Hexagon | NovAtel has confirmed that its PwrPak7-E1 GNSS-aided INS (inertial navigation system) is now supported on the NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion autonomous vehicle (AV) development platform. This announcement follows the compatibility of the unit with the NVIDIA DriveWorks v4 software release.
DRIVE Hyperion is a fully operational, production-validated and open AV platform that reduces the amount of time and cost required to outfit vehicles with the technology required for AI features and autonomous driving. The PwrPak7-E1 delivers state-of-the-art SPAN (GNSS+INS) technology from NovAtel in an integrated, single-enclosure solution. Powered by NovAtel’s OEM7 GNSS engine, the PwrPak7-E1 is ideal for NVIDIA’s DRIVE Hyperion. The PwrPak7-E1 also has enhanced connection options, including serial, USB, CAN and Ethernet, making it an ideal solution for ground truth and high-precision positioning used in development of autonomous vehicles.
Selected for its robustness and precise position output, the PwrPak7-E1 will be offered with NVIDIA’s autonomous driving test fleets worldwide. In conjunction with Novatel’s Waypoint Inertial Explorer post-processing software, the PwrPak7-E1 provides ground truth, the critical position reference for autonomous driving software behaviour that can be validated.
The GNSS and IMU output of the PwrPak7-E1, along with data from other onboard sensors, are recorded and fed into NVIDIA’s sophisticated autonomous driving development infrastructure and processing pipeline, where data is synchronized, utilized for training AI models, and used in testing of various software components and autonomous driving behaviour.
Gordon Heidinger, segment manager of automotive and safety critical systems at Hexagon’s Autonomy & Positioning division, commented: “High-precision positioning is a key factor for creating autonomous technology. We are excited to be one of the trusted ecosystem partners supporting the NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion platform.”
Glenn Schuster, senior director of sensor ecosystems at NVIDIA, stated: “DRIVE Hyperion is designed to give developers the ability to develop, evaluate, and validate AV technology more quickly. NovAtel’s compatibility on our platform provides developers the confidence to synchronize their sensor data with precision location information.”
