I was had planned to do a long post on self-driving cars a quite long time. I was planning to do one this spring, but I might not do that, because it seems that predictions that self-driving cars would be here in 2020 were far too rosy. Five years ago, several companies including Nissan and Toyota promised self-driving cars in 2020. So it may be wise to take any new forecasts with a grain of salt. Hare is a worth to check out article of the current status of self-driving cars:
Surprise! 2020 Is Not the Year for Self-Driving Cars
https://spectrum.ieee.org/transportation/self-driving/surprise-2020-is-not-the-year-for-selfdriving-cars
In March, because of the coronavirus, self-driving car companies, including Argo, Aurora, Cruise, Pony, and Waymo, suspended vehicle testing and operations that involved a human driver. Around the same time, Waymo and Ford released open data sets of information collected during autonomous-vehicle tests and challenged developers to use them to come up with faster and smarter self-driving algorithms.
It seems that the self-driving car industry still hopes to make meaningful progress on autonomous vehicles (AVs) this year, but the industry is slowed by the pandemic and facing a set of very hard problems that have gotten no easier to solve over the years.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Texas Instruments Plans to Build Up Inventory as Uncertainty Looms
https://www.electronicdesign.com/technologies/analog/article/21129568/texas-instruments-plans-to-build-up-inventory-as-uncertainty-looms?utm_source=EG+ED+Analog+%26+Power+Source&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS200417065&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R
Chief executive Rich Templeton said sales of chips used in cars declined in the mid-single digits and decelerated last month as customers shut down production and demand cratered. Moreover, sales to the smartphones industry dipped in the double digits.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Automotive
The U.S. FCC has been planning to carve out and auction off some of the spectrum reserved in 1999 for automotive safety communications — such as vehicle to vehicle, vehicle to infrastructure communications. The automotive industry has never fully been able to use all the spectrum and has disagreement among the ranks which technology to use. The automotive industry is still pushing to hold onto the spectrum, according to a Bloomberg article.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-20/fcc-chief-moving-to-revoke-airwaves-rights-granted-to-automakers
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:
Ford says it is delaying the commercial launch of its self-driving vehicle services being developed with Argo AI to 2022, to reassess its strategy amid COVID-19 — Ford said Tuesday it will delay plans to launch an autonomous vehicle service to 2022, as the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted …
Ford postpones autonomous vehicle service until 2022
https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/28/ford-postpones-autonomous-vehicle-service-until-2022/
Ford said Tuesday it will delay until 2022 plans to launch an autonomous vehicle service, as the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the company to rethink its go-to-market strategy.
The news was shared as part of Ford’s quarterly earnings, which was released after the market closed Tuesday. Ford reported a $2 billion loss in the first quarter compared to a profit of $1.1 billion in the same period last year. The company warned that losses during the second quarter will widen as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt its business.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Can Electric Cars on the Highway Emulate Plane-to-Plane Refueling?
https://spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-think/energy/batteries-storage/will-electric-cars-on-the-highway-emulate-airtoair-refueling
Maybe it’s no April Fool’s joke. Maybe sharing charge is the way forward, not just for electric cars and trucks on the highways but for other mobile vehicles. That’s the brief of professor Swarup Bhunia and his colleagues in the department of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Florida, in Gainesville.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.openpr.com/news/2007223/automotive-microcontroller-market-set-for-huge-growth-in
Tomi Engdahl says:
Autonomous Driving Claims Send BS Meter to 11
https://www.eetimes.com/autonomous-driving-claims-send-bs-meter-to-11/
As a skeptic covering the automotive industry, anytime I hear a prediction for something happening in the next two or three years, my thoughts turn to the movie This is Spinal Tap and my BS meter goes to 11.
The timescale is beguiling: Near enough to get the kudos now, but sufficiently distant so that everyone has forgotten about the prediction in three years. Some celebrity CEOs have played this game for years.
This might work for a tech company pitching a vision for consumer electronics at CES — where frankly anything goes — but in automotive there is a major problem: A testing and validation process lasting two to three years. Listening to a CEO boast that their widget is going into mass-market series-production vehicles in the next two or three years, my first thought is always: Show me the working prototype now, or stop wasting my time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Under the Hood: What Audi A8 Has Taught Us
https://www.eetimes.com/under-the-hood-what-audi-a8-has-taught-us/
The teardown conducted by System Plus provides valuable insights into a few questions:
What does it take to pull off a Level 3 car?
What’s included in the A8 sensor suite?
How much processing power does a Level 3 car require?
