InDrive · Project

Trustworthy GPS Positioning That Tells Cars How Confident They Should Be

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Imagine your car's GPS saying not just "you are here" but also "I'm 99% sure about this" or "I'm only 60% sure — don't trust me for emergency braking right now." That's what InDrive built. They combined European satellite signals (Galileo/EGNSS) with smart sensor fusion to give vehicles a confidence score alongside every position fix. The system sorts driving situations into red, yellow, and green zones — red for safety-critical actions like emergency braking, yellow for warnings, and green for general info like traffic updates — so the car always knows which features it can safely activate.

By the numbers

EUR 2,435,312

EU contribution for development

consortium partners

countries involved (DE, IT, TR)

43%

industry ratio in consortium

SMEs in consortium

total project deliverables

application zones (red, yellow, green) for different safety levels

The business problem

What needed solving

Self-driving features and advanced driver assistance systems need to know exactly where the car is — but current GPS can be off by meters, and worse, it doesn't tell you when it's wrong. A lane-keeping system that trusts a bad GPS fix could steer into oncoming traffic. Companies building ADAS and autonomous features need positioning that comes with a reliability guarantee, not just coordinates.

The solution

What was built

The team built an integrated GNSS receiver with a confidence-scoring integrity layer, demonstrated in an actual vehicle. Across 19 deliverables, they developed everything from low-level satellite signal processing to high-level data fusion, culminating in a vehicle demonstrator shown at the project's final event.

Audience

Who needs this

Automotive Tier-1 suppliers developing ADAS positioning modulesAutonomous vehicle companies needing certified positioning integrityFleet management companies requiring high-accuracy geofencingSmart road infrastructure operators building V2X systemsInsurance telematics providers needing verified vehicle location data

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Automotive OEM & Tier-1 Suppliers

enterprise

Target: Companies developing ADAS or autonomous driving modules

If you are an automotive supplier struggling with unreliable positioning in urban canyons or tunnels — this project developed an integrated GNSS receiver with a built-in integrity layer that assigns confidence levels to every position fix. It uses a red-yellow-green zone system so your ADAS features only activate when positioning accuracy actually supports them, reducing false alarms and liability exposure. The solution was demonstrated in a real vehicle with 7 consortium partners across 3 countries.

Fleet Management & Logistics

mid-size

Target: Companies operating large vehicle fleets needing precise geofencing

If you are a fleet operator dealing with inaccurate vehicle tracking that causes geofence violations or wrong toll charges — this project created a positioning system that tells you exactly how much you can trust each location reading. Instead of blanket GPS accuracy assumptions, you get probabilistic confidence for every fix, letting you set different reliability thresholds for billing, routing, and safety alerts. The technology was validated through a vehicle demonstrator under an Innovation Action with EUR 2,435,312 in EU funding.

Intelligent Transportation Systems

any

Target: Companies building V2X communication or smart road infrastructure

If you are developing connected vehicle infrastructure and need to guarantee positioning meets specific false alarm rates — this project built a data fusion solution from low-level signal processing to high-level position computation that works for both connected and non-connected vehicles. The integrity assessment lets your system distinguish between situations safe enough for emergency braking versus those only reliable enough for traffic information, with 19 deliverables documenting the full technical chain.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to license or integrate this positioning technology?

The project was funded as an Innovation Action with EUR 2,435,312 in EU contribution across 7 partners. Licensing terms would need to be negotiated directly with the coordinator (Fondazione LINKS in Italy) and relevant consortium members. As an IA project, results were developed close to market, but specific pricing is not published.

Can this scale to mass-market automotive production?

The project explicitly targeted mass-market GNSS receivers for automotive applications. The system was designed from the ground up for production vehicles, not just research prototypes, covering both connected and non-connected vehicle scenarios. A vehicle demonstrator was built and shown at a final event.

Who owns the IP and how can we access it?

IP is distributed among the 7 consortium partners across Germany, Italy, and Turkey. The consortium includes 3 industry partners and 2 SMEs, meaning commercial exploitation was a core goal. Contact the coordinator Fondazione LINKS to discuss licensing or collaboration options.

Does this work with existing car sensor setups or require new hardware?

The solution integrates GNSS with data fusion from vehicle sensors, designed as an add-on positioning module. It processes signals from European EGNSS (Galileo) satellites and fuses them with other sensor data. Based on available project data, the architecture was designed to complement existing automotive sensor suites.

How does the red-yellow-green zone system work in practice?

The system classifies positioning confidence into three zones: red for safety-critical applications like emergency braking (highest integrity required), yellow for warning-based applications with lower time-to-collision demands, and green for informative services like traffic or weather. Each zone has defined false alarm rates that the positioning must meet before activating the corresponding feature.

Is this technology ready to deploy today?

The project closed in December 2017 and reached demonstration level with a vehicle implementation shown at the final event. As a close-to-market Innovation Action, the technology reached advanced readiness but may need further industrialization for series production. The 2 SMEs in the consortium may have continued commercial development independently.

Consortium

Who built it

The InDrive consortium of 7 partners across Germany, Italy, and Turkey is well-balanced for bringing automotive GNSS technology to market. With 3 industry partners and 2 SMEs making up 43% of the consortium, commercial interests are strongly represented alongside 1 university and 2 research organizations that provide the scientific backbone. The coordinator, Fondazione LINKS in Italy, is a research foundation — meaning they bridge academia and industry. The geographic spread covers major European automotive markets (Germany, Italy) plus Turkey's growing automotive manufacturing sector. This mix suggests the technology was developed with real production constraints in mind, not just lab conditions.

FONDAZIONE LINKS - LEADING INNOVATION & KNOWLEDGE FOR SOCIETYCoordinator · IT
CENTRO RICERCHE FIAT SCPAparticipant · IT
BASELABS GMBHparticipant · DE
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET CHEMNITZparticipant · DE
MARELLI EUROPE SPAparticipant · IT

How to reach the team

Fondazione LINKS - Leading Innovation & Knowledge for Society, based in Italy. Contact via CORDIS or their institutional website.

Order a report on this consortium See FONDAZIONE LINKS - LEADING INNOVATION & KNOWLEDGE FOR SOCIETY profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to connect with the InDrive team about licensing their high-integrity positioning technology? SciTransfer can arrange a direct introduction to the right person in the consortium.

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