SPECIAL REPORT:

ADAS/CONNECTED CAR
JUNE 2020
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CONTENTS
FEATURES
2 Sensing with Sound: Next-
Level Ultrasonic Sensors for
Intelligent Cars
By mimicking bats, echolocation technology
enables the detection of multiple objects in
3D space.
6 Heat Seekers
While engineers debate the use of thermal-
imaging sensors for ADAS, their capability
and value are being proven for AVs of all
levels.
10 Radar's Evolving Role in ADAS
and the AV Future
The automotive radar sensor market has been
growing at a 21% annual rate, putting greater
demands on chip design, testing, and module
deployment.
14 Lidar in a Flash
Continental delivers a short-range 3D flash
lidar sensor that’s expected to find increasing
application in commercial vehicles and
off-highway machines.
18 Bandwidth for Sale
The FCC and transportation industry clash
over vital vehicle-communications
boundaries.
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
22 ZF Establishes Level 2+ ADAS
Cost-effective technology solutions to
meet diverse customer needs are what
the “new pragmatism” in driver-assistance
tech is all about.
24 Shifting Design of Autonomous
Architectures
Electronic controls centralize while
providing commercial-level reliability.
27 Democratize AV Technology!
EAptiv’s new generation of open-sourced
architectures based on a few central
processors aims to speed AV adoption.
ON THE COVER
The battle for bandwidth is a key
issue in optimizing advanced
ADAS vehicle systems and one
that requires increasing on-
vehicle data processing
capability. The major chipmakers
are playing a significant role in
enabling vehicles to
communicate with one another,
and with the ecosystem around
them. See the article on page 18.
(NXP Semiconductor)
JUNE 2020 1
 E
ven though ultrasound has

Seeing with Sound

been studied by scientists for
many years, its capabilities
in practical applications

Next-Level
are yet to be fully harnessed.
Bats have been nature’s prototypes
for sound-based navigation. They rely
on echolocation to detect obstacles
BY METAMORWORKS/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Ultrasonic Sensors
in flight, forage for food, and see in
dark caves. By mimicking the bat’s
technique, an ultrasonic solution was
developed that provides echolocation

for Intelligent Cars

and enables the detection of multiple
objects in three-dimensional space.

Close-Range Perception
How can it be possible that a
staggering one out of five motor
vehicle accidents takes place in a
parking lot? Even at the slow speeds

2 JUNE 2020 ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT


1.
Sensor
Person or object
Ultrasound
waves
The principle of echolocation.
usually found in parking scenarios, the
driver cannot perceive his environment
flawlessly, despite parking assistance
functions like cameras and PDCs.
Tight parking spots in car parks or
crowded parking areas in front of
shopping malls maximize everyday
driving challenges. Car manufacturers
are beginning to support their cars
with the latest sensor technologies
so that multiple tons of moving
metal are not left without eyes.
Sensors are currently used to help
drivers steer more safely and guide
them into a parking spot via sound
and light signals. In order to advance
in areas like autonomous driving,
mapping, and collision avoidance,
sensors now need to detect more
complex environmental scenarios like
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
Ultrasonic perception for automobiles.
2. 3.
Received ultrasound
Reflected ultrasound
waves
steering a car through a construction
site or reliably detecting people in a
crowded parking area. As every ride
starts and ends in a parking position
involving some kind of parking
maneuver, it is crucial to safely perceive
a car’s immediate environment.
While existing sensor technologies
mostly focus on covering long
distances, the immediate environment
around a car (0 to 5 m) is often
left out of the discussion. This is
where advanced ultrasonic sensor
systems come into play. In addition
to measuring the distance to an
object, advanced ultrasonic sensors
can also calculate the horizontal and
vertical position of an object relative
to the sensor itself (i.e. providing 3D
coordinates for detected objects).
waves
In general, ultrasonic sensors
make use of high-frequency sound
waves for a range of applications.
For distance measurement, a typical
ultrasonic sensor uses a transducer to
periodically send out ultrasonic pulses
in the air. These pulses get reflected
from objects in the detection area of
the sensor and are received back by
the sensor. By measuring the time it
takes an ultrasonic pulse to travel to
the object and get captured by the
sensor, the distance to the object
can be calculated. This principle is
called time-of-flight measurement.
Conventional ultrasonic sensors
used for parking assistance only record
one-dimensional data, which is the
distance to the closest object. Azimuth
and elevation angles of objects are
JUNE 2020 3
Seeing with Sound
Point cloud example recorded by automotive kit (real data re­corded by sensor).
not calculated with this method and
vertical opening angles are severely
limited. Thus, many objects, such as
the curb and low-lying obstacles,
are not picked up by 1D sensors.
The localization of objects in 3D
space allows ultrasonic sensors to
detect and distinguish among multiple
objects in a single scan. In that sense,
the principle of ultrasonic sensors is
similar to echolocation, as used by
bats. In comparison, a typical ultrasonic
sensor will usually only measure the
distance to the nearest object. Because
of this, a limited opening angle is
usually applied for this type of sensor.
In contrast, advanced ultrasonic
sensors allow for opening angles
of up to 160°. The sensors provide
reliable, rich, 3D data for the
close-range environment around a
vehicle. The sensors are therefore
well-suited for applications in the
automotive field and add yet another
level of safety and redundancy to
conventional radar, LiDAR, and
camera technologies. The sensors
can replace or complement existing
optical sensing systems, providing
both redundancy and an improved
level of accuracy compared to
standard ultrasonic sensors in various
autonomous navigation applications.
4 JUNE 2020
The sensor data can also be used
for additional comfort features,
e.g. gesture control to open doors
and trunks, positioning the vehicle
for automated charging (for
EVs), and collision avoidance for
automatically opening doors.
Passenger Monitoring
in the Car Interior
With further improvements in
the autonomous driving space, the
behavior of the driver is also likely
to change. While drivers today
must be completely focused on the
road—ready to react at a moment’s
notice—this is likely to change once
cars are able to drive and steer fully
automatically. Drivers would then be
able to lean back and relax, work on
their computers, turn to their children
in the back seats, or temporarily enjoy
an expanded infotainment program.
Such an eventuality puts new de­
mands on assistance systems. Just like
the numerous sensors available for
analyzing a car’s external environment,
simi­lar knowledge is needed for the
interior in order to realize a more secure
and intuitive interaction experience. In
this context, the use of 3D ultrasound
again provides interesting ad­vantages.
Data gained from an ultrasound sensor
can be used to identify the number of
people sitting in the car, their size, and
their posture. Based on the information
re­garding where people are sitting and
their physical characteristics, airbags
could be adjusted to individual body
sizes and further improve safety.
The technology does not collect
any personal data since ultrasound
cannot evaluate visual input and instead
only records anonymous point-cloud
data. This is an especially important
consideration in terms of privacy and
data protection. Furthermore, gesture
simulation in the interior of the car
can be used for information and
entertainment purposes, like controlling
the car’s infotainment systems with
simple pre-configured actions.
There is no doubt that autonomous
vehicles of the future will need more
assistance from sensors to safely operate
in populated places. Whether you are
living in a big city where detecting
people and accurate parking plays a
major role, or in the countryside where
automated charging is indispensable,
3D ultrasonic will provide many benefits
to the everyday life of future drivers.
This article was written by Andreas Just,
Head of Marketing for Toposens, Munich,
Germany. For more information, visit
http://info.hotims.com/76502-121.
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
 LEADING LIGHT MEASUREMENT
FOR SENSORS & DISPLAYS

HEAD-UP DISPLAY BACKUP CAMERA

SYSTEMS (HUD) DISPLAYS

DRIVER MONITOR ILLUMINATED

& ID SENSORS INDICATORS

AUTONOMOUS SMART ADAPTIVE

SENSING (LIDAR) HEADLIGHTS

Radiant’s light measurement systems objectively

evaluate visible and infrared wavelengths to ensure
quality light sources and displays used for ADAS.