Is it GPU, SoC, CPU or FPGA driving Audi’s central driver assistance controller called zFAS?
How much does zFAS cost?
It can be instructive how Audi achieved Level 3 functionality using chips that had been on the market, and were already tried and tested in other applications, especially in comparison with Tesla, which two years later (2019) launched its “Full Self Driving Computer” board which relies heavily on two home-grown self-driving chips.
System Plus teardowns include analyses that go beyond simply reverse engineering and identifying hardware elements. The firm also performs “reverse costing” — estimating how much it must have cost a company to source specific components and build its products. System Plus’ reverse costing of the A8 shows that 60% of the cost of zFAS — estimated to be $290 — is driven by the cost of semiconductors. This is hardly startling, since 80 to 85 percent of the content in modern cars is electronics. That wasn’t the startling thing about the costs, however.
Margin
The real shocker to car OEM, said Romain Fraux, CEO at System Plus Consulting, is that no automotive companies were mentally prepared to pay a 50 percent margin per component — as charged by Nvidia, Intel and others for their flagship chip solutions. This opened the door to a whole new world for automotive OEMs, prompting them to rethink the calculus of highly automated vehicles.
The System Plus teardown/cost estimate does not include the cost of software development for automated vehicles. However, the use of an FPGA (Altera Cyclone) inside zFAS shows Audi’s attempt to preserve the own software assets it had already developed.
Over the last 18 months, some leading OEMs have begun hinting their desire to design their own autonomous vehicle chips, a la Tesla. This approach enables them to control their own destiny in terms of hardware and software development. However, given the high cost of chip designs, it’s far from clear if car OEMs are better off going it alone.
Another important aspect of A8 is that Audi brought to the market the first commercial vehicle, among all the car OEMs, to show a path to autonomy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10735-ensimmainen-riittavan-tehokas-tutka-robottiautoihin
Tomi Engdahl says:
Who Owns A Car’s Chip Architecture
https://semiengineering.com/who-owns-a-cars-chip-architecture/
Carmakers and their suppliers compete for dominance, creating challenges across the electronics industry.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.designnews.com/sensors/volvo-makes-significant-step-toward-autonomy-lidar/160252414962977?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=13107&elq_cid=876648
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Great Auto Race Goes Internal
https://semiengineering.com/the-great-auto-race-goes-internal/
Competition is growing from within the supply chain as companies vie for differentiation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Solid-State Battery Tech for Electric Cars: Key to Greater Autonomy
https://www.electronicdesign.com/power-management/whitepaper/21130936/solidstate-battery-tech-for-electric-cars-key-to-greater-autonomy?utm_source=EG+ED+Analog+%26+Power+Source&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS200505083&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R
With solid-state batteries, electric vehicles should be able to achieve an autonomy (driving range) matching—and eventually surpassing—that of cars with an internal combustion engine.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2020/05/13/suomi-kokeili-letka-ajossa-semiautomaattisia-rekkoja/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Volvo and Lidar-maker Luminar to Deliver Hands-free Driving by 2022
https://spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-think/sensors/automotive-sensors/volvo-and-lidarmaker-luminar-to-deliver-handsfree-driving-by-2022
The race to bring self-driving cars to showrooms may have a new leader: Volvo Cars said it will partner with Silicon Valley-based lidar manufacturer Luminar to deliver genuine hands-free, eyes-off-the-road highway driving beginning in 2022. That so-called “Level 3” capability would be an industry first, as companies from Tesla to Uber thus far have failed to meet lofty promises to make autonomous driving a reality.
Sweden’s Volvo, owned by Geely Holdings of China, said that models based on its upcoming SPA2 platform (for “Scalable Product Architecture”) will be hardware-enabled for Luminar’s roof-mounted lidar system. That includes the upcoming Polestar 3 from Volvo’s new electric-car division, and a range of Volvo-branded cars and SUVs.
“At that point, your Volvo takes responsibility for the driving and you can relax, take your eyes off the road and your hands off the wheel,” Green said. “Over time, updates over-the-air will expand the areas in which the car can drive itself. For us, a safe introduction of autonomy is a gradual introduction.”
Most experts agree that lidar is a critical linchpin of any truly autonomous car. A high-profile skeptic is Elon Musk, who has no plans to employ lidar in his Teslas, and scoffs at the technology as redundant and unnecessary.
Austin Russell, founder and chief executive of Luminar, disagrees.
