Autonomous vehicles are generally fair weather vehicles. They’re not really great with extreme weather and for the most part are only on the road during nice days. They’re like vintage cars that way only instead of attempting to preserve paint jobs, the reason why autonomous cars are benched during snow is to save lives. GACHA is the first all weather autonomous shuttle that dares to brave the cold.
This shuttle is equipped with LiDAR perception technology so that it can see better in the rain and snow than current vehicles. The system uses lasers and advanced plotting technology to make an accurate map of what’s around the vehicle so that even when it there’s snow and ice, the vehicle is able to travel safely.
These are being rolled out (hehe) in April on public roads for it’s first real world test. Later they will deploy in different cities in Finland.