• Lights & Displays: Measure brightness and color

• HUD: Ensure virtual image quality and visibility
• LiDAR & Sensing:
• Test radiant intensity of near-IR LEDs/lasers
• Evaluate effectiveness of monitoring systems
• Headlamp: Test beam pattern shapes, intensity,
and roadway illumination according to standards

SEE THE DIFFERENCE with Radiant Vision Systems | www.RadiantVisionSystems.com

HEAT SEEKERS
While engineers debate the use of thermal-imaging sensors for ADAS,
their capability and value are being proven for AVs of all levels.
by Lindsay Brooke
W
hat specific sensor types will comprise
the advanced driver-assistance systems
(ADAS) of the 2020s? That’s a controversial
subject among engineers who are
developing SAE Level 2 and 3 (and the so-called “L2+”)
ADAS sensing suites for new vehicles. Many of them
believe that visible-light cameras fused with radar will
suffice to deliver the object-identification accuracy,
redundancy—and cost effectiveness—that OEMs and the
driving public expect of ADAS-equipped vehicles.
6 JUNE 2020
Current-generation thermal imaging
sensors, such as AdaSky’s Viper shown, are
palm-sized and cost in the low hundreds of
dollars at scale, companies claim.
But a case is building for additional sensing capability,
particularly for automatic emergency braking (AEB) and
pedestrian-detection. Those safety-critical functions
currently rely on camera-radar inputs to “see” ahead.
They enable the vehicle to react to a range of scenarios—
LINDSAY BROOKE
from stalled traffic on a highway to humans and animals
suddenly appearing in the road. (In Michigan alone,
there were 53,464 traffic accidents involving deer in
2018, up 14% from 2016, according to state DoT data.)
Pedestrian fatalities in the U.S. are alarming: one dies
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
 Rainy street scene thermal image showing heat
emissions (in white) from vehicles, lamps, humans.
every 88 minutes, on average, in traffic crashes. In 2018,
6,283 pedestrian lives were lost, up from 5,977 in 2017.
That’s the most since 1990 and represents an increase
of more than 35% since 2008. And three-quarters of all
pedestrian fatalities occur after sunset, NHTSA reports.
Detecting people and critters without fail in rain, snow,
fog and darkness can be daunting for systems solely based
on optical-and-radar-fused sensing. In October 2019, the
ADASKY SCREEN IMAGE, LINDSAY BROOKE
American Automobile Assoc. tested several production
AEB systems in various scenarios. During daylight tests, the
test vehicle driving 20 mph (32 kph) struck the target 60%
of the time. In nighttime conditions, the vehicle under test
traveling at 25 mph (40 kph) hit the soft pedestrian target
100% of the time. (https://www.aaa.com/AAA/common/
aar/files/Research-Report-Pedestrian-Detection.pdf.)
“If NHTSA rules truly 100 percent all-weather performance
for pedestrian detection by 2021, to meet its 5-Star safety
criteria, the industry will have to adjust its sensing strategies,”
said Raz Peleg, sales director at AdaSky, an Israel-based
developer of thermal-imaging systems. “In some places there
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
is bad driving weather for half the year,” he noted. For those
reasons, thermal-imaging technology is under consideration
for both ADAS and SAE Level 4 self-driving AV applications.
Outdistancing Headlamps
A family of thermal sensors used in automotive, known as
Far Infrared (FIR), operate in a long-wavelength range outside
the visible-light spectrum, to “see” the relative intensities of
heat (infrared) energy being emitted or reflected from an
object—including buildings, parked vehicles and pavement.
The infrared spectrum consists of a near infrared section
(NIR), with wavelengths of 0.75-1.0 μm; a short infrared
section (SWIR) with wavelengths of 1-3.0 μm; a mid-infrared
section (MIR), with wavelengths of 3.0-5.0 μm; and the far-
infrared (FIR) section, with wavelengths of 7.5-14.0 μm.
Anything that generates or contains heat can be
detected and classified with thermal imaging. Humans
and animals have unique heat signatures that can be
detected only with a thermal camera. The hotter the
object (such as a parked vehicle’s engine), the more they
JUNE 2020 7
HEAT SEEKERS

Thermal + Radar AEB testing at ACM

To develop a proof-of-concept automatic pedestrian detection
system that fuses radar and thermal camera data and can estimate
the distance of a pedestrian from the front of a test vehicle, FLIR
Systems contracted VSI Labs. The test vehicle was programmed to
automatically stop when the dummy pedestrian was at a proximity
the system determined to be an emergency-stop distance.
Initial tests were completed in December 2019 at the American
Center for Mobility (ACM) near Detroit. The test design was
based on Euro NCAP, but not all testing requirements were
met. Weather during the testing period was colder than the
specified testing temperature range and wet and slick snow-
covered roadways and wind interfered with the test fixtures.
FLIR’s testing at the ACM facility showed promise
Three test cases were conducted in both daylight and
for future pairing of thermal sensors with AEB.
darkness, giving six datasets and 35 total test runs using
an adult Euro NCAP Pedestrian Target (EPTa):

1. EPTa stationary in the middle of the test vehicle’s lane in Car-
to-Pedestrian Longitudinal Adult 50% (CPLA-50) tests.
2. E  PTa crossed in front of the vehicle from the roadside in Car-
to-Pedestrian Far Side Adult 50% (CPFA-50) tests.
3. EPTa crossed in front of the vehicle from an obstructed position in
Car-to-Pedestrian Far Side Adult Obstructed 50% (CPFAO-50) tests.
Test results were promising, according to VSI. In all runs for all
test cases, the car’s AEB system successfully brought it to a stop
before impacting the EPTa. Additional testing is planned for spring/
summer 2020 following AEB algorithm optimization, EPTa heating
improvements and when weather is within test parameters.
—LB

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: FLIR SYSTEMS; LINDSAY BROOKE; LINDSAY BROOKE
ZF VP Aaron Jefferson believes
thermal imaging is not yet cost
effective for SAE Level 2.

and radars not seeing a child stepping out from behind

Sensor delta-T
sensitivity is at
millikelvin levels, says
FLIR’s Kelsey Judd.
stand out against the background. Thermal sensors are
particularly effective when used in less than ideal lighting
situations and are outstanding in smoke and darkness.
Identifying the thermal radiation emitted, FIRs can detect
objects at distances well beyond those of conventional
headlamps, says one OEM engineer. “Object detection
for L2 through L5 must have 100 percent fidelity in all
conditions,” he told Automotive Engineering in an email
not for attribution. “No one can apologize for cameras
a parked vehicle in dense rain, for example. For that
reason, we’re very interested in thermal imaging.”
In AdaSky’s testing, the company’s latest Viper sensor
has recognized pedestrians at distances greater than 300
yards (275 m), or about twice the range of low-beam
headlamps. The latest automotive-grade thermal sensors
made by FLIR Systems offer similar object-recognition
capability, claims technical project manager Kelsey Judd.
Considered the mobility industry’s incumbent, Oregon-
based FLIR has been selling thermal cameras into
automotive—mostly as a driver-warning aid—since 2002
through a partnership with Veoneer (formerly Autoliv).
Foresight, another Israeli company in this space, offers
a binocular sensor array that fuses thermal images with