“If cameras could do everything you can do with lidar, great. But if you really want to get in the autonomous game, this is a clear requirement.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://tiautomotivefundamentals.com/?o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx_ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R
Welcome to the Automotive Design Center. Here you will find the resources you need for innovation in electronics to help fast track your automotive designs. This hub will be your key reference center for solutions in ADAS, Infotainment & Cluster, Body Electronics & Lighting, and HEV/EV. Learn more to accelerate the future of automotive systems.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Solid-State Battery Tech for Electric Cars: Key to Greater Autonomy
With solid-state batteries, electric vehicles should be able to achieve an autonomy (driving range) matching—and eventually surpassing—that of cars with an internal combustion engine.
https://www.electronicdesign.com/power-management/whitepaper/21130936/solidstate-battery-tech-for-electric-cars-key-to-greater-autonomy?utm_source=EG+ED+Auto+Electronics&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS200508054&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R
Tomi Engdahl says:
More Power to You: The Auto’s Electrical Overhaul
Sponsored by Texas Instruments: From 12/48-V systems to sensor advances, automotive electrical platforms are undergoing major changes that bring welcome benefits.
https://www.electronicdesign.com/markets/automotive/article/21130879/more-power-to-you-the-autos-electrical-overhaul?utm_source=EG+ED+Analog+%26+Power+Source&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS200513078&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R
Automotive electrical systems are undergoing a major overhaul as a result of evolving vehicle powertrains and related systems. Three major considerations are the new 12-V plus 48-V electrical systems, complex multiple charging systems in electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs), and the growing demand for better sensors to manage the increasingly complex powertrains.
12/48-V Systems
Auto manufacturers are beginning to roll out new vehicles that incorporate an updated electrical system based on the addition of a 48-V battery. Over the past years, the constant stream of new electronic systems and features has basically overwhelmed the traditional 12-V battery and system.
The new automotive electrical system has two power buses—one from the 12-V battery and another from the 48-V battery. The 12-V system powers the lighting, infotainment, and convenience devices like wipers, windows, doors, seats, and mirrors. The 48-V system takes on the heavy loads, such as the starter generator, air-conditioning compressors, active chassis control, electric super chargers or turbo chargers, as well as various pumps. Overall, the new 48-V addition provides an extra 10 kW of power with sufficient excess to handle future useful and desirable subsystems and devices.
Only a few of the latest vehicles have the new 48-V systems. Audi has its A6 model and Fiat Chrysler offers its RAM 1500 pickup with this system. And Volkswagen and Mercedes Benz will soon deliver new vehicles with this addition. U.S. manufacturers have models under development; you will see the new 48-V features gradually emerge vehicle by vehicle over the coming years.
Adding the new 48-V system doesn’t make the vehicle a hybrid or full electric. Most cars will continue to use the standard internal combustion engine (ICE). But the new 48-V power will help improve fuel savings with a revised stop/start system as well as more efficient electric turbochargers.
Taking Charge of Charging
PHEVs and full-electric EVs have an entirely different electrical system. The heart of these vehicles is the high-voltage battery and the accompanying battery management system (BMS). The HV batteries deliver 400 to 800 V to power the electric motors that drive the vehicle.
All PHEVs and EVs have an onboard charger (OBC). This unit connects to the ac power line and generates the dc for charging the battery. The ac source may be at home in the garage or at a local charging station. Home ac can be either 120 V or 240 V. With the low-voltage input, it can take 12 to 17 hours for a full recharge. Using an available 240-V line greatly reduces charge time to about four to eight hours. Charging stations are usually called electric vehicle service equipment (EVSE).
Virtually every possible type of sensor can be found in modern vehicles. Yesterday’s vehicles had NO sensors, but today, the average car or truck incorporates dozens of them. Some of these sensors include:
Temperature: Thermocouples are widely used in high-temperature applications. However, for less critical and lower-temperature situations, improved thermistors or solid-state sensors are employed because of their superior linearity.
Pressure: Variable capacitance or variable resistance.
Fluid level and concentration: Ultrasonic or capacitive-based.
Position: They provide speed, angle, velocity, and on/off condition
Exhaust: Chemical-based, RF, mandated to measure emissions.
