Category: Automotive

What is WLTP and how will it work?

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The current lab test – called the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) – was designed in the 1980s. Due to evolutions in technology and driving conditions, it has become outdated today. The European Union has therefore developed a new test, called the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP). The EU automobile industry welcomes the shift to WLTP and has been contributing actively to the development of this new test cycle.

 

Good update here: http://wltpfacts.eu/what-is-wltp-how-will-it-work/

Tesla new autopilot features

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Every Tesla vehicle comes standard with full self-driving hardware – enabling the driving experience to be substantially safer than that of a human driver. With their most recent software update, you can now experience our most advanced safety features, including Traffic Aware Cruise Control, Autosteer up to 90mph, Automatic Emergency Braking, and Side-Collision Avoidance.

 https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/videos/autopilot-self-driving-hardware-neighborhood-short

(Source: Tesla)

Automated mobility – Bosch

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Automated driving impacts the entire car: its powertrain, brakes, steering, display instruments, navigation, and sensors, as well as connectivity inside and outside the vehicle. The key to success is an in-depth understanding of all vehicle systems. Few automotive suppliers worldwide have as much knowledge in this area as Bosch, in part because the supplier of technology and services manufactures most of the components needed for automated driving listed below:

Connected Horizon: Automated vehicles rely on environmental information – information that goes beyond what sensors can gather. For instance, they need real-time traffic data on congestion and accidents. This can be achieved only by connecting the vehicle to a server, for which Bosch developed its Connected Horizon solution. This system enables a dynamic preview of the upcoming route and corresponding adjustments to driving strategy. Connected Horizon is what allows automated vehicles to think ahead. This is beneficial for the comfort and safety of the driving experience. For instance, connected vehicles are warned in advance of danger spots before a blind bend or hilltop and can ease off the accelerator in preparation.

Electric steering: Fail-safe, electric power steering is a key technology for automated driving. Even in fall-back mode, fail-operational capability allows drivers and automated cars to continue using essential steering functions while maintaining about 50 percent electric steering support in the rare case of a malfunction. This technology will enable automakers to comply with the safety requirements as proposed in the Federal Automated Vehicles Policy documents from the U.S. Department of Transportation and National Traffic Highway Safety Association, for example.

ESP: The electronic stability program also plays a key role when it comes to automated driving. Delegating responsibility for driving to the vehicle places particular demands on safety-critical systems such as the brakes. To retain maximum control over these systems in the event of the failure, redundancy must be built into the system as a safeguard. In this instance, the ESP brake control system and iBooster electromechanical brake booster (see below) can independently brake the vehicle without the driver having to intervene. Bosch offers ESP as a modular concept that offers the right system for all circumstances and requirements.

HMI: Automated driving will change the human-machine interface, and calls for modern concepts for communication between car and driver. The driver must be able to intuitively understand and use the system. With its innovative display instruments, Bosch is already offering promising solutions in this area as well: the TFT instrument cluster, for instance, offers maximum flexibility in processing combined with brilliant clarity. By using head-up displays, Bosch puts information such as speed, navigation prompts, and warnings directly in the driver’s field of view. This information is superimposed on the vehicle’s surroundings in such a way that the two seem to blend seamlessly at a distance of around two meters ahead of the vehicle.

iBooster: With the iBooster, Bosch has developed a vacuum-independent, electromechanical brake booster that meets the requirements for modern braking systems. It can be used in all powertrain concepts and is especially well suited for hybrid and electric vehicles. In the iBooster, the actuation of the brake pedal is recorded by the built-in pedal-travel sensor and transmitted to the control unit. The control unit calculates the triggering signal for the electric motor, which uses a two-stage transmission to convert its torque into the required power assistance. In a standard master cylinder, the power provided by the booster is transformed into hydraulic pressure.

Maps: Without high-resolution, up-to-date maps, there can be no automated driving. The maps provide vehicles with information about changing traffic situations, such as traffic jams or construction, that fall outside the area on-board sensors can monitor. Bosch’s radar and video sensors capture and transmit important real-time traffic data for the creation of high-resolution maps for automated driving.

