ADAS – Advanced Driver Assistance Systems

NVIDIA Drive PX, self-driving/self-parking ADAS kits shipping

NVIDIAselfparkingThe NVIDIA hardware and software development kit for self-driving, self-parking and sophisticated advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) features for cars is shipping this month to Bentley, Aston Martin, Tesla and Rolls Royce. The computer platform packs a lot of power into a small space and doesn’t require massive computers in the trunk or huge rotating cans on the top of the car.

The NVIDIA’s DRIVE PX self-driving car computer platform was announced in March at the 2015 GPU Technology Conference. DRIVE PX’s twin NVIDIA Tegra X1 processors deliver 2.3 teraflops of performance.

The appeal of the kit is that it can handle input from twelve cameras and has a deep neural network that learns from its experiences. Eventually, the computers will be able to recognize objects in real-time and make work with other computers to make decisions in real-time to brake, swerve or continue moving.

The system analyses pixels and in the future will infers things like humans infer things like detect the difference between a taxi cab and a police car and will know that the driver has to pull over for the police car if it’s flashing, Danny Shapiro, senior director of automotive operations at NVIDIA told the Wall Street Journal.

The system can also inform the driver, not just get their attention with a warning.The system can build a 3D map of objects around the car for self-parking.

NIVIDIA claims its self-driving system extends well beyond the hardware found in any car, without all that extra electronic junk in the trunk. The learning will take time and testing. The kit costs $10,000.

NIVIDIA provides the processors for the Audi A8 and Tesla Model S. The company started in the car market by creating processors for the 3-D navigation display for the 2011 Audi A8.  Its processors are part of the zFAS upgradeable platform for Audi.

By 2020, NVIDIA expects to have chips on more than 32 million vehicles.

When news of the luxury carmakers using NVIDIA hit, the price stock increased.

NVIDIA recently won a PACE Award — the automotive industry’s version of an Academy Award — for its Tegra Visual Computing Module (VCM), that allows the Tesla S to receive over-the-air updates. The system is also used by BMW and Audi.

New Audi tech emergency swerve steering & CarPlay

2015-Audi-A8Audi is gearing up for CES Asia (Shanghai) and released a new video with some interesting demonstrations.

The first noticeable feature seen in the video is CarPlay shown in the Audi with an iPhone connected to the entertainment system. There are also back seat entertainment screen with high speed Internet Wi-Fi hotspots, a digital customized cockpit and a self-driving Audi on a curved highway ramp.

At CES Asia, Chairman Rupert Stadler, Head of Development Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg and Sales Director Luca de Meo will be present a keynote on electronics and megatrends of mobility. Also Audi is showing concept car.

Automotive News reported that there is a new ADAS feature coming from Audi using the powerful zFAS system. The next phase of ADAS safety is that the car is programmed to automatically swerve around an obstacle to avoid collisions.

In order to accomplish such a complicated task, the technology used will have backup systems and sensors in place in case of problems. The new approach will use with the zFAS central controller when it goes into production in two years in the Audi A8.

The zFAS controller incorporates technology form Dephi, NVIDIA Tegra KI and Mobileye.

Audi is also working with leading suppliers such as Bosch, Continental, Valeo and Delphi on the sensors and actuating elements, such as braking and steering systems. Audi wants to develop common standards.

The zFAS electronics board that is about the size of a tablet, is upgradeable and will eventually communicate with the cloud via 4G LTE. The zFas is a central controller while other current driver systems use separate  controllers. zFAS intakes sensor data that the controller uses to compute a view of surroundings and sends the information to different driver assistance systems.

Soon, Audi claims that Audi connect will enable the piloted cars from Audi to also learn continuously as they drive.

An Audi SUV was the first car to drive without a driver across the United States.

The Audi 8 currently can be equipped with adaptive cruise control with stop and go, Audi side assist that alerts when there is vehicle in a blind spot.

This technology is similar to Audi’s swerve technology is Continental’s Emergency Steer Assist (ESA), which automatically brakes and pumps power to the steering torque to help the driver to avoid a collision. TRW developed a similar system with the Technical University of Dortmund. ZF Friedrichshafen AG recently bought TRW. TRW will be incorporated into ZF as a new division called Active & Passive Safety Technology. Hyundai and Nissan are also working on steering assist collision avoidance systems.

It appears that Audi will be making some interesting announcements in Shanghai.