Current: Used in virtually all electrical devices and electronic subassemblies in the 12-, 48-, or 400- to 800-V ranges.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Who Needs Autonomous Vehicles?
https://www.eetimes.com/who-needs-autonomous-vehicles/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Automotive
NXP, hypervisor company OpenSynergy, embedded systems ACTIA and Mobica have demonstrated a hypervisor-based telematics control unit (TCU) reference platform for automobiles, using NXP’s i.MX 8QuadXPlus SoC. OpenSynergy provided a virtualization platform COQOS Hypervisor SDK that runs on ACTIA’s telematics reference hardware. Mobica put the whole thing together. TCUs are used for vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. The hypervisor makes it possible to partition the domains to run on separate virtual machines. “TCUs are expected to play a key role in autonomous Driving,” says OpenSynergy in a press release. “The automotive industry increasingly looks toward the use of hypervisors.”
Source:
https://semiengineering.com/week-in-review-auto-security-pervasive-computing-15/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Autoonkin jopa 8K-videota USBC-väylästä
https://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10791&via=n&datum=2020-05-20_15:30:06&mottagare=31202
Autojen viihde- ja telematiikkajärjestelmissä kuvan tarkkuus kasvaa kovaa vauhtia. Nyt järjestelmät skaalautuvat jo 8K-tasoiseen kuvaan asti, kun Diodes Incorporated on esitellyt autoteollisuuden ensimmäisen AEC-Q100 -kvalifioidun DisplayPort Alt Mode -ajurin.
Piirin avulla voidaan siirtää DisplayPort-signaalia C-tyypin USB-väylän läpi.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Free whitepaper about an introduction to the vehicle-to-everything communications service V2X feature in 3GPP release 14
https://www.electronicdesign.com/resources/white-paper/whitepaper/21131491/free-whitepaper-about-an-introduction-to-the-vehicletoeverything-communications-service-v2x-feature-in-3gpp-release-14
Are you interested in: – C-IST use cases and applications – System architecture – LTE V2X protocoll stack for out-of-coverage communications Synchronize in out-of-coverage V2X scenarios Then read more in our latest whitepaper.
In this paper you’ll get an overview on the established system, commonly known as the intelligent transportation system (ITS). Further more this paper introduces the V2X feature in release 14 in some detail, and provides hints for more in-depth reading in the References section. A link to the complementary paper on the earlier IEEE 802.11p based intelligent transportation system may also be found there….
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scale AI releases free lidar data set to power self-driving car development
https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/22/scale-ai-releases-free-lidar-dataset-to-power-self-driving-car-development/
High-quality data is the fuel that powers AI algorithms. Without a continual flow of labeled data, bottlenecks can occur and the algorithm will slowly get worse and add risk to the system.
It’s why labeled data is so critical for companies like Zoox, Cruise and Waymo, which use it to train machine learning models to develop and deploy autonomous vehicles. That need is what led to the creation of Scale AI, a startup that uses software and people to process and label image, lidar and map data for companies building machine learning algorithms.
Tomi Engdahl says:
GaN enables efficient, cost-effective 800V EV traction inverters
https://www.edn.com/gan-enables-efficient-cost-effective-800v-ev-traction-inverters/?utm_content=buffer4afe7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=edn_facebook&utm_campaign=buffer
The number of electric vehicles (EVs) on the road has increased rapidly over the past few years and continues to accelerate. Industry analysts expect 56 million new EVs will be sold in 2040. The electricity consumption that accompanies this growth will rise to 1,800TWh representing 5% of global power, according to Bloomberg NEF’s Electric Vehicle Outlook, and that assumes an associated boost in electric vehicle efficiency, convenient charging infrastructure, and faster charging solutions. Smaller, lighter-weight electronics are key in creating changes for the EV industry and ecosystem.
There’s no better example of the need for greater efficiency than the main inverter in an EV. Within an electric drivetrain, the traction inverter converts DC current from the electric vehicle’s battery to AC current to be used by the motor to drive the vehicle’s propulsion system.
For EVs, the semiconductors used in traction inverters have a significant impact on efficiency, power density, and cooling requirements. The three-phase AC motors used in today’s EVs run at voltages up to 1,000V and switching frequencies up to 20 kHz. This is very close to the operational limits of the silicon-based metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) and insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) currently used in traction inverters.
These limits arise from properties inherent to the physics of silicon semiconductors, and the structure of the devices themselves. Large IGBTs and MOSFETs have difficulty switching at high frequencies and suffer from switching losses caused by their slow transition between ON and OFF states.
These limits can be transcended with the use of alternative materials, known as wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors, whose characteristics are better suited for high-power, high-frequency applications. There are several promising WBG semiconductor technologies, with gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) being the most mature and commercially-available today.
Equally remarkable is GaN’s electron mobility, more than 1,000 times greater than Si. This property gives GaN devices half the RDS(on) (on-resistance) per unit area of an equivalent Si-based MOSFET, which results in 50% lower conduction losses.