Lidar sensor: In addition to radar, video, and ultrasonic sensors, Bosch also uses lidar sensors in its automated test vehicles. The various sensor principles complement each other very well and combine data to ensure reliable environment recognition. Automated vehicles use this data to derive their driving strategy. Bosch views lidar sensors as an important addition to its portfolio.

 

Radar sensor: As one of several sensor principles, radar sensors provide important 360-degree information about their surroundings within a distance of up to 250 meters for automated vehicles. A radar sensor’s main task is to detect objects and to measure their speed and position relative to the movement of the vehicle. Furthermore, Bosch radar sensors send frequency-modulated radar waves measuring between 76 and 77 GHz via a transmitting antenna. These waves are reflected by objects in front of the vehicle. The relative speed and distance of objects are measured using the Doppler effect and the delay generated by the frequency shifts between the emitted and received signal. Comparing the amplitude and phase of the measured radar signals makes it possible to draw a conclusion about the position of the object.

Ultrasonic sensor: Ultrasonic sensors are needed in automated driving, primarily for close-range environment recognition of up to 6 meters and at low speeds, such as during parking. The sensors employ the sonar technique, which bats, for example, also use in navigation. They emit short ultrasound signals that are reflected by obstacles. The echoes are registered by the sensors and analysed by a central control unit.

Video sensor: With a 3D measurement range of over 50 meters, the Bosch stereo video camera provides important optical information about the vehicle’s surroundings. Each of the two highly sensitive image sensors, equipped with colour recognition and complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, has a resolution of 1280 by 960 megapixels and is capable of processing extreme contrasts. The distance between the optical axes of the two lenses is just 12 centimetres. The stereo video camera captures objects spatially and calculates their distance, plus it identifies clear spaces. The information from the sensor is combined with data from other sensor principles to generate a model of the surroundings for automated vehicles.

Source: Bosch Media, Bosch Pictures

“Just driving” was yesterday – the personal assistant is tomorrow

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Bosch’s new show car shows how quickly the future of driving is becoming a reality

  • Connected, automated, and personalized: Bosch has a new take on mobility and is turning the car into people’s third living space
  • New user interfaces ensure more security, more comfort, and fewer distractions when driving
  • Cars are becoming personal assistants on four wheels

Stuttgart – My home, my workplace, my car: connectivity is turning cars into a third living space alongside people’s own home and their office. Bosch is showing what that actually means, and what it will be like to drive a car in the future, with its new show car. It offers intuitive operation and is always online, connected with its surroundings, and driving itself. “The connectivity of cars with their surroundings and with the internet is a key challenge for future mobility,” says Dr. Dirk Hoheisel, member of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH. Automated and connected functions in cars not only make each journey safer and more comfortable, they also turn the car into a truly personal assistant. “In this way, we are making connectivity a personal experience and giving people more time for actual living, even while driving their car,” Hoheisel says.

Intelligent display and user interfaces

More individuality and easier operation become apparent as soon as you get into the show car. The driver monitor camera recognizes the driver and adjusts the steering wheel, mirror, and temperature accordingly. In fact, as if by magic, the car also sets the colour scheme of the display and automatically loads appointments, favourite music, the latest podcasts, and the navigation destination that the driver programmed while still at the kitchen table. The camera is always alert during driving, too, especially when the driver’s eyes get a little heavy. It detects fatigue and microsleep at the wheel, both of which are often the cause of serious accidents. It is usually possible to spot the onset of these early on from movements of the eyelids. The system determines the driver’s ability to concentrate, or degree of tiredness, and issues a warning if necessary. This makes driving even safer. What is more, the driver tiredness detection system constantly monitors the driver’s steering behaviour so it can intervene directly in the event of abrupt movements.

The human machine interface (HMI) turns cars into personal assistants on four wheels. This interface between people and vehicles provides drivers with important information when it is needed and is an attentive alert companion in every situation. In the future, thanks to more personalized communication, automated and connected functions will offer intuitive, comfortable, and safe operation, and drivers will be able to set them to meet their personal requirements – whether in a traffic jam, in urban traffic, or on a family outing. To this end, the show car presents gesture control with haptic feedback. It uses ultrasonic sensors that produce a noticeable resistance whenever the driver performs a gesture in precisely the area that the camera records. This makes gesture control even easier to use and less distracting for drivers, since they can change the information on the display, accept phone calls, or call up a new playlist without touching it. An innovative touch display in the show car also makes it safer and more convenient to use fingertip control. The display provides a haptic response by vibrating each time the driver’s fingertips touch it. This means drivers can sense different structures that feel like real buttons on what is in fact a flat surface. That way, they can easily find the desired function on the display, for instance to adjust the volume of the music, without looking away from the road.