8 JUNE 2020 ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT


Object detection
for SAE Level 2
through Level
5 must have
100% fidelity
and reliability in
all conditions,
asserts Raz Peleg
of AdaSky.
those from the visual spectrum to produce a clear 3D
view, the company says. Its stereoscopic vision technology
uses two synchronized cameras to generate a depth
map, enabling extremely precise object detection.
Evolved from military sensor tech, FIRs use deep
learning and machine-vision algorithms. They are
a necessary complement to cameras and radar for
ADAS as well as for the camera/radar/lidar “triad”
for SAE Level 4 self-driving AVs, maintains Peleg, a
former F-16 pilot for the Israeli Defense Force.
“Our system can be fused with those other sensors.
It’s an essential combination; our system can’t read
street signs, for example, while cameras can,” he said.
“But in low-visibility weather, and in corner cases such
as with sun blinding and oncoming headlamps and
exiting tunnels, thermal imaging does much better—
and we do it uninterrupted, 24 hours a day.”
He reports that a European car maker and a
North American OEM will have AdaSky’s Viper in
production vehicles by 2021. Peleg and other experts
draw distinctions between the thermal-imaging
technology being readied for ADAS and AV systems
and those used by some OEMs as night-vision aids.
“Those [night vision] display their information on a
head-up display for the driver to see,” Peleg said. “Our
image, of higher detail quality, is not displayed to the
driver. Instead, it’s shown to a software layer which
interfaces the vehicle’s subsystems. As with AEB, the
driver doesn’t see anything; the vehicle only reacts.”
LINDSAY BROOKE
Lingering Skeptics
Demonstration drives of AV sensor systems are best
conducted in bad weather, for the best real-world evaluation
of system performance. Our drive in a Ford Fusion kitted
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
with a roof-mount AdaSky Viper and data-acquisition
hardware was in a perfect confluence of rain, drizzle and
fog. Peleg piloted the car while we watched a dash-mounted
screen. It displayed what the car’s software was seeing: heat
signatures of everything in an urban setting during lunch
hour. Traffic, pedestrians and commercial delivery drivers
stood out brightly against a grey, cluttered background.
Images we captured from the demo car’s screen
show how the thermal sensor consistently picked
out humans on or near the road at a distance.
Sensor performance continues to improve. The current-
gen AdaSky Viper FIR offers 640 by 480 pixels resolution
at refresh rates of 60 frames per second. It can detect
delta-T as small as 0.05 degrees kelvin, making it capable
of classifying road-surface conditions ahead of the vehicle.
FLIR’s Judd describes the same sensitivity: “it can discern
the temperature difference between your middle and index
fingers.” Determining whether the object is a human, a deer,
or a dog, the computer doing the analytics makes those
decisions. It looks at temperature from our sensor’s data and
at visible color, shape, movement patterns and other inputs.”
In December 2019, FLIR Systems and ANSYS announced
a partnership to integrate a fully physics-based thermal
sensor into ANSYS’ driving simulator to model, test
and validate thermal camera designs within what the
companies call “an ultra-realistic virtual world.” Their aim
is to reduce OEM development time in optimizing thermal
cameras for use with AEB and pedestrian detection.
On picking out a 98.6°F human walking across an Arizona
road on an equally hot summer day, the experts agree: it
can be a challenge to differentiate the two. It’s why multiple
sensor types that complement each other are necessary, they
said. Peleg said AdaSky’s image sensing processors (ISP) are
key to detailing an object’s emissivity. “We have patents on
this chip, which is manufactured for us by STMicroelectronics,
same ones doing it for [machine-vision specialist]
Mobileye.” Such chips draw only 750 milliamps, he added.
Not all of the industry is convinced thermal-imaging
sensing is ready—and right—for near-term ADAS deployment.
“Although it does fill a ‘white space’ among the current
sensor technologies, I think we serve a very good range with
our camera, radar and lidar,” said Marcus Christensen, North
America customer chief engineer at Continental Automotive,
when asked about his company’s plans in this area.
“Thermal sensing is ideal for detecting objects behind
the vehicle—in fact, I think rear-facing thermal imaging is
a viable use case,” observed Aaron Jefferson, VP product
strategy, global electronics, at ZF. “It will definitely be needed
for Level 4. And there might be specialized use cases, but
at low volume particularly for Level 2. At the moment,
however, it doesn’t enhance Level 2 or Level 2+ capability,
where the driver’s always responsible, to justify its cost at
the moment. It’s a hardware and functionality cost leap.”
But series production vehicles appearing in the next year
equipped with the techology may change skeptics’ minds.
JUNE 2020 9
Radar’s Evolving Role
in ADAS and the
AV Future
by Rick Kundi

The automotive radar sensor

market is growing at a 21%
compound annual growth rate,
putting greater demands on
chip design, testing, and module
deployment.

U
ntil recently, various vehicle OEMs were vying
to be first to put self-driving cars on the road
by the magical turn of the decade. But as 2020
arrived, the bullish tone has switched to a more
cautionary outlook. While the truly self-driving SAE Level
5 autonomous vehicle (AV) without a steering wheel is still
years away, innovations needed to support the intelligent self-
driving car of the future continue to emerge and improve.
Developers grapple with the need to comply with safety
and security standards as the average car sees more
sensor technology connecting it with onboard devices
as well as with its environment. Within the increasingly
capable sensor suite (see table), automotive radar is now
an indispensable technology that enables sub-systems
for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
About a decade ago, 24-GHz radar sensors entered
the scene and began to impress engineers, enabling
all-weather ADAS functionality such as blind spot
detection, lane change and parking assistance, and
collision avoidance. Minimally affected by lighting
conditions or bad weather, radar quickly gained favor
over camera technology for ADAS applications.

RADAR CAMERA LIDAR

Technology Detection—distance
(range) and motion
(velocity and angle)
by millimeter waveforms
Application • Adaptive cruise control
• Automatic emergency
braking systems
• Blind spot detection
• Parking assistance
Recognition, classification by im- 360-degree 3D view
ages by laser light
• Traffic sign recognition • Emergency brake assist
• Lane keep systems for pedestrian, crash
• Parking assistance imminent braking,
• Blind spot detection mapping
• ACC, AEBS
• Surround view
• Rear collision warning
• Cross traffic alert

10 JUNE 2020 ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT

 24- and 77-GHz frequency band usage in automotive radar.
Grappling with more sensor test challenges as cars evolve towards Level 5
autonomous driving.
Radars Evolve and Proliferate
The essence of automotive radar is the ability to scan
the three-dimensional space and gather information about
other road users and stationery objects. This includes
picking up the presence of other vehicles or pedestrians
and pets, to details such as location, speed, direction,
shape, and identity. In most implementations, the radar
system generates a RF/microwave or millimeter wave
signal and beams it toward the target in question.
The same antenna that transmitted the signal, collects
the feedback. The feedback triggers the electronic control
units on board the car to activate the appropriate ADAS
response. This can be a lane change or vulnerable road
user alert, or a trigger to activate adaptive cruise control
to help drivers maintain safe platooning distance.
Due to spectrum regulations by the European
FROM TOP: TI; KEYSIGHT
Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the 24-GHz-
wide bandwidth and UWB bandwidth will not be available
for new automotive radar devices after January 1, 2022.
These changes are spurring market growth for 76-81-GHz
band usage for automotive radar applications. These higher
frequency bands allow designers to create smaller sensor
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
packages, with more bandwidth available to
achieve greater resolution of detected objects.
The automotive radar sensor market is
growing at a compound annual growth rate of
21%. By 2023, it is expected to exceed $8 billion,
according to Microwave Journal, outstripping
other radar sectors like environmental
monitoring, security surveillance, and aerospace
defense. Meeting this market growth without
compromising on performance and reliability
requires rigorous testing of each radar from
chip design to module deployment.
A self-driving car can have up to 24
radar sensors. Interference effects can arise
between sensors within the same car or
with other onboard devices. Even marginal
errors in measurement, such as wrong angle
calculation at a busy road junction, can result
in dire consequences. Therefore, engineers
must characterize the behavior of each
new radar module before mass production
and installation in the vehicle. These days,
engineers use radar emulation equipment to generate
and analyze different signals, with software to create
test cases for different conformance test standards.
Some test managers also use intelligent laboratory
operations software to help them manage the thousands
of tests for their devices under test (DUT). This can help
them precisely determine prototype DUT readiness for
mass production. At the functional test level, engineers
can now simulate multiple targets for radars operating
in the 76-81-GHz band. This allows both the radar
module developers and car makers to test a multitude of
realistic scenarios before the car rolls onto real roads.
Current radar technology still struggles with providing
greater resolution to discern different objects. This is
where lidar does a better job. A lidar sensor uses a pulsed
laser to detect objects, usually with higher resolution than
radar. Lidar’s higher degree of granularity can provide a
much more complete view of the vehicle’s environment.
On the downside, lidar is generally more expensive versus
camera and radar sensor technology. New players are trying
to produce cheaper lidar, with some innovations going for
under $1,000, versus typical prices in the ~$10,000 range.
Lidar has other limitations including high data rate and
JUNE 2020 11
Radar’s Evolving Role
From sensor to cellular networks, seamless connectivity is key to enabling autonomous driving.
power consumption, and poorer performance in low lighting.
It will be interesting to see if new disruptive technologies
help make lidar cheaper and better for wider adoption.
Enabling the Future Connected Car
While sensor technology plays a vital role in enabling
safety and in-cabin comfort, it is high-bandwidth, low-
latency cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) which will
help realize the vision of truly autonomous and connected
cars. C-V2X connects the vehicle sensors to driving data
such as speed, location, traffic, other cars, and data such as
real-time updated maps. With a supercomputer on wheels,
testing for signal integrity, performance reliability, and
automotive cybersecurity from the physical backplane all
the way through the various protocol layers becomes critical.
4G and LTE technology, and eventually 5G, will form
the infrastructure to support C-V2X capabilities (see
Figure 3). According to S&P Global Market Intelligence,
4G LTE is expected to surpass 80% of total in-vehicle
cellular systems in 2024. The industry is concurrently
banking on 5G technology, which advocates believe will
be able to better carry mission-critical communications
faster and better for autonomous vehicles.
The potential of 5G-enabled C-V2X is exciting, and the
road ahead is likely to see more collaboration among
12 JUNE 2020
autonomous vehicle developers who face common
challenges of meeting new and evolving industry
standards. Global standards organizations including SAE
International and IEEE are working on new standards
for artificial intelligence in autonomous vehicles.
Initiatives to introduce self-driving vehicles currently
are confined to service fleets operating in safe zones.
It may take several more years to see self-driving cars
alongside those still controlled by human drivers.
Meantime, more work lies ahead for automotive design
and test engineers to juggle the jungle of conformance
standards, alongside customer expectations for the
creature comforts of a self-driving gizmo on wheels, with
all risks of malfunctions and accidents mitigated.
Rick Kundi is a solutions marketing
engineer within the Automotive and
Energy Solutions business at Keysight
Technologies, responsible for automotive
radar, Ethernet and software solutions. He
has over 10 years of industry experience
in application engineering, sales, and
KEYSIGHT
marketing and has presented at professional events
covering topics such as RF and wireless basics, advanced
automotive radar analysis, and generation solutions.
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
Lidar in a Flash
by Ryan Gehm

