and cost efficiency matters. FOGs become compelling in specialized high-reliability or long-distance applications, such as autonomous long-haul trucks traveling through rural regions with intermittent GNSS coverage. In these cases, the superior stability of FOGs enhances safety and reliability, making them worth the higher cost in premium or mission-critical platforms.

Ask an expert at EMCORE. We can help you design, fabricate, and engineer the right inertial sensor program for your next autonomous adventures.