FocalPoint, a UK-based software company providing positioning solutions for automotive, has announced a strategic collaboration with STMicroelectronics, a producer of semiconductor technologies.
Together, their joint offering aims to provide automotive OEMs with a combined solution that enhances navigation performance by improving Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) reliability and accuracy, which the companies say is the key to making autonomous vehicles safer. Within this collaboration, FocalPoint will integrate its S-GNSS Auto software onto ST’s Teseo devices, a combination which the companies expect to offer enhanced reliability and accuracy.
GNSS itself represents a key component in many ADAS offered today, providing absolute location data. However, FocalPoint and STMicroelectronics highlighted that its accuracy can be compromised in urban canyons and forested roads due to signal interference. Through S-GNSS Auto, FocalPoint says that a vehicle’s GNSS can become a reliable, high-performance sensor in these challenging scenarios.
This allows OEMs to harness the full potential of their GNSS and extend the operational range of hands-free driving beyond open-sky roads. Delivered as a firmware update to the Teseo device, FocalPoint says that S-GNSS Auto is both a cost-effective option and easy to adopt.
The companies have said that key findings from the collaboration have already shown that the combined solution of the Teseo device and S-GNSS Auto can enhance measurement accuracy by up to four times, and position accuracy by up to three times (in challenging multipath environments).