Mobility with smart connectivity: Cars are turning into people’s third living space

The show car also demonstrates how cars are turning into people’s third living space thanks to automation and connectivity. According to Bosch’s “Connected car effect 2025” study, automated driving could enable people who drive a lot to make better use of some 100 hours of their time each year. Once the car detects that automated driving is possible and the driver agrees to hand over control, the car takes over – safely and smoothly. Since the show car is an active part of the internet of things, drivers can carry their digital lives over into their car; perhaps sending e-mails to the office colleagues or video chatting with friends. All this is possible in the time automated driving saves. Flexible display concepts really come into their own here. Drivers can simply gesture to seamlessly switch like magic between various displays of e-mails, chats, videos, and automated and connected functions.

Connected with the smart home, the repair shop, and the whole world

What about planning your evening meal when on the road? Connectivity can help here, too – this time with the smart home. Mykie, the Bosch kitchen assistant, can suggest recipes online in the car. A glance from the car into the connected refrigerator will show whether the necessary ingredients are ready at home. Connectivity between cars and smart homes comes into play even before the journey starts: as soon as drivers enter the car, a display shows them the status of their own home. Has a window still been left open? Is the door locked? It takes just a gesture or a fingertip on the display to automatically lock the doors and monitor the status at home. Moreover, the connected car is also linked to the repair shop. It notifies drivers when an inspection is due, it schedules an appointment at the repair shop upon request, and it can ensure the necessary spare parts are in stock when it gets there. This level of comfort extends to parking: in Bosch’s community-based parking service, cars use the sensors in parking assistants to report available curbside spaces. This information is sent via the cloud to a digital parking map and provided to other vehicles.

Source: Bosch Media

Datacentres: In the driving seat of the connected car revolution

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Here is an interesting article by

(16 December 2016, 11:11 a.m.) on the IOT site:

http://www.iottechnews.com/news/2016/dec/16/datacentres-driving-seat-connected-car-revolution/

When I started driving, cars were generating very little data. They got you from A to B without the addition of gadgets or gizmos. Connected cars as we know them today were certainly not a thing.

Today many vehicles are computers in their own right, connected to the Internet and data is flooding in. In fact, it’s estimated that a single connected car uploads 25GB of data to the cloud per hour.

(c)iStock/aleksle

With a quarter of a billion smart vehicles set to be on the road by 2020, that’s over 6 billion GBs every 60 minutes.

Such vast amounts of data are only going to continue growing in the years to come, putting the automotive industry in a leading position within the Internet of Things (IoT).

But at the same time a growing number of challenges and pressures are becoming apparent – namely the need to process, analyse and store all this new information.

As a result, datacentres are fast becoming the solution to the automotive sector’s rapid data growth, but how exactly are these data halls driving the connected car revolution forward?

From connected cars to autonomous autos

For the past few years, connected cars have been the hype of the sector.

By ‘connected’, we mean vehicles that have access to the internet in some form; cars that are often spotted with sensors that enable machine to machine (M2M) and machine to human (M2H) communication. As already noted, this level of connectivity generates substantial data sets.

The industry is continuing to innovate rapidly, and before connected cars even become commonplace, conversations are shifting to autonomous (or self-driving) vehicles – the futuristic Hollywood vision realised.

Here we’re talking about vehicles that operate without a human driver. While this could well give rise to many transportation efficiencies (reduced driving costs, improved convenience etc.) it will also undoubtedly bring about a more drastic automotive data revolution.

If one connected car today generates 25 GB of data an hour, one autonomous car in the future is likely to generate ten times that information.

On top of all the data a connected car generates, self-driving vehicles will have to be truly intelligent – learning how to their ‘drivers’ like to drive, sensing the physical environment around them, broadcasting location data and interacting with other vehicles and objects to traverse the roads safely.