GaN and SiC technologies are largely complementary and will continue to coexist. They currently cover different voltage ranges, with GaN devices best used in applications ranging from tens to hundreds of volts, and SiC better suited for supply voltages from approximately one to many kilovolts. For mid- and low-voltage applications (below 1200V), GaN’s switching losses are at least three times lower than SiC at 650V. SiC has some product availability at 650V, but is generally designed for 1200V and higher.
GaN device manufacturers’ rapid progress in material and process technologies has resulted in significant improvements in both performance and cost of products for high-voltage (800V+) high-power applications, such as electrified vehicles (EVs, PHEVs, and mild hybrids).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Volvo Makes Significant Step Toward Autonomy with Lidar
A partnership with Luminar for low-cost Lidar could make Volvo the industry leader in 2022.
https://www.designnews.com/sensors/volvo-makes-significant-step-toward-autonomy-lidar/160252414962977?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=13107&elq_cid=876648
Tomi Engdahl says:
Audi A8 with Level 3 self-drive and LiDAR technology
https://www.eeweb.com/profile/eeweb/articles/under-the-hood-what-audi-a8-has-taught-us?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=link&utm_medium=EEWebEngInsp-20200528
When Audi launched its redesigned A8 sedan at the end of 2017, the company touted it as the auto industry’s first Level 3 car. The entire automotive industry is still contending with technological issues and unfamiliar cost structures that confronted Audi back then. The teardown conducted by System Plus provides valuable insights into a few questions:
What does it take to pull off a Level 3 car?
What’s included in the A8 sensor suite?
How much processing power does a Level 3 car require?
Is it a GPU, SoC, CPU, or FPGA driving Audi’s central driver-assistance controller called zFAS?
How much does zFAS cost?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Automotive security
https://semiengineering.com/week-in-review-auto-security-pervasive-computing-17/
The security vulnerabilities of the automotive CAN bus is no secret. UltraSoC and Canis Labs are now working together to secure the controller area network (CAN) bus, which often connects various safety-critical systems in a vehicle such as brakes, steering, and engine. According to a press release, two companies are combining some of their products — UltraSoC’s IP for detection and mitigation of cyber threats and Canis Labs’ CAN-HG technology to enable designers to design the security into hardware, have a larger payload and includes bus guardian security features, and has the added benefit of being able to carry payloads twelve times larger than standard CAN frames. The main issues with connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs) are detecting intrusions.
https://www.ultrasoc.com/ultrasoc-and-canis-labs-partner-to-secure-the-can-bus/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/10802-tutkijat-kehittivat-tarkemman-nopeamman-ja-tehokkaamman-lidarin
Tomi Engdahl says:
The automotive industry is undergoing a lot of change, with conflicting pressure to cut costs, and innovate faster, all while breaking new ground with technologies that are quite different to those that have gone before. The AUTOSAR Classic Platform is now widely used and proven in traditional ECU’s. Today, as computing power increases, with it the need to process more data, has resulted in the AUTOSAR Adaptive Platform becoming increasingly important. The complex new functions associated with features in the ADAS domain, and others, bring with them new types of engineers with different skill sets, when combined with the traditional automotive engineering, there is a need to rapidly build up proof of concept tests to confirm development paths.
Mentor engineering teams have developed a set of Python bindings to support the rapid prototyping of new functions, running on an AUTOSAR Adaptive Platform ECU, enabling a pathway to support full production development of the software after the concept is proven.
https://www.mentor.com/embedded-software/events/rapid-prototyping-using-python-api-and-autosar-adaptive?contactid=1&PC=L&c=2020_06_03_embedded_python_autosar_webina
Tomi Engdahl says:
Driving Automotive Design to the Virtual Space
Remote work and virtual collaboration accelerate design opportunities in fundamental ways.
https://www.electronicdesign.com/markets/automotive/article/21133066/driving-automotive-design-to-the-virtual-space?utm_source=EG+ED+Auto+Electronics&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS200601039&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R
The senior manager for model realization at Nissan Design America said his team was able to make the adjustment to “a 100% virtual office” within a day. “It was really not a major disruption from a hardware infrastructure standpoint; the connectivity that we had in place allowed us to react very quickly,” said Struble, whose home office is set up in his garage.