Continental delivers a short-range 3D flash lidar sensor that’s expected

to find increasing application in commercial vehicles and off-highway
machines in 2020.

A
precise three-dimensional
profile of a vehicle’s
surroundings is a fundamental
prerequisite for automated
driving. A new high-resolution 3D
flash lidar (HFL) sensor developed
for use at close range—50 m (164 ft)
or less—delivers on this capability,
according to Thomas Laux, head
of business development and sales
for HFL segment in Continental’s
Advanced Driver Assistance
Systems (ADAS) business unit.
“This is automotive grade and solid
state, meaning no moving parts. It’s a
bunch of semiconductors, which is ideal
for commercial vehicle and even more so
for the off-highway environment—they
don’t have a lot of hours [of operation]
but their environments can be pretty
rigorous,” said Laux. The IP6K9K
packaging is very important for these
applications, he said, as is a 3D Global
Shutter feature that eliminates motion
distortion and enables persistence mode
and geo-registration of point cloud.
Laux, who is located in Carpinteria,
Calif., as part of Continental Advanced
AGRITECHNICA

Lidar Solutions U.S. LLC, was working for

Continental’s Contadino agricultural robot concept is equipped with the HFL110 lidar sensor along a Tier-2 supplier acquired by Continental
with radar, real-time kinematic GPS, camera and ultrasound to ensure accurate object detection and a few years ago. “We started off with
classification, tracking and a GNSS accuracy of 3 cm. 22 engineers and now we have 300,

14 JUNE 2020 ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT

 working across domains on everything from
the software to the test and validation, which
is one of the most crucial pieces,” Laux said.
About 25% of the activity in developing
the automotive-grade lidar sensor is
devoted to test and validation, he added.
“For this sensor we designed short range
first. We thought this was a bigger issue,
which turned out we’re right,” Laux said. The
supplier is providing samples of its HFL110
lidar sensor to commercial vehicle (CV) and
off-highway manufacturers for evaluation.
Application markets include agriculture,
construction, mining, UAV delivery and
precision infrastructure inspection.
Continental’s patent-protected flash lidar
is expected to be in mass production by the
end of 2020. The supplier already has launch
customers for automotive and off-highway,
Laux said, but not yet on the CV side.

Particulars of Flash Lidar

Complementing the supplier’s existing
ADAS sensor suite including radar and 2D
color sensors, the HFL110 sensor delivers a
detailed 3D profile in 330 nanoseconds per
frame, regardless of lighting or weather The CUbE, shown here on display at NACV 2019, is Continental’s autonomous
conditions. The sensor generates a high-res electrified development platform for urban “first or last mile” mobility.
3D point cloud 25 times per second within
its 120° x 30° field of view. Its multiple
distance measurements capture 4,096
contiguous pixels (128 x 32 pixels) of depth
data in real-time across the field of view.
“We flash a laser pulse for 4 nanoseconds
to illuminate all of those pixels, 4,096 pixels
with a single flash. We use something called
‘engineered diffuser’ that spreads the light,”
Laux said, adding that the unit has up to four
returns to counter impediments such as rain,
spray, dust, smoke or fog. Built-in heater
and blockage detector, and an optional
washer system, also ensure reliable imaging.
The contiguous pixels tolerate nearby
high or low reflectivity surfaces, producing
FROM TOP: RYAN GEHM; CONTINENTAL

a point cloud and/or an object list to define

and track the vehicle’s surroundings and
moving objects within it. The sensor’s
range is 22 m (72 ft) at 10% reflectivity.
The sensor operates at 1,064 nm in the
near-infrared range, which is Class 1 eye-
safe, and the unit weighs approximately
700 g (24.7 oz). “It doesn’t replace
a 2D sensor, we can’t see color with
this,” Laux explained. “As a human you Immune to vibration or speed distortion, Continental’s high-res HFL110 3D flash lidar delivers a
have ears, eyes, nose, that’s how we 50-m range and 120°x30° field-of-view.

ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT JUNE 2020 15

Lidar in a Flash
“ Volume and manufacturing enhancements will bring cost down.
”
It will happen.
In the John Deere innovation section of its booth at Agritechnica, a concept tractor
demonstratedthe HFL110 sensor (seen just under the Deere logo).
interact with the real-world environment. Similarly, with
vehicles we need lidar, radar, 2D—a full sensor suite.”
So, lidar is a must to achieve SAE Level 4 autonomy? “I
know Elon Musk might have a different opinion, but why
would you cripple yourself and operate either without eyes
or without ears,” Laux said. “I think the more redundancy
you have in different wavelengths, where if one doesn’t
work you’ve got a fall back, is critical for Levels 3 and 4.”
For dense urban environments, two HFL110 units can be
mounted to provide imaging with overlap in the middle. “You
can get really good geometry, you can read the FedEx on a
delivery truck,” he said. “That kind of geometry is necessary
for merging environments, when things are whipping by
really fast when it’s raining or you get truck spray.”
The new sensors currently are “a bit expensive,” which
is typical with a launch product, Laux noted, referencing
16 JUNE 2020
the high cost of radar over a decade ago.
“Volume and manufacturing enhancements
will bring cost down. It will happen.”
Off-Highway Machine Vision
The HFL110 3D flash lidar featured prominently
at Agritechnica 2019 in Hanover, Germany. In the
John Deere innovation section of its booth, the
HFL110 was demonstrated on a concept tractor,
and a large wall-mounted monitor displayed what
the lidar sensor detected on the OEM’s stand.
Continental received strong interest from a number
of equipment manufacturers, said Laux, noting that
several initiatives are under way but they cannot be
commented on at this time.
An agricultural robot concept, the Continental
Contadino, also employs the HFL110 sensor.
Introduced at Agritechnica, the fully electric and
autonomous Contadino features a modular design
that allows exchangeable implements and different
track widths. The implement carrier can be used for
different light-duty tasks such as seeding, weeding,
spraying, fertilizing and monitoring. Smart farming
is possible with precise application of pesticides
and fertilizers or a selective sowing process.
The robot is equipped with lidar scanner, radar,
real-time kinematic GPS, camera and ultrasound
to ensure accurate object detection and classification,
tracking and a global navigation satellite system (GNSS)
accuracy of 3 cm (1.2 in). The tools are connected to the
robot via open interfaces. This connection provides the
implement with electric power and acts as a data line
enabling access to sensor data and cloud communication.
Several robots can work collaboratively in the
field in fleet operation. A trailer that transports the
autonomous machines to the field also functions
as a charging and refill station for seeds, fertilizers,
etc. Automatic recharging allows 24/7 operation.
A cloud connection of the fleet allows mobile
AGRITECHNICA
monitoring and a constant overview of the process.
Contadino is currently in prototype phase.
Continental is looking for partners in the agricultural
sector to realize first field applications in 2020.
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
Bandwidth for Sale
by Terry Costlow
The FCC and transportation industry clash over vital
vehicle-communications boundaries.
V
ehicle-to-vehicle/infrastructure (V2X)
communication often is touted as a critical
technology for automated driving and even
to derive the utmost benefit from advanced
driver-assistance systems (ADAS). But despite
plenty of verbal support from industry developers,
there’s been little actual deployment. What critics
label “foot-dragging” by the industry now may
catastrophically stall market implementation.
V2X technology had a bright future in 1999, when the
FCC allocated 75 megahertz of spectrum in the 5.9 GHz
radio band for Dedicated Short-Range Communications
(DSRC). Years of development and demonstrations
seemed ready to pay off in 2014 when the National
DSRC is NXP’s choice for chips that let vehicles communicate with others.
18 JUNE 2020
Highway Traffic Safety Admin. (NHTSA) appeared
ready to issue a mandate requiring deployment.
But the U.S. mandate never came, nor did a
European edict. That created uncertainty that led
to chaos in the market.
Now, DSRC proponents are trying to stymie an FCC
plan to sell a portion of the 5.9 GHz range originally
earmarked only for transportation purposes. Then came
another wild card. While DSRC languished, a cellular-based
alternative, cellular V2X (C-V2X) came onto the scene.
Though there’s uncertainty about the prospects
of V2X, advocates say the technology can do a lot to
prevent accidents today and improve the operations
of autonomous vehicles when they emerge.
NXP
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
 Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication can help reduce accidents, particularly at intersections.
“Driverless vehicles cannot exist without being connected,”
said Guillaume Devauchelle, VP of innovation and scientific
development at Valeo. “When you’re running at high speed,
it tells you about things happening at distances that are
far longer than on-vehicle sensors [can detect]. That helps
guarantee safety and it makes driving more pleasant.
You can slow down one kilometer before construction
work instead of quickly stopping when you get close.”
At the SAE Government/Industry Meeting in Washington
in January, Continental’s Bettina Erdem explained that
45% of all accidents occur at intersections, where V2X can
provide far more safety-related information than on-vehicle
sensors. She highlighted the importance of V2X by saying
that 60% of serious and fatal intersection accidents cannot be
prevented by onboard safety systems. They need V2X input.
Though it’s largely viewed as an important element in
safety and autonomy, V2X has to date seen little acceptance.
Volkswagen announced plans to ship cars with DSRC
capability, but Toyota scuttled its plan to deploy DSRC in the
U.S. Still, proponents feel there are many reasons to deploy.
While OEMs and infrastructure providers waited for DSRC
to catch fire, others stepped into the void. Industries hungry
for more wireless bandwidth convinced the FCC to sell some
CONTINENTAL
of the spectrum set aside for DSRC, while concurrently,
mobile-phone suppliers developed C-V2X, which leverages
on-board modems to provide many of benefits of DSRC
with reduced design-in and dedicated-infrastructure costs.
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
Bandwidth for Sale
FCC chairman Ajit Pai proposed making the lower 45
MHz of the 5.9 GHz band available for unlicensed uses such
as Wi-Fi, while retaining the upper 25 MHz of the 5.9 GHz
spectrum for transportation use. The upsides of the potential
sale could be significant. A 2018 study by the Rand Corp.
estimated that opening automotive’s 5.9 GHz band for Wi-
Fi could provide gains to economic welfare for consumers
and producers that range from $82.2 to $189.9 billion.
The proposed auction is equally huge for DSRC’s outlook.
If the FCC proceeds with its plan and the bandwidth is
used for non-automotive services, interference from Wi-
Fi could render the V2X spectrum “useless,” according
to John Kenney, director and senior principal researcher
at Toyota InfoTech Labs. He told attendees at the SAE
conference that if automotive lost 60% of V2X spectrum,
the industry would lose 60% of potential V2X benefits.
Proponents need to quickly coalesce around a
workable deployment strategy, he added.
“There needs to be a consensus regarding V2X
technology or people are not going to deploy. Once
we have a consensus, we can go to the FCC and say,
‘This is what we want you to do.’” Kenney said.
While the FCC ponders its auction, fellow government
officials at NHTSA contend that the auto industry
needs the bandwidth in question. NHTSA division
chief Bob Kreeb predicted that selling the bandwidth
JUNE 2020 19
Bandwidth for Sale

will “limit deployment of existing technology that’s On the upside, the price of implementing either option
ready and usable. We’re disappointed in the FCC’s isn’t too onerous. “The add-on cost to equip a car is around
current proposal that they’ve outlined. We also think $15-$20,” Devauchelle said.
it’s going to limit innovation and creativity.” Automakers would like to see one technology
Another plus for DSRC is that it’s undergone plenty of emerge globally so they can trim overhead and benefit
real-world testing, which helped developers weed out bugs from volume pricing. As the two specifications vie for
and verify performance. Maturity often is a desired trait given acceptance, only one can operate efficiently in each region.
the high reliability levels
demanded in automotive
markets. Supporters also
note that DSRC has far
better latency performance
than C-V2X, which can
be critical in high-speed
safety environments.
“Some of the key
performance parameters of
C-V2X are not as good as
DSRC,” said Huanyu Gu, senior
product manager for V2X at
NXP Semiconductors. “While
over time C-V2X performance
may further improve, it
will take many more years.
The question is: Should
society be kept waiting for
C-V2X to mature, while the
mature technology, DSRC,
is ready for deployment?” Automated-truck developer TuSimple won’t rely on V2X in its forthcoming autonomous haulers.

Cellular Challenge
The challenge from C-V2X began gaining ground
around 2017. Cellular and chip providers created
specifications and groups such as the 5G Automotive
Association (5GAA) voiced endorsement. Regulators in
the Chinese automotive market are actively supporting
the technology, and Tier 1 suppliers are following suit
now that a Chinese mandate appears imminent.
“China represents about one third of the market;
everyone will have to develop C-V2X for China,” Devauchelle
said. “In the U.S. and Europe, it’s difficult to invest. It’s
not that one is that much better, it’s more a matter of
regulations and a battle between different stakeholders.”
Momentum for CV-2X also comes from Ford,
which is planning C-V2X rollouts while supporting the
FCC’s spectrum auction. On the semiconductor side,
major cellular chip suppliers including Qualcomm,
Intel, Samsung, Huawei, and CATT/Datang S have
5GAA’s C-V2X technology in their roadmaps.
Foggy Future
Support for both DSRC and C-V2x creates questions for
The benefits of V2X grow as more vehicles and roadside
infrastructure share data. Nor is it practical for a country
or region to have vehicles with incompatible technologies
sharing the roads. Accidents could still happen when
vehicles with different technologies encounter one another.
“Cars that utilize different technologies cannot
‘talk’ to each other, which greatly compromises the
effectiveness of each technology,” Gu said. “To utilize
both technologies within a given region, a theoretical
solution could be to equip V2X stations that support
both technologies and translate one into the other.
The additional latency caused by translating one
standard to the other will likely make such a solution
a non-starter for safety-critical applications.”
All the uncertainty surrounding V2X is driving
some autonomous vehicle developers to eschew the
technology. TuSimple, a trucking startup that plans to
begin delivering freight hauled by its driverless vehicles
next year, isn’t settling on either technology. Instead,
design teams will rely strictly on on-vehicle sensors.
“V2X is nice to have, but we must be able to determine
our surroundings without it,” said Chuck Price, TuSimple’s
TUSIMPLE

product planners at all levels. Design teams don’t want chief product officer. “Even if we just talk to our own vehicles,
to support different technologies in various geographies. V2V can enhance operations. But given all the things that can
That adds complexity for design and support teams. happen, we have to assume we can’t talk to other vehicles.”