By producing data on data in this way, autonomous cars will require even quicker analysis and bring entirely new elements of machine learning to the mix.

Which means beyond M2M/M2H communication we must also consider vehicle to vehicle (V2V), vehicle to everything (V2X), vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) vehicle to person (V2P) and vice versa (P2V).

Driving datacentre demand

The resulting complexity and scale of automotive data sets means more and more automotive giants are recognising the need for complex computing to drive their businesses (and vehicles) forward.

HPC – and the datacentre industry as a whole – sits in the driving seat of the intelligent automotive revolution

In turn, this has resulted in an exponential growth in the number of customers from the automotive industry turning to external data centre providers to meet their Big Data and High Performance Computing (HPC) demands.

The need for scalable, secure HPC datacentre solutions is therefore being felt keenly. For many auto-companies, these kind of data hubs are not necessarily those on their doorstep, and IT decision makers are looking to colocation datacentre providers to support their HPC operations, by supplementing compute capacity and improving operational costs.

In order to support the rapid innovation the automotive industry is showing at present, such campuses must present an ‘HPC-ready’ solution – offering the expertise to support the management of information loads as quickly, efficiently and successfully as the automotive experts that have been handling complex vehicle data for decades.

Innovating in Iceland

More often than not, these are remote facilities with the power infrastructure, resiliency levels and computing resources needed to process HPC loads cost-effectively. Moving automotive HPC workloads to campuses with inherent HPC-ready capability gives automotive manufacturers the medium and high power computing density required at significantly lower energy costs.

Ultimately that enables the ability to gain more insight from more data, and moves us closer to the benefits of autonomous driving.

A number of automotive leaders have recognised these benefits, and are already reaping the rewards. One such manufacturer is Volkswagen, which recently announced the migration of one megawatt of compute-intensive data applications to Verne Global’s Icelandic campus in order to support on-going vehicle and automotive tech developments.

Likewise, BMW is a well-established forward-thinker in this area, having run portions of its HPC operations – those responsible for the iconic i-series (i3/i8) vehicles, and for conducting simulations and computer-aided design (CAD) – from the same campus since 2012.

These automotive leaders consider Iceland an optimal location for their HPC clusters – not only for the energy and cost efficiencies it delivers, but the opportunity it allows them to shift their focus from time-intensive management of the technical compute requirements of their day-to-day work to what’s really important: continued automotive innovation.

Even so, wherever automotive data is stored, analysed and understood one thing is for sure: HPC – and the datacentre industry as a whole – sits in the driving seat of the intelligent automotive revolution.

It will advance our understanding of auto-tech, smarten our driving behaviours and ultimately carve a path to the coveted driverless and connected car technologies that will radically change the way we travel into the future.

Digital Headlights

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Mercedes Benz has introduced digital HD headlights that constantly monitor the road ahead and adjust instantaneously to illuminate pedestrians, bicyclists, road markings and street signs.

Each headlight has over 1,000,000 LED facets that are controlled individually by data from forward facing cameras that is processed by the computer system. When a person or object in the road ahead is detected, the headlights illuminate it with a beam of light. The light is also directed and focused to eliminate glare that would dazzle other road users or pedestrians. It can also work like other adaptable lighting and so light the roadway around curves.

The lights can act like a head-up display (HUD), but instead of projecting information onto the windscreen, it shows as a digital image of a zebra crossing or a street sign directly onto the pavement using light. The technology is expected to make it into production by 2020.

Bosch electrification technology

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Bosch solutions make electrification technology accessible and offer powertrain choices for OEMS

Making its global debut at NAIAS, Bosch’s electric axle drive system (eAxle) makes electrification accessible for automakers through a scalable, modular platform that can bring 5-10 percent cost efficiency as compared to stand-alone components. The eAxle is flexible for multiple platforms and brings together top-of-the-line Bosch powertrain components into one system.

The Thermal Management Station will show how Bosch technology efficiently manages heat flows in electric vehicles and extends range by up to 25 percent, especially in winter driving conditions. The holistic thermal management approach for electric vehicles makes heating in the winter and cooling in the summer cost effective and energy efficient.