The shift to working from a virtual office started ramping up about 18 months ago, Struble, recalled, noting that the automotive manufacturer was primarily desktop-based back then. Before the pandemic, connecting with colleagues at Nissan’s headquarters in Nishi-ku, Yokohama or a plant in Sunderland, UK meant scheduling a virtual conference or meeting with at least 24 hours’ notice.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tom Krisher / Associated Press:
IIHS study of 5K+ crashes: self-driving cars would have prevented only a third, those caused by “sensing and perceiving” errors and driver “incapacitation” — DETROIT (AP) — A new study says that while autonomous vehicle technology has great promise to reduce crashes …
Study: Autonomous vehicles won’t make roads completely safe
https://apnews.com/33be3ab29cc4ea2f46f027378f423010
Tomi Engdahl says:
#GaN enables efficient 800V traction #inverters for #EV propulsion systems #semiconductors #IGBTs #electricvehicles GaN Systems Inc. https://buff.ly/2XeVqmz
Tomi Engdahl says:
World’s Cheapest New Car Is Electric And It Comes In A Box From China
https://insideevs.com/news/427175/cheapest-electric-car-china-930-us/
This vehicle is the definition of bargain basement, but you’ll be surprised to discover it’s not as horrible as you might think.
Ordering anything off Alibaba or Aliexpress is often a gamble, because you don’t know exactly what you’re going to get or even when you’re going to get it. Imagine the feeling of surprise you get when you order an electric car that costs less than $1,000 and you discover it’s actually way better than you were expecting – it genuinely makes cars from established automakers seem overpriced and overly complicated.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hydrogen cars won’t overtake electric vehicles because they’re hampered by the laws of science
https://techxplore.com/news/2020-06-hydrogen-cars-wont-electric-vehicles.html
Hydrogen has long been touted as the future for passenger cars. The hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), which simply runs on pressurised hydrogen from a fuelling station, produces zero carbon emissions from its exhaust. It can be filled as quickly as a fossil-fuel equivalent and offers a similar driving distance to petrol. It has some heavyweight backing, with Toyota for instance launching the second-generation Mirai later in 2020.
The Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association recently produced a report extolling hydrogen vehicles. Among other points, it said that the carbon footprint is an order of magnitude better than electric vehicles: 2.7g of carbon dioxide per kilometre compared to 20.9g.
All the same, I think hydrogen fuel cells are a flawed concept. I do think hydrogen will play a significant role in achieving net zero carbon emissions by replacing natural gas in industrial and domestic heating. But I struggle to see how hydrogen can compete with electric vehicles, and this view has been reinforced by two recent pronouncements
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://semiengineering.com/week-in-review-auto-security-pervasive-computing-18/
The MIPI Alliance announced completion of development on MIPI A-PHY v1.0SM, an industry-standard long-reach serializer-deserializer (SerDes) physical layer for automotive applications. The specification is now in review and MIPI Alliance says it will adopted within 90 days.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://semiengineering.com/week-in-review-design-low-power-97/
Standards
The MIPI Alliance completed development on MIPI A-PHY v1.0, a long-reach SerDes physical layer interface for automotive applications that spans an entire vehicle. It aims to be the foundation of an end-to-end system designed to simplify the integration of cameras, sensors and displays, while also incorporating functional safety and security. The specification is undergoing member review, with official adoption expected within the next 90 days.
MIPI Alliance Completes Development of A-PHY v1.0, an Industry-Standard Long-Reach SerDes Physical Layer Interface for Automotive Applications
https://www.mipi.org/MIPI-alliance-completes-development-of-A-PHY-v1
Specification designed to accelerate ADAS, ADS and IVI automotive connectivity enters final approval phase, with release expected in 90 days
Tomi Engdahl says:
Straight Talk from AV Insiders
https://www.eetimes.com/straight-talk-from-av-insiders/
Do I think AV technology sucks? No. But have AV technology companies and their VC investors been playing fast and loose with our safety in pursuit of their fortunes, while hiding behind those words “saving lives”? Yes. The game is clearly to socialize the risks of AV development and to privatize the profits – although don’t expect to ever see that written so plainly and unambiguously in a press release or marketing pitch.
Why are we many years into AV testing on public highways and still discussing how safe is safe enough? Why was the first standard guiding designers toward “the safety case” for autonomous products – UL 4600 – only published in April? Why does NHTSA do nothing, yet the FAA grounded the Boeing 737 Max? I have no answers to these questions, but feel free to put your thoughts in the comments below.
California Dreamin’
Silicon Valley is great at so many things: Computing, graphics, gaming, apps, software, AI, deep learning, innovation, disruption – the list goes on and on. It simply excels at moving fast and breaking things but mission-critical system development is not the Bay Area’s forte and automotive is by necessity a heavily regulated, standards-driven, functionally-safe mission-critical environment.