20 JUNE 2020 ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT

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ZF Establishes
Level 2+ ADAS
by Lindsay Brooke
Cost-effective technology solutions to meet diverse customer needs
are what the “new pragmatism” in driver-assistance tech is all about.
Senior VP Aine Denari explains.
T
he wall of hype surrounding the self-driving
future has given way to a new pragmatism,
and engineers are breathing a collective sigh
of relief. The industry, for the most part, has
come to grips with the myriad challenges of making
autonomous vehicles perform with utmost safety, in all
driving scenarios and weather conditions. Cost sensitivity
remains a significant factor, particularly in advanced
driver assistance systems (ADAS) whose development
is closely aligned with NCAP safety requirements.
Tier 1s that are driving both innovation and
systems integration in this dynamic space have
been adjusting their strategies accordingly.
A new realism has emerged, asserted Wolf-Henning
Scheider, CEO of tech supplier ZF. During the 2020
CES in Las Vegas, he said his company’s developments
are currently focused on two parallel tracks: ADAS
that ZF calls ‘Level 2+’ for passenger vehicles, and SAE
Level 4 systems for commercial-vehicle applications
and people/cargo movers in defined use cases.
ZF’s new “coAssist” system is its first Level 2+ play. It
offers capability between standard SAE Level 2 and Level
3 and is claimed to meet projected Euro NCAP 2024 test
protocols. CoAssist will use Mobileye’s latest EyeQ chip
and ZF’s new Gen21 medium-range radar when it enters
production with “a major Asian OEM” later this year.
“The range of needs is so diverse across the customer
sets. The way one [customer] defines Level 2+ might be very
different from the way another defines it,” explains Aine
Denari, senior VP for ADAS at ZF. “Although the majority of
the volume of the market will remain GSR or NCAP-focused,
22 JUNE 2020
we think the largest portion of the AD-focused passenger
car market will be Level 2+, which essentially relies on
cameras and radar. Some, however, want solutions that are
scalable up to Level 4”—the common architectures help
minimize having to test and re-validate across product lines.
“We’ve seen some customers deliberate the tradeoff
of having a scale-up solution to meet the high-end niche
that’s maybe five percent or less of the total market,
versus having the most cost-optimized solution for maybe
80 percent of the market,” she noted. “As a full-systems
supplier, we need to be able to offer everything.”
Lidar at SAE “Level 2-Plus”
Does lidar—which many engineers still consider an
immature and expensive technology—play a role in
ZF’s Level 2+ plans? CEO Schieder hinted that some
advanced full-range radars now under development
may deliver much of lidar’s imaging capability.
“Level 2+ systems still require drivers to have their eyes
on the road,” Denari staated. “But when you move into
Level 3 and beyond, you must have a third redundant
sensor.” She noted that some customers might want the
additional performance that a lidar provides for enhanced
safety, particularly in their technology-leading flagship
vehicles: “We definitely see customers putting lidar into
Level 2+ vehicles to enhance availability and reliability.”
The more an ADAS architecture can be scaled up, the
more it will inherently cost. This can lead to optimizing
for the lowest-cost, mass-market solution. ZF’s new
coAssist package, including software and functionality, is
priced “well under $1,000” per vehicle. Denari revealed
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
 that increased efficiencies across
ZF’s validation process, using Aine Denari:
more AI-based tools in simulation, Delivering “the biggest
have helped reduce development impacts in the most
cost-effective way.”
costs that can be at least a million
dollars per platform, per region.
Technology partnerships
are increasingly vital to ZF’s
automated-driving strategy.
Cameras are a collaborative
effort with long-time partrner
Mobileye. Lidars developed with
Ibeo Automotive Systems enable,
along with long-range radars and
360-surround vision, will help
enable Level 4 functionality. Hella is
the short-range radar partner. ZF’s
powerful ProAI compute platform
can use a range of SOCs including a
scalable Nvidia chip, or those from
Xylinx and Qualcomm, to process
signals from the sensor suite that
can also include ultrasonics.
“In terms of our decisions to
invest in a technology or partner,
we’re focusing on the places where
we have a long-term, sustainable,
competitive advantage,” Denari
said. “We look for where we
can have a USP [unique selling
proposition]. There are both new
sellers and new customers breaking
into the market, and we won’t
invest in anything that just makes
us a ‘me too.’ We’ll only invest
where we can bring something for sure—it’s going to be a requirement,” she said. Incumbent
to the table that’s better than everybody else’s.” Level 2 systems now in use that don’t have driver monitoring
A technology that ZF has decided not to invest in, present a danger to their drivers as well as to other road users,
for the short term at least, is vehicle-to-infrastructure she believes.
[V2X]. Denari acknowledges that V2X is an important ZF’s central-compute initiatives are centered around
part of an overall ADAS and autonomous-driving use case. The basic NCAP solutions require no SDE
ecosystem. “We looked at the market landscape and (safety domain electronic controller), with sensor fusion
what the other players can do, at what the potential done on the camera or radar. With many OEMs moving
pricing is and what the real differentiation ability to all-new electrical architectures, ZF is preparing for the
is. We concluded that in that [V2X] space it makes widespread move to centralized domain controllers.
more sense for us to partner with somebody.” “Our goal is to offer a range of solutions,” Denari said.
“For example, we can offer a ProAI that’s purely for ADAS
Taking the Cubix Approach and AD and a ProAI that houses the Cubix [ZF’s new
HD mapping and driver-monitoring are technologies that ZF software that integrates numerous chassis systems] in
is watching closely. The former “will become more ubiquitous which we can incorporate the powertrain function, too.”
as its resolution increases,” Denari said. And she anticipates Throughout AVE’s interview with Denari, she continued
driver-monitoring is “not unlikely” to become mandated as the to stress ZF’s focus on executing “what will have
more-capable ADAS systems such as coAssist gain popularity. the biggest impacts in the most cost-effective way,”
“If we’re going to allow drivers to take their hands off the delivered flawlessly within a business and technology
wheel—and some customers looking for Level 2+ will want that space where cost + value is the holy grail.
ZF

ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT JUNE 2020 23

 Shifting design
of autonomous
architectures
Inputs from many sensors are fused and analyzed by a centralized system.
Electronic controls centralize while providing commercial-level reliability.
by Terry Costlow
T
he controls for fully autonomous trucks must deal
with inputs from a number of sensors, analyzing
this data and taking actions that enable the
vehicle to complete its route safely and efficiently.
Design teams are racing to put together the perfect control
architecture for their vehicles, while ensuring that these
complex real-time systems operate over long vehicle lifetimes.
Thousands of megabytes of data from different
combinations of cameras, radars, lidars and ultrasonic sensors
flow into controllers that meld this information into a map
of the vehicle’s surroundings. Within milliseconds, these
controllers must determine adjustments that keep the vehicle
on its path and operating safely. The computing challenges
are matched by the needs of creating bulletproof systems.
“Sensor fusion is used to create an understandable
surrounding, making it possible for the vehicle to conduct the
transport mission in a safe way,” said Johan Larsson, director
of Autonomous Solutions, Volvo Trucks North America. “Of
course, the perception system setup is redundant, with ‘belt
and suspenders,’ meaning that you can operate in a fail-safe
mode even if one of your system components would fail.”
The controllers that analyze sensor inputs and
determine what the vehicle should do need to operate
at extremely high speeds, with little margin for delays
or failures. Engineers tasked with building control
modules also must ensure that components can meet
the strict reliability levels of commercial trucks.
“We’re talking about how to make this commercially
viable, that is the key to realizing the goal of getting
drivers out of the vehicle,” said Chuck Price, TuSimple’s
24 JUNE 2020
chief product officer. “A lot of companies are building
prototypes that aren’t ready for commercial use—things
will wear out before they leave the driveway.”
Getting Centered
Before autonomy became a focus, many sensors fed data
to their own dedicated controllers. That’s now shifted to
centralized management, which makes it easier to make
decisions based on 360-degree inputs. Combining controls
for various subsystems into a single module simplifies
the control architecture. It also makes it easier to update
software over the long lifetime of a commercial vehicle.
“A key benefit of the new architectures is that we can
provide a centralized infrastructure for all electronic control
units,” said Martin Schleicher, vice president, strategy,
Elektrobit. “This centralized function not only increases
the vehicle’s safety, but also ensures that the vehicle’s
software can be kept up-to-date during its entire lifecycle.
The automated vehicle is another device in the IoT.”
Many vendors are planning moves from limited operating
domains to more common on-highway driving. More diverse
operating realms require more analysis of the surrounding
environment; analyzing data from sensors quickly enough
to avoid accidents requires hefty amounts of processing
power. Development teams are forging partnerships to help
them meet these demands while getting to market quickly.
“It is because of this, and the importance of being early in
ELEKTROBIT
the market, that we have decided to partner up with Nvidia,”
Larsson said. “Nvidia has world-class knowledge of artificial
intelligence and computing. We will use their hardware,
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT

simulation tools and some of their software. Combining
this with our world-class knowledge of vehicles and
vehicle control is a good base for the development
of a high-performing automated driving system.”
Fostering Diversity
Many truck and automotive companies are
using Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs),
but GPUs are only part of the processing
equation. Today’s systems typically include
at least one conventional microcontroller that
usually handles decision making, among other
tasks. And GPU makers are beginning to include
microcontrollers, which may reduce the dominance
of traditional central processing units (CPUs).
At the same time, field-programmable gate arrays
(FPGA)s give design teams the ability to combine
conventional CPUs with several parallel processors
like those found on GPUs. FPGAs can be adapted to
meet different challenges, letting developers adapt
configurations to meet specific requirements.
“It’s a challenge to find the right balance between GPU
demands and general-purpose computing demands,” Price
FROM TOP: TUSIMPLE; VOLVO TRUCKS
said. “Today, we’re mixing ruggedized GPU systems along
with Intel Xeon processors that run non-GPU algorithms. It’s
the role of FPGAs to optimize certain elements of the system.”
These centralized architectures still need to be
designed to fit in limited space, dissipate heat and keep
wiring harnesses short. At the same time, components
must be cost-effective to replace. Modular designs
can help engineers meet these requirements.
“Coming from a distributed architecture, we are moving
in the direction of a more centralized architecture,” Larsson
said. “But we do use a modular approach in the design
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
A mix of GPUs, CPUs
and FPGAs handle
different tasks.
Centralized systems
facilitate over-the-
air updating.
of the automated-driving system, with clear interfaces
to support applications with different requirements.”
Powering all the cameras and chips for a large truck
takes a lot of energy. Some processor chips can draw
close to 100 W, and most systems have a large number
of processors. Cameras also consume lots of power. Price
said that electrical power requirements for TuSimple’s
autonomous vehicles range from 3-6 kilowatts depending on
the size of the truck and version of the system architecture.
That puts pressure on the vehicle’s power generators.
“Power is a big deal for us. We’re not compute-
constrained, we are power-constrained,” he said.
“We consume almost all the power in a Class 8 truck
with a big engine and a big alternator. Systems are
quite power hungry, there are a lot of cameras.”
Remote Control
While the goal of long-term autonomous programs is to get
people out of the vehicle, some human intervention may be
JUNE 2020 25
 Shifting design
of autonomous
architectures
“This centralized function not only
Borrowing from military, industrial sectors
The sensing and computing requirements of autonomous trucks
are high, but volumes are low, driving design teams to borrow
technologies from other fields. Automotive systems are the obvious
choice, but as processing requirements rise, military equipment
suppliers also are focusing on large commercial vehicles.
Commercial-vehicle developers have long leveraged the
technologies and volume pricing of the automotive industry
and that model will continue for autonomous technologies.
While many automotive-grade boards and sensors are designed
into trucks, ruggedization of these components is a necessity
because reliability requirements are dramatically different.
“Cars are designed for longevity of 100,000 to 200,000 miles,
so that’s what component suppliers design to,” said Chuck Price,
TuSimple’s chief product officer. “Heavy trucks are specified to a
million miles. That changes the nature of how things are built.”
The size of trucks is another major difference from
passenger cars. It’s harder to stop large trucks and it’s
trickier to maneuver them, especially when traffic gets heavy.
Control systems and sensors need to account for these
differences, mainly by extending the sensors’ field of view.
“Most of the technologies can be borrowed from passenger cars,
but in many cases, there will be specific tailoring to the ‘truck use
case.’ One thing that will lead to specific technology development
for trucks is the need for a longer range of the perception system,”
said Johan Larsson, director of Autonomous Solutions, Volvo Trucks
North America. “A truck needs to see much longer than a passenger
car to be able to secure a safe stopping distance. Another challenge
is that some traffic situations, for example, merge scenarios, are
more complex with a tractor-trailer than with a passenger car.”
Ruggedization specifications and computing levels for
electronics used in commercial vehicles are quite similar to the
requirements set for many military components. Connected-
vehicle needs are also like those of industrial equipment, which
has for years offered connection to the Internet of Things (IoT).
Connectivity also is a standard feature on many trucks. Those
commonalities are attracting some military system providers.
“Trucking, smart agriculture and mining vehicles have
requirements and environments that are similar to defense
systems,” said Joe Eicher, director of business development
at Kontron. “These applications are also tying into areas like
the IoT, where our industrial group plays, so our eyes are
squarely on autonomous vehicles in mining, ag and trucks.”
Terry Costlow
26 JUNE 2020
increases the vehicle’s safety, but also
ensures that thevehicle’s software can
be kept up-to-date during its entire
lifecycle. The automated vehicle is
another device in the IoT.”
— Martin Schleicher, Elektrobit
Remote operators can help
buses and trucks navigate.
necessary when unusual circumstances arise. Truly driverless
vehicles will pull over and stop when their controllers can’t
navigate through confusing situations. Some suppliers
believe that when onboard systems can’t understand tricky
situations, help can be provided by remote operators.
Starsky Robotics last year demonstrated its capabilities
with a nine-mile drive managed by an operator who
sat in a remote data center. Another remote-control
proponent, Designated Driver, is demonstrating the
technology on buses in Texas. The company thinks that
commercial vehicles are an area ripe for expansion.
“Commercial truck and heavy equipment manufacturers
are definitely looking at teleoperations as a potential
solution for enabling a tighter and younger labor pool,
creating work environments that are more comfortable,
appealing and safer for a new generation of employees,”
FROM LEFT: VOLVO TRUCKS; REMOTE DRIVER
said Walter Sullivan, CTO, Designated Driver. “Being
able to distribute employee resources across distant
geographies for some jobs can be a huge advantage
in managing employees, utilization, and service.”
Not everyone agrees with this concept. TuSimple’s Price
feels that latency and other issues make it quite difficult
for remote operators to make real-time decisions.
“We don’t believe remote driving can be made safe or
reliable,” Price said. “We do believe we can remotely alter the
plan for the vehicle when it’s in a minimum-risk condition.
We can tell it to move forward 20 feet and left 2 feet, and
to do that using the vehicle intelligence to determine if
there’s anything in its path and make other decisions.”
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
 Democratize
AV Technology!
by Lindsay Brooke

Aptiv’s new generation of open-sourced architectures based

on a few central processors aims to speed AV adoption. CTO
Glen DeVos explains.

