Dead Reckoning For Your Car Eliminates GPS Dead Zones 151
cartechboy writes "We've all been there. You're relying on your vehicle's built-in navigation system to get to that meeting downtown, but then suddenly the car loses the satellite signal due to the concrete skyscraper canyon you're in--and you're about to be late. Swiss semiconductor manufacturer U-Blox thinks it has the solution with 3D Automotive Dead Reckoning, or 3D ADR for short. It's a new navigation chip that uses the vehicle's built-in sensors to track speed, horizontal movement, and elevation. The 3D ADR system measures movement in three dimensions, letting the navigation system can keep track of the vehicle's location even when it loses its connection to GPS satellites. Imagine never having to see your navigation screen saying connection lost again. In an age where our phones have accelerometers and compasses, it's amazing your car is still trying to catch up, right?"
My Toyota has had this since 2004... (Score:5, Informative)
Seriously this isn't new. Good in-car nav systems have had dead reckoning based on wheel position + speed for ages.
Re: My Toyota has had this since 2004... (Score:2, Informative)
Yup, my Peugeot (that's a European car maker) has that. Works superbly. Still knows where you're going when you're 3 floors down in an underground parking. Gives very funny results when you take a ferry which turns 180 degrees before docking.