The three giants that truly control the driverless car market are so low-key...

If the autonomous driving competition is like a marathon, the players directly competing on the track are traditional car companies and emerging technology companies , and auto parts manufacturers are the companies that produce running shoes for them.

Direct participants in the competition naturally get the most attention, but they can't always solve the problems of automotive electronics and software by themselves. "Shoe factories" rarely make headlines, but this doesn't mean that they are not active in the layout of autonomous driving. Today we will take a look at what the top three "shoe factories" have done!

2015 ranking of Tier 1 suppliers mainly engaged in automotive electronics

Bosch is confident

Bosch is the world's largest supplier of automotive parts and has shown great enthusiasm in the field of autonomous driving, having started road testing of autonomous driving as early as 2013.

In recent years, Bosch has made a big push into the field of autonomous driving, and has worked with many companies, such as Tesla, a major player in autonomous driving, NVIDIA, a leading machine learning chip giant, and TomTom, a global navigation brand.

Bosch and Tom Tom develop first radar map

At present, there are two main modes of development of autonomous driving technology: gradual and leapfrog. The gradual mode is mainly represented by traditional car companies, starting with assisted driving and gradually achieving the goal of autonomous driving from L1 to L5. The leapfrog mode is represented by technology companies such as Google and Baidu, which directly enter the research and development of fully autonomous driving.

Bosch has adopted a parallel approach of gradual and leapfrogging in the development of autonomous driving. On the one hand, it is gradually evolving towards advanced autonomous driving through ADAS technology, while on the other hand, it is also directly developing L5 autonomous driving technology with Daimler Group.

Bosch's autonomous driving timeline:

• Automatic parking will be realized in 2018;

• Achieve autonomous driving on highways by 2020;

• Achieve L5 level fully autonomous driving technology in 2022.

The automatic parking function means that after arriving at the destination, the passengers get off the car and the car will find a parking space by itself.

Currently, Bosch has the most patents in the world in the field of autonomous driving , more than any other car manufacturer or technology company, covering areas such as sensors, driver assistance systems, control, software, etc., with a total of about 450 patents.

While many companies hope to achieve the highest level of L5 in "autonomous driving" between 2023 and 2025, Bosch appears to be full of confidence and has moved up the timetable to 2022. Bosch has autonomous driving R&D teams in Germany, the United States and China, but the focus and targets are different.

In Germany, Bosch mainly conducts research and development of L3~L5 autonomous driving technology. The technical team in the United States, due to its proximity to Silicon Valley, focuses more on artificial intelligence (AI) research in autonomous