AutonomouStuff March News
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AutonomouStuff isn't just part of the autonomy industry, we embody it. That means our company changes quickly and constantly, though one goal remains steadfast: help our customers succeed. Communication is a vital component of that goal, so each month we share what's new, what's exciting, and the success of our partnerships.
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Features
- AutonomouStuff's Open Autonomy Pilot
- Demo with Designated Driver at GTC
Products
- New product: FLIR ADK
- Available today: Velodyne VLP-32C
What's happening at AStuff!
- Making a difference: TAPS donation
- Meet the team: Andy Saxsma
- Join our team!
Events
- March events
- Upcoming events
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AutonomouStuff's Open Autonomy Pilot
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Beginning this summer, AutonomouStuff will work with partners to deploy two
Autoware
-based automated vehicles on the road in downtown Peoria, Illinois. Partners receive access to the complete software stack, simulation models, HD map, data and weekly engineering analysis from three months of regular on-road testing. Data collected during the driving sessions also will become part of a digital simulation used to test and validate sensors or other components of autonomous vehicles. We also will collaborate with partners on presenting the pilot vehicles at CES 2020. The
Open Autonomy Pilot
represents a unique opportunity to gain Autoware expertise with significant savings on time and money. The automated vehicles are scheduled to hit the road in June!
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Demo with Designated Driver at GTC
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AutonomouStuff announced a new partnership with Designated Driver at the NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference in San Jose — and demonstrated the long-range potential.
Designated Driver
offers teleoperation services for autonomous vehicles, adding a human safety backstop to autonomous vehicles through cameras, cellular signals and remote-control software. If a driverless vehicle encounters a situation that its software can’t handle, a remote Designated Driver teleoperator can instantly take control and guide the vehicle to safety. At the event in San Jose, a teleoperator in Portland, Oregon, took control of an automated vehicle — remote control from 700 miles away within extremely low latencies. Check out more from the event in our March events
blog post
.
Learn more about the partnership and what Designated Driver has to offer
here
.
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New product: FLIR Automotive Development Kit (ADK)
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The recently launched FLIR Automated Development Kit (ADK) represents the next generation of automotive thermal vision for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles (AV). The ADK features a rugged, IP67-rated enclosure with a heated window for all-weather driving, enhancing the infrared camera’s superior ability to detect pedestrians through fog and glare — in addition to "seeing" in total darkness. The ADK shares critical information needed for automated decision making over common interfaces, easing installation and operation. AutonomouStuff also offers the FLIR
Blackfly
and
Bumblebee
cameras.
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Thermal camera advantages include:
- object detection in complete darkness at long distances.
- clear views through conditions that obscure regular cameras, such as smoke, rain, snow, dust and light fog.
- improved object detection in landscapes with analogous colors or patterns that trick regular cameras, creating potentially dangerous scenarios where objects of interest are not recognized.
FLIR ADK specifications include:
- GMSL, USB 2.0, FPD-Link and Ethernet interface
- NVIDIA, Linux, Windows, ROS and ADTF compatibility
- 640x512 resolution with four fields of view: 24, 32, 50 and 75 degrees
Learn more about the next generation FLIR ADK
here
.
AutonomouStuff’s development team also has developed an AI-based object detection and tracking algorithm, which FLIR employs in thermal camera-enabled automatic emergency braking (AEB), as seen in
this video
.
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Available today:
Velodyne VLP-32C
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With best-in-class performance and a small form factor, the
Velodyne VLP-32C
is a high-resolution
LiDAR sensor designed for automotive applications. It provides a 360-degree surround view with 3D data such as distance, reflectivity and rotational angles.
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What's happening at AStuff?
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Making a difference: TAPS donation
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One weekend in March, Office Administrator Ashley Berquist and Human Resources Associate Kate Baker hauled a trunk full of donations to
TAPS no-kill animal shelter
in Pekin. The trip was the culmination of a month-long donation drive among all of us at AutonomouStuff. Ashley called the donations an act of love.
"So basically, for the month of February, we wanted to show our love to our 'furry friends' in the spirit of Valentine’s Day," Ashley explained. "TAPS is a local no-kill animal shelter, which we felt strongly about supporting — they rely on community support to uphold their no-kill mission."
After posting the TAPS wish list at each AStuff building in Morton, donations of cat and dog food, treats, dog harnesses and cleaning supplies materialized, in addition to a couple of monetary donations. TAPS appreciated all of it.
Ashley described the drop off this way: "The receptionist was extremely grateful and excited when we walked in with the bags of donations."
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Meet the team: Andy Saxsma
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After living in Morton for two decades, Andy Saxsma found a home away from home just a few minutes away at AutonomouStuff, where his 20 years of experience as an embedded systems engineer is helping shape the AStuff embedded team. Much of his professional experience centered on transmission controls, but he also championed reform on machine modeling processes — and therein resided his initial attraction to the AutonomouStuff team.
"
Systems engineering can be rigid to change, with its inherent organizational reach and collaborative nature,"
Andy said.
"I joined AutonomouStuff because of the opportunity to tackle systems engineering while it is still young and pliable. And of course, autonomy is hard to beat as a fun and challenging application with a bright future. As an added bonus, AS is six minutes from my house right here in Morton, and my family loves having dad nearby."
We couldn't agree more on autonomy being hard to beat, and we share Andy's enthusiasm for a bright future at AutonomouStuff!
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AutonomouStuff's rapid growth continues. We have more than doubled the size of our employee population since December 2017, and we are not slowing down. If you'd like to work for a company that values family and culture, that gives employees opportunities to grow along with it, and that is truly changing the future of transportation and so much more, we could be the perfect fit for you.
If you are interested in becoming part of our family, check out our
careers page
.
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The AutonomouStuff team attended two major events in March: Tech.AD in Berlin and NVIDIA's GPU Technology Conference in Silicon Valley, where we announced a new partnership with
Designated Driver
. If you missed us at either of those events, you can catch up with us at several events we plan to attend all over the world throughout the spring and summer.
Check out more about the events in our
blog post
.
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October 16-17, 2019:
ELIV
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