Of the top five automotive semiconductor vendors in 2019, only one is U.S.-headquartered (Texas Instruments), with three headquartered in Europe (Infineon, NXP and STMicroelectronics) and one in Japan (Renesas). Micron, Microchip and ON Semi also make the top ten ranking, but Silicon Valley-headquartered semiconductor suppliers are nowhere in automotive.
So how come we hear so much about automotive from Nvidia and so little from the actual leading suppliers like Infineon and NXP? Because what Nvidia says about automotive is sensational and journalists, editors and readers love sensational. Watch this demonstration of Nvidia’s simulation software.
Now watch it again and ask yourself this: Other than on a Sunday or a holiday, have you ever seen the streets of San Jose that quiet? No, me neither. Sensational content, yes. Serious, no. 1.3 million people die globally on our roads and highways each year and Nvidia gives us spin. Companies serious about road safety don’t pull stunts like that. If you want serious, watch this guy – he’s no showman, but that’s a good thing.
That fact isn’t particularly convenient for Nvidia, which has spent most of the last five years focused on AV and didn’t think to hedge its bets on boring old ADAS until now. Their response is yet more PR and to assert that “Automakers can now deploy a single scalable architecture and single software stack achieving up to 2,000 TOPS”. Well okay, so let’s get skeptical and do some basic market analysis on the three categories listed:
ADAS will ship in the tens of millions of units per year by 2025, driven by NCAP testing requirements for a 5-star rating and the EU General Safety Regulation (GSR). Total electronics cost is in the region of about $200. Mobileye (Intel), Xilinx, Renesas, TI and Toshiba are the leading ADAS processor suppliers.
L2+ is what I call “hands-free” highway assist. This is more a convenience than a safety feature and the best example on the market today is GM Super Cruise. Shipments will likely be 10-20 million units per year by 2025 and total electronics cost under $2,000. Same processor suppliers as ADAS.
L5 robotaxi. At L5 the critical issue is liability and the automakers don’t want to be held liable when someone dies. That’s why in automotive we’ve seen the emergence of L2+, not L3. I’d estimate the cost of that drive computer at over $20,000 and then you have to add the sensor suite. Come on Jensen, no automaker is requesting this.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nyt kuka tahansa voi hypätä kuskittoman robottibussin kyytiin Helsingissä – projektipäällikkö: “Tämä pystyy sellaisiin nopeuksiin, että ei ole tien tukkeena”
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11390387
HSL:n mukaan vielä ollaan kuitenkin kaukana siitä, että ilman kuljettajaa ajavista busseista voisi tulla todellinen osa joukkoliikennettä.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://jalopnik.com/heres-what-the-worlds-cheapest-electric-car-is-like-to-1843904305?utm_medium=sharefromsite&utm_source=_facebook
Tomi Engdahl says:
Auto Sector Stuck in Neutral as a Few IC Makers Recover
https://www.eetimes.com/auto-sector-stuck-in-neutral-as-a-few-ic-makers-recover/
While some semiconductor sectors are showing signs of recovery, the auto segment continues to take a beating as the pandemic extends into the summer of 2020.
With Marvell and a handful of other chip makers showing signs of life, including new 52-week highs for stock prices, the automotive electronics sector remains stagnant. London-based Omdia is forecasting a 16-percent annual revenue decline for the hard-hit automotive power semiconductor segment. That works out to be about $9.1 billion in 2020 revenues.
The contraction reflects declining vehicles sales and plunging auto production, the market tracker said. Hopes earlier in the year for a rebound in automotive power semiconductor sales and revenue quickly evaporated when auto assembly plant closures in China quickly spread along with the novel coronavirus to Europe and then on to North America.
“At the same time, demand for new vehicles has fallen as dealerships were closed and lost jobs and wage reductions in many parts of the world combined to slash demand,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.eetimes.com/autonomous-vehicles-in-covid-economy/
https://www.eetimes.com/is-industry-4-0-a-pipe-dream/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Auto Industry in Post-COVID-19 Era — Shorter Supply Chains and More Local Procurement
https://www.designnews.com/covid-19/auto-industry-post-covid-19-era-shorter-supply-chains-and-more-local-procurement/74447000963173?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=13475&elq_cid=876648
Tomi Engdahl says:
2021 Nissan Rogue ups its Value Game with more Standard Safety Technology
The new Rogue boasts many features that are normally only found in premium brand cars.
