The Volkswagen Group plans to use sensor and image data from vehicles to continuously optimize driver assistance systems and automated driving functions, a press release from the company says. 

Vehicle software updates will enhance driving comfort and contribute to overall traffic safety, it says. 

“High-quality data from real traffic situations are central to this continuous optimization of powerful assistance system,” the release says. “The basic prerequisite for their processing is customer consent, and all data protection regulations are observed.” 

The initiative will start in Germany during Q4 with passenger car models from Volkswagen and Audi brands. Other group brands will gradually join. 

Data collection could also affect other vehicles or road users such as pedestrians and cyclists, the release says. It says camera-based systems need to visually classify objects clearly, even under adverse conditions and correctly asses complex traffic situations. 

“Examples include busy supermarket parking lots or turn lanes with crossing bike paths,” the release says. “All data protection regulations are, of course, observed. Individual information about people in the traffic environment is not relevant.”

Driving data is “everyday-relevant” compared to tests with development vehicles or computer simulations, the release says. 

Specific data from defined scenarios will be transferred from the vehicle, according to the release. This could include triggers such as emergency brake assistance, manual full braking and sudden evasive maneuvers.  

“Certain sensor, function, and image data are particularly relevant for development work,” the release says. “These include camera images of the vehicle’s surroundings and detection results from the environment sensors, as well as the direction of travel, speed, and steering angle. Information on weather, visibility, and lighting conditions also plays an important role.”

Volkswagen Group uses its CARIAD cloud platform to connect to vehicle’s onboard computers, it says. This includes a specially developed data interface. It also enables secure data transfer to a protected area. 

Models from Volkswagen Passenger Cars and Audi brands equipped with E3 1.1 and E3 1.2 architectures have been enabled for image data transfer, the release says. This includes the all-electric ID. model family from Volkswagen and the Q6 e-tron, A6 e-tron, A5, and Q5 from Audi. 

“Customer consent is the fundamental prerequisite for the transfer and processing of data, the release says. “This consent can be given in various ways and will be individually designed by the brands, for example, as an option in the customer’s own profile. Consent can be revoked at any time.”

The release says other group brands will announce the start of their projects. 

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