Subaru Announces The World’s First Self-Driving Maneuver With A New Forester SUV

Are self-driving cars safe? Subaru Corporation is out to prove they are. The Japanese automaker announced they had accomplished the world's first self-driving maneuver using a 2021 Subaru Forester and two other vehicles. The Japanese automaker, along with SoftBank Corp., teamed up using an autonomous driving control utilizing the 5th generation mobile communication system 5G and cellular V2X.

Subaru says the Forester SUV successfully merged using the new technology for the first time in the world. The report says the two companies have been conducting joint research since 2019 at Subaru's Research and Experiment Center Bifuka Proving Ground near Tokyo, Japan. The automaker used the Subaru Forester, a WRX S4, and an Impreza Sport for the self-driving test.

As of November 24, 2020, a survey by the two companies said this is the world's first verification and behavior confirmation of a car successfully merging into traffic based on an actual autonomous vehicle using 5G and cellular V2X.

Subaru conducted two separate tests on the proving ground track. The first case led verification to allow the Forester autonomous vehicle to merge from a ramp to the main road smoothly.

By utilizing the 5G network and MEC server, the merging SUV smoothly merged between two vehicles traveling on the main road based on the control information. Subaru says the SUV "succeeded in doing it."

The second case conducted verification intending to allow the autonomous vehicle to merge when there was no space available for integrating between cars. The cars were traveling on the main road simulating heavy stop-and-go traffic. Subaru says, "We calculated the positional relationship and succeeded in merging smoothly."

The two companies say they will continue to carry out case verification "with an eye on the cooperation between the vehicle control system and 5G and C-V2X and proceed with research and development toward the realization of a safe and secure car society."

Using the 2021 Forester compact SUV, Subaru is the first automaker in the world to accomplish the first self-driving merging maneuver. Subaru says they have a goal of zero fatal accidents by 2030. Subaru is also working on new artificial intelligence (AI) for its vehicles you can read about here. Stay tuned.

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Denis Flierl has invested over 30 years in the automotive industry in a consulting role working with every major car brand. He is an accredited member of the Rocky Mountain Automotive Press. Check out Subaru Report where he covers all of the Japanese automaker's models. More stories can be found on the Torque News Subaru page. Follow Denis on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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Photo credit: Subaru