https://www.designnews.com/automotive-0/2021-nissan-rogue-ups-its-value-game-more-standard-safety-technology/213258170363197?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=13475&elq_cid=876648
Nissan’s Rogue compact crossover SUV rose to the top of the sales charts in its segment with a formula of providing value to customers. The newly unveiled 2021 Rogue boasts a slightly different take on the value equation, by packing impressive standard and optional technology into a mainstream family vehicle that would previously have required shoppers to move up to pricier premium-brand offerings.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/16/audi-sets-up-silicon-valley-office-to-develop-automated-driving-systems-for-u-s-market/?tpcc=ECFB2020
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.edn.com/uwb-enhances-security-of-passive-keyless-entry/?utm_content=bufferd3ebb&utm_medium=social&utm_source=edn_facebook&utm_campaign=buffer
Tomi Engdahl says:
Top 10 Lidar Manufacturers in the World
They will contribute to a $5.5 billion industry by 2024.
https://www.designnews.com/sensors/top-10-lidar-manufacturers-world?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=13499&elq_cid=876648
The global market for Laser Imaging, Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) systems was $1.3 billion in 2018, according to a report by Market Research Reports, Inc., and the industry is on track to reach $5.5 billion in sales by 2024.
Lidar is crucial for emerging mapping and autonomous vehicle applications, with automotive uses accounding for $2.5 billion of the market in 2024, the report states.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Big Bet on Bidirectional EV Charging
https://www.electronicdesign.com/markets/automotive/article/21134047/a-big-bet-on-bidirectional-ev-charging?utm_source=EG+ED+Analog+%26+Power+Source&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS200611050&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R
By 2025, the total storage capacity of EVs in Europe will be over 300 GWh, representing the largest distributed resource available to the European energy system.
Work has begun at the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) plant in Mirafiori, Turin on the first phase of a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) pilot project. The initiative is aimed at two-way interaction between FCA’s full electric vehicles (EVs) and the power grid. In addition to recharging cars, the project will use their batteries to provide grid-stabilization services.
By way of review, when an EV is charged, ac from the grid is converted to dc so that it can be used by a car. This conversion is carried out by either the car’s own ac-dc converter or a converter located in the charger. With traditional one-way EV chargers, electricity flows from the electric grid into the electric vehicle. With two-way (bidirectional) EV chargers, electricity can flow both ways.
To send the energy stored in the EV’s battery to the grid, it must be converted back to ac. Thus, a bidirectional EV charger has to contain an internal converter. V2G describes a system in which plug-in electric vehicles, such as battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) or hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) communicate with the power grid and return electricity to the grid. Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles with tanks containing up to 5.6 kg of hydrogen can deliver more than 90 kWh of electricity.
A V2G application can be used to help balance local, regional, or national energy needs. It allows EVs to charge during off-peak hours and send energy back to the grid during peak hours, when there’s extra energy demand. On average, cars remain unused for 80% to 90% of the day. If connected to the network, via V2G technology, customers could receive payment or energy in exchange for the grid balance offered—all without compromising their mobility needs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Human Horizons debuts HiPhi 1: a 5G-V2X-enabled electric …saemobilus.sae.org › news › 2019/08 › human-horiz…
6.8.2019 – 5G-V2X is enabled by combining the latest V2X modules supporting … Beyond its connectivity features, the HiPhi1 expresses the brand’s focus …
https://saemobilus.sae.org/automated-connected/news/2019/08/human-horizons-debuts-hiphi-1-a-5g-v2x-enabled-electric-luxury-suv
https://www.human-horizons.com/home/hiphi1
Tomi Engdahl says:
Long before self-driving cars arrive, connecting ordinary vehicles to each other and nearby infrastructure could make roads safer.
Pilot Test Begins for Tech to Connect Everyday Vehicles
https://spectrum.ieee.org/transportation/advanced-cars/pilot-test-begins-for-tech-to-connect-everyday-vehicles
Drivers can use a number of signals to communicate with other drivers: taillights, high beams, the horn. But car manufacturers envision a future where cars themselves will exchange messages about where they’re going and where they’ve been.
Connected vehicles—those fitted with technology that allows them to communicate with other drivers, pedestrians, and nearby infrastructure—are increasingly being tested around the world.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Navigating Self-Driving Cars By Looking At What’s Underneath The Road
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/06/navigating-self-driving-cars-by-looking-at-whats-underneath-the-road/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/05/15/electric-vehicles-continue-the-same-wasteful-mistakes-that-limit-longevity/