Advancements in the electrified powertrain are not limited to battery-powered vehicles. Bosch continues to drive innovation in the internal combustion engine. Direct injection (DI) makes up nearly 50 percent of today’s internal combustion engine market, and its share continues to grow as it enters its third generation of system technology. This new generation can provide significant improvements in efficiency, as well as reduced particulate and gaseous emissions, and improved acoustic performance to decrease overall noise.

Electrification enhanced by collaboration with automated and connected technologies

In addition to powertrain technologies, Bosch will also feature automated and connected technologies including the global debut of a key requirement on the path to fully automated driving. The Electric Power Steering (EPS) system with fail-operational function is a highly redundant feature that enables either a driver or auto pilot system to independently return to a minimal risk condition while maintaining about 50 percent electric steering support in the rare case of a single failure. This technology will enable OEMs to comply with the fall back strategies as proposed in the Federal Automated Vehicles Policy documents from the U.S. Department of Transportation and National Traffic Highway Safety Association.

 

Introduction to SAE J2534 (Pass through)

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Introduction

J2534 is a concept that enables flash programming of an emission related ECU regardless of the communication protocol that is used by the ECU. The purpose is that only one tool (hardware device), often referred to as the pass-thru device, should be needed for all kind of ECUs. The connection between the J2534 device and the ECU is a SAE J1962 connector. The J2534 hardware device is to be connected to a standard PC which holds the Application Program Interface (API) from the vehicle manufacturer (Figure 1). The connection between the PC and the J2534 hardware device is up to the manufacturer of the tool, but USB is probably the most common. A J2534 API DLL is provided from the hardware tool developer which handles the communication to the PC. The J2534 document withholds requirements for the hardware and software of a J2534 tool. The communication protocols supported are; ISO9141, ISO14230 (KWP2000), J1850, CAN (ISO11898), ISO15765 and SAE J2610. In 2005 J1939 was also included.

Figure 1. J2534 setup.

Background

Vehicles become more and more complex and almost every function is controlled by an Electronic Control Unit (ECU). The ECUs are often connected onto a communication bus to be able to share data between each other. The most common protocol is CAN, but there are other protocols. There are many Vehicle manufactures and almost as many different communication protocols. Every vehicle manufacturer has a tool for analyzing and reprogramming their product, and this tool is often expensive. This makes it difficult for a car, bus or truck workshop to analyze and repair all kind of vehicles.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (ARB) have been trying to get vehicle manufactures to support common emission-related services for the aftermarket. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) created the J2534 standard, in 2002, to promote the EPA and ARB in their work.

Hardware Requirements

The J2534 hardware works like a gateway between the vehicle ECU and the PC. This pass-thru device translates messages sent from the PC into messages of the protocol being used in the vehicle ECU. J2534 supports the following protocols:

The connection between the PC and the J2534 hardware can freely chosen by the manufacturer of the device i.e. RS-232, USB or maybe a wireless interface. The vehicle manufacturers programming application is not dependant on the hardware connection. Therefore any device can be used for programming any vehicle regardless of the manufacturer.

The connection between the J2534 hardware and the vehicle should be the SAE J1962 connector, also called the OBDII connector. The maximum length of the cable between the J2534 device and the vehicle is 5 meters. If the vehicle manufacturer doesn’t use the J1962 connector, necessary information for connection has to be provided.

The J2534 hardware interface should be able to provide a supply voltage between 5 and 20 volts to the J1962 connector. The power supply should use one of the pins 6, 9, 11, 12, 13 or 14 of the connector and this choice should be selectable in the software. The maximum source current is 200mA and the settling time should be within 1ms.

The J2534 hardware interface should have enough memory to buffer 4Kb of transmit messages and 4Kb of received messages. And the processor must naturally be fast enough to process all messages so that no messages are lost.

Software Requirements

Programming of an emission related ECU using J2534 is done from a PC, preferably a laptop computer, with a Win32 operating system (Windows 95 or later).

Each vehicle manufacturer will have an own API software used for analyzing and programming of their vehicles. If their vehicles only use i.e. ISO 9141, no other protocols have to be supported by the application. It is important that this application conform to the functions in the J2534 API.

This application will have complete information of the ECUs that are supported by the application. This application also includes a user interface where choices can be made depending on the ECU and what action to perform.

A vehicle repair workshop that wants to analyze and re-program vehicles from different manufactures must have an API for each. This API can be downloaded from the internet or installed from a CD or DVD. How this API is provided depend on the manufacturer, but they do charge the customer (repair workshop) ordering it. The price differs a lot between manufacturers, a one year subscription costs between $75 and $2500.

Each manufacturer of a J2534 tool (hardware device) must have a DLL-file which includes functions and routines for communicating with the PC. The DLL-file is then loaded into the vehicle manufacturer’s application. The functions in the J2534 tool are linked to a corresponding function in the application. The DLL-file also includes routines for the connection (RS-232, USB etc.) between the J2534 tool and the PC.

The intention is that every J2534 tool should to be capable of communicating with all protocols supported by the J2534 standard. The application provided by the vehicle manufacturers use commands described in J2534 standard to connect to a hardware tool (of any brand). The connection and initialization gives the hardware tool information of which protocol that is used. Thereafter it is up to the hardware tool to manage the connection to the vehicle with de desired protocol. The PC application will send messages in the earlier determined protocol format to the hardware tool which buffers the messages and transmits the messages in the order they were received.

J2534 Application Programming Interface (API)

The J2534 API consists of a number of functions for communication which must be supported by both hardware tool and vehicle manufacturer application. For the PC application developer this means that all commands and messages must made with the functions defined in the API. See table 1 below.

Function Description
PassThruConnect Establish a connection with a protocol channel.
PassThruDisconnect Terminate a connection with a protocol channel.
PassThruReadMsgs Read message(s) from a protocol channel.
PassThruWriteMsgs Write message(s) to a protocol channel.
PassThruStartPeriodicMsg Start sending a message at a specified time interval on a protocol channel.
PassThruStopPeriodicMsg Stop a periodic message.
PassThruStartMsgFilter Start filtering incoming messages on a protocol channel.
PassThruStopMsgFilter Stops filtering incoming messages on a protocol channel.
PassThruSetProgrammingVoltage Set a programming voltage on a specific pin.
PassThruReadVersion Reads the version information for the DLL and API.
PassThruGetLastError Gets the text description of the last error.
PassThruIoctl General I/O control functions for reading and writing protocol configuration parameters (e.g. initialization, baud rates, programming voltages, etc.).

J2534 function description.

The first command that is sent is the PassThruConnect which establish the connection between the PC application and the J2534 hardware tool. This command includes information about which protocol to use, standard or extended CAN identifier or if ISO15765 is used. The command also includes a channel identification which will be used for all following communication. If the connection was successful, a STATUS_NOERROR value is returned, which indicates that the function has been successfully performed. Before any messages can be sent an initialization has to be made, PassThruIoctl, where parameters like node address, baud rate or protocol specific parameters are set.

All messages sent from the PC application follow the same structure which consists of: protocol type (i.e. J1850, CAN, J9141), receive message status, transmit message flags, received message timestamp (microseconds), data size in bytes, extra data index (start position of extra data in received message i.e. IFR, CRC, checksum), and last but not least an array of data bytes (the received message). It is possible to send CAN messages longer than 8 bytes using ISO15765 commands if this feature was selected upon connection.

Some ECUs sends a lot of messages with short period of time between each message. The filter function, PassThruStartMsgFilter, can be set to either block or pass messages. This will decrease the messages needed to be sent between the hardware tool and the PC. The message is first “ANDed” with a mask which gives the opportunity to compare only some important bits of the identifier. Thereafter the “ANDed” message is compared to a specific pattern.

J2534 API DLL

The J2534 API DLL provides a linkage between the API functions and the hardware tool. Since the PC application should not have to care about which communication protocol is being used between the PC and the hardware tool. Each manufacturer of a hardware tool has a DLL-file with a unique name. This way it is possible for the software application on the PC to distinguish which hardware tool to connect. It is important that the developer of the firmware in the hardware tool follows the API and name the functions exactly as in the J2534 description. Otherwise it will be impossible for the PC application to find the functions in the DLL when performing the linkage.

Source: https://www.kvaser.com/about-can/can-standards/j2534/