In autonomous and self-driving vehicle news are GM, Trimble, Einride, NI, ZF Mobility, Argo AI & VW.
In this Article
GM & Trimble Drive 34 Million Miles in Super Cruise
General Motors and Trimble recently reached a significant milestone in the hands-free driving world—more than 34 million miles driven with Super Cruise™* engaged on General Motors vehicles. GM teamed with Trimble to develop a reliable way to maintain in-lane positioning for hands-free driving, putting safety top-of-mind.
Trimble’s precise GPS technology enables a vehicle to maintain its lane position in a variety of environments, including inclement weather conditions, including rain, snow, fog and more, which often challenges other sensors. GM’s Super Cruise, the world’s first true hands-free driver assistance system, uses Trimble RTX® (Real-Time eXtended) technology to deliver high-GNSS accuracy corrections since it introduced the technology in 2017 on the model year 2018 Cadillac CT6.
“Trimble RTX has been in commercial use for more than 10 years and in 2018 was the first precise point positioning correction service to log miles in a commercial autonomous driving system. It works with Super Cruise to help a vehicle maintain its lane position, bringing more consumers access to a more enjoyable and convenient driving experience,” said Patricia Boothe, senior vice president of Autonomy, Trimble.
Standard GPS signals can have a margin of error up to 25 feet, which is not suitable for vehicles that require precise absolute position information to maintain lane-level positioning. Trimble’s RTX technology removes errors in GNSS satellite data broadcasts to improve location accuracy on our roadways.
“Super Cruise is a life-changing technology, allowing customers to experience hands-free driving on compatible, mapped roads nationwide. The technology is a collaborative effort internally and externally to bring this advanced driver assistance technology to life,” said Mario Maiorana, GM chief engineer, Super Cruise. “Trimble Autonomy has been a valuable collaborator in bringing Super Cruise to our customers.”
*Always pay attention while driving and when using Super Cruise. Do not use a hand-held device. Requires active Super Cruise plan or trial. Terms apply. Visit cadillac.com/supercruise for compatible roads and full details.
Einride Completes Electric AV Selmer Pilot
Freight mobility technology company Einride successfully completed a public road pilot of Einride’s autonomous, electric vehicle, in Selmer, Tennessee. After receiving the first U.S. approval for operations of this new type of vehicle from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) earlier this year, Einride completed this industry first by operating a fully autonomous, electric vehicle without a safety driver on board on U.S. public roads. The pilot, in partnership with GE Appliances, a Haier company, took place over the duration of two weeks as the vehicle supported real-time workflows and transported finished goods from GE Appliances’ facilities.
“The completion of this pilot is a momentous step in the operations of autonomous heavy duty road freight in the U.S.,” said Robert Falck, CEO and Founder at Einride. “This shows how Einride’s new type of vehicle, one that has reshaped the future of shipping, is here today and unlocking real industry change.”
Working in close partnership with state and county officials and GE Appliances staff, the Einride autonomous vehicle conducted the safe movement of goods between GE Appliances’ manufacturing facility and warehouse. Einride also partnered with Ericsson, who provided a private connectivity network for seamless vehicle functionality and to enable a Remote Operator to remotely monitor the vehicle. GE Appliances’ Selmer, TN facility was chosen as the pilot launch site due to the nature of the environment for safe testing of operations while meeting the real demand for movement of goods.
“In order to lead, you have to think ahead and think differently,” said Harry Chase, Senior Director of Central Materials for GE Appliances. “Working with Einride on this pilot on public roads in Tennessee helped us better envision and understand what we need to do differently to be at the forefront of autonomous and EV implementation. At GE Appliances, we believe you need to continuously experiment with new technology in order to learn.”
Einride operates one of the largest fleets of electric vehicles in Europe and the U.S., with the partnership with GE Appliances deploying both autonomous and electric vehicles starting in October 2021. Since then, GE Appliances has doubled its connected electric fleet of Einride Trucks and is leveraging Einride’s intelligent freight mobility platform, Einride Saga, to reduce emissions throughout its supply chains.
NI Intros ADAS AD Test System
NI announced its latest advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving (AD) offering: a unified test system architecture to move iteratively between data replay and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing. NI will showcase this revolutionary system at the Automotive Testing Expo in Novi, Michigan, on Oct. 25–27, 2022.
Validating the perception, planning and control algorithms running on ADAS electronic control units (ECUs) is key to ensuring that safe and reliable vehicles reach the market. The NI Replay and HIL AD system can aggregate and inject real-world road test data or simulation scenarios to test ADAS ECUs. By providing a unified toolchain, common hardware configurations and test automation infrastructure across the ADAS workflow, NI enables companies to reduce capital equipment costs, improve test coverage and efficiency and shorten the time to market. NI’s unique approach ensures full validation test coverage for ADAS/AD functions, making existing data more usable throughout the entire product lifecycle, maximizing performance to ultimately save lives.
“NI is working with leaders in autonomous vehicle (AV) testing technology to provide the system-level capabilities our customers need to quickly and efficiently test the complex algorithms and AI-based software embedded within today’s AVs,” said Drita Roggenbuck, senior vice president of NI’s Transportation Business Unit. “Our customers, such as ZF Mobility Solutions, rely on our efficient connected workflow and expertise to help them achieve their goals at their pace.”
ZF Mobility Aims for AV Transport
ZF Mobility Solutions, a subsidiary of ZF Group, one of the world’s biggest automotive Tier 1 suppliers, aims to provide clean, efficient, comfortable, and affordable mobility by implementation of autonomous transport systems.
At ZMS’ Test System Development Department innovative, high quality and cost-efficient test systems are developed, tailored to the specific demands of verification and validation of complex autonomous transport systems and ADAS functions.
“AD and ADAS require the combination of different test methodologies which is challenging but essential to provide driver and passenger safety and ultimately for AVs to become a reality. With NI solutions, we can build up systems and move one step closer to a comprehensive test strategy consisting of both real-world and virtual test efforts,” said Dr. Thomas Herpel, senior manager at ZF Mobility Solutions.
AVs are among the most complex systems being tested today, and in order to bring them to market, manufacturers need to expand test coverage to a nearly infinite number of real-world scenarios, given known limitations on both time and budget. NI’s software-connected workflow leverages best-in-class solutions from its strategic partner ecosystem to enable customers to do just that.
No More Argo AI—Carid for VW AVs
With the closing of Argo AI Volkswagen is focusing its development activities for autonomous and highly automated driving. In the area of autonomous driving as a service (MaaS/TaaS), the Group is consolidating its development partnerships. Volkswagen will no longer invest in Argo AI. In individual mobility, Cariad is continuing to drive forward the development of highly automated and autonomous driving together with Bosch and, in the future, in China with Horizon Robotics.
Oliver Blume, CEO Volkswagen AG: “Especially in the development of future technologies, focus and speed count. Our goal is to offer our customers the most powerful functions at the earliest possible time and to set up our development as cost-effectively as possible.”
The development of autonomous driving is a core component of the Volkswagen NEW AUTO strategy. Within the Group, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is responsible for implementing this development specifically for the Mobility and Transportation as a Service (MaaS / TaaS) areas, while the technology company Cariad is responsible for developing partially and highly automated driving functions (up to SAE Level 4) for the Group’s passenger car brands. Together with development partners, the two companies are continuing to drive forward the development of autonomous driving technologies.
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWN) is further expanding its cooperation to develop technology for its autonomous driving mobility fleets with a partner. This will be announced shortly. Correspondingly equipped ID. Buzz prototypes are already on the road with this partner in a test program.
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ goal for autonomous driving remains: In 2025, customers are expected to be able to use MOIA to book the autonomously driving ID. Buzz in Hamburg in 2025.
Christian Senger, member of the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand board of management responsible for MaaS/TaaS and AD (Mobility and Transport as a Service; Autonomous Driving) explains, “In the course of the cooperation with another partner, the collaboration within the group to develop highly automated and autonomous driving will also be strengthened.”
Cariad will continue to drive the development of automated driving for individual mobility in the Automated Driving Alliance with Bosch. The companies aim to make partially and highly automated driving suitable for mass use and available to everyone.
The aim is to provide functions for vehicles of the Volkswagen Group’s brand groups that allow drivers to explicitly take their hands off the steering wheel at times. These are advanced driver assistance systems, so-called level 2 systems, for city, countryside and highway, in which the driver is comprehensively supported by the vehicle, and a system in which the vehicle takes over the complete driving task on the highway (SAE level 3). The first functions are to be implemented in 2023.
For the Chinese market, Cariad additionally plans to cooperate with Horizon Robotics to drive forward the development of automated driving on a regional basis in one of the world’s most important growth markets. In the area of hardware, the Group has also entered into a partnership with Qualcomm for high-performance chips for automated driving.
Volkswagen is working with Argo AI to provide continued employment for employees and to further develop the most promising projects in the field of autonomous driving.
All other collaborations with Ford remain unchanged.