T
he software-intensive, electrified
and increasingly automated vehicle
will define the 2020s. Its rise is
driving both the industry-wide
re-thinking of electrical architectures and
the growth of engineering employment
behind it. At the forefront of this trend
is Aptiv, the technology Tier 1 spun off
from Delphi in 2017. It now has more than
19,000 engineers among its 160,000 staff,
comprising one of the highest engineer-to-
employee ratios among large suppliers. 
 “We’ve been adding about 1,500 engineers
per year, primarily in software and systems
engineering, at our 15 major technical centers,”
said CTO Glen DeVos. These resources,
he noted, will help Aptiv accelerate its Glen DeVos is leading
customers’ development of new vehicle Aptiv into new vehicle
architecture technology.
platforms with greater active-safety capability,
including automated-driving functionality. 
 The OEMs want full upgradeability of software advanced, open-sourced ones. “We formed our Smart
(FOTA; firmware over the air and SOTA, software over Vehicle Architecture group a little over two and a half
the air) capabilities, DeVos explained. He noted they’ll years ago when we saw a trend developing: The massive
also want centralization of compute—moving from content occurring in SAE Levels 1, 2 and 3 vehicles that
today’s multiple ECUs to a few domain controllers—and is creating pain points for our OEM customers,” he said. 
zonal control, all with reduced complexity and cost.   More features equals more data and not just for Level
 DeVos called this broad trend “a blank-sheet approach 4. “It’s across the board,” he said. “We realized that to
APTIV

to move away from traditional architectures” to more pack everything they wanted and that we were thinking

ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT JUNE 2020 27

Democratize
AV Technology!

“
We want to make the compute agnostic and independent from all those

”
sensors and actuation.

Central Compute Cluster is the heart of Aptiv SVA.

about into an L4 vehicle, there was no way to do it Focus on SAE Level 2/3 
economically without fundamental architecture change.”  SAE Level 2 to Level 3 is currently Aptiv’s main focus
 Based on its booked orders, Aptiv expects deployment for automated-driving systems development. “We know
to begin in 2022 in premium vehicles, ramping up steadily Level 0 and Level 1 systems, with the progression of Euro
from 2025. And while the company has multiple programs and U.S. NCAP [impact safety] requirements, is going to
developing SAE Level 4 automated-driving functionality be the baseline by 2025,” DeVos says. “You won’t have
with customers aimed at commercial geo-fenced operations, cars that are significantly de-contented from Level 2.
such performance is not anticipated to be ready in That’s where the market is moving. It’s our ‘sweet spot.’” 
consumer-level vehicles until the 2030 timeframe.   An ADAS domain controller provides the fusing and
 “We’ve always talked about automated driving being perception modelling, the “brains” that DeVos compares
on the continuum of active safety,” said DeVos, who was to having a file server on board. In the new architectures,
part of Delphi’s pioneering work on Jaguar’s first Active consolidating from the dozens of discrete ECUs on today’s
Cruise Control launched in 1998. “Going from Level 2 to 3 vehicles to up to five powerful central compute controllers,
and ultimately to Level 4 and 5 is all on the continuum. We will drive a change to smaller “decontented” cameras and
want to take the technologies we’re developing for Levels radars with less integrated processing capacity and thus lower
4/5 and apply it to Levels 2/3 as the next generation of cost. The controllers would be responsible for active safety,
advanced capabilities and features. It’s important to think the user experience (UX), propulsion and chassis systems. 
APTIV

how we can bring both ends of the spectrum together.”   “We’re seeing costs getting ‘democratized’ for those

28 JUNE 2020 ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT

 [up to SAE Level 2] systems,” DeVos noted. “But as you today’s Level 3 systems basically are an overlay on the
go from Level 2 to Level 3, however, there’s an inflection Level 2 architectures. The redundancy is an add. “But
point. This is driven by everything that supports the driver with the next-gen 2025 architectures, there are things
being out of the loop. In our view, Level 3 is advanced we can do to bring the cost and complexity down. That
driver assistance where the car is basically in control. It’s will be helpful in terms of market adoption,” he noted. 
able to make decisions with the driver disengaged.”   A key aspect of Aptiv’s new approach to system
 That brings the need for fail-operational and safe- architecting is what engineers call ‘Safe Dynamic
stop capability, and the need for redundancies. “Power Partitioning’. A traditional operating system (OS)
systems, controls, everything that avoids a single-point would never mix Infotainment (typically a Linux- or
failure,” DeVos explained. “With a Level 2 system, the Android-based platform) with anything that has
driver is that redundancy. With Level 3, it drives a lot of functional safety aspects such as ADAS. Each has its
additional components in today’s architectures.” That separate ECU. And both are typically underutilized. 
includes driver sensing and some level of mapping, the  “The industry norm is not to use any more than 80% of
latter typically provided by lidars which remain expensive.  a box at peak load,” DeVos said. “But when I add all that up
 Then there’s the reality of what DeVos describes as “just and look at the total loading, I’m grossly underutilizing the
more sensors.” While for SAE Level 2 the vehicle may have silicon that’s in the vehicle. And I’m paying for each box, over
forward-looking cameras with 360-deg. radar—a cost- and over again.” He explained that Safe Dynamic Partitioning
effective approach—going to a Level 3 system may include an allows design engineers to take a general compute
array of 360-deg. camera, 360-deg. radar and a lidar sensor.  platform and install whatever they want—infotainment or
 “360 vision systems add a lot more complexity and functional safety, each partitioned and managed safely. 
drive a lot more processing,” DeVos noted. “The compute  “I don’t need two boxes; I can consolidate them. Without
requirements go up dramatically. The domain controller the ability to have this mixed criticality, you end up with
would have a lot more capability than your previous Level a lot of redundant boxes,” DeVos said. “For example, you
2-plus controller, and you need a secondary controller in case can use the infotainment compute as a backup [such as if
that fails. Adding those pieces together the cost adds up.”  a failure were to occur] and put my Level 3 ADAS controls
 Driving down the cost curve on ADAS technologies on it. If I architect the product right, I can get redundancy
will take some time and will be a function of volume and and fail-operational capability without duplication.” 
systems cost optimization, DeVos said. Then ultimately  The advent of purpose-built EV architectures entering
it will be a function of vehicle architecture, because volume production this decade can help reduce cost and
APTIV

Aptiv is increasingly serving as a middleware integrator in the transformation from traditional to software-defined architectures.

ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT JUNE 2020 29

Democratize
AV Technology!

The industry’s move to purpose-

engineered EV platforms such as Ford’s
2021 Mustang Mach-e (shown) works
in favor of the trend to the new
AV architectures.

the speed to market of Level 3. Properly architected, they situation will only worsen as today’s distributed
will not require add-in duplication to get redundancy. architectures proliferate, according to DeVos. 
Instead, it can be accomplished through more effective
sharing among controllers. “We’ll have capability for moving •S
 eparating I/O from computing—with all the sensors,
processes from a failed controller to another, as opposed actuators and data that’s flowing around the vehicle,
to just duplication, which is where we are today,” he said.  with hard connections back to each of the compute
  platforms, changing those sensors and actuators at
An Agnostic Approach  new-model time requires changing everything—re-
Aptiv’s ‘SVA’ approach is based on lessons learned architecting the compute and sensor interfaces.  
from mobile computing (smart phones) and other
industries where software is embedded and inseparably  And that’s not how servers operate, DeVos said.
connected to the hardware in purpose-built machines, They abstract compute from the I/O. “All the I/O comes
each one separate from the other and from one in standard format to that server so it’s managed very
generation to the next. The lessons include:  carefully,” he said. “And that’s the third important point:
enabling the ‘serverization’ of the platform.” This involves
• Abstracting software from hardware means decoupling aggregating compute into several modules that support all
software development from the underlying ECU or the features of the vehicle and doing it more effectively. 
component development. DeVos admits that today  “Essentially, what we want to do is make the
it is a massively complex task in getting everything compute agnostic and independent from all those
to work properly. Proof of that came in 2014, the sensors and actuation,” DeVos explained. “For
first year that warranty costs for software at the us it’s not reinventing the wheel; it’s applying
FORD

OEMs became greater than those for hardware. The this separation to the automotive space.”

30 JUNE 2020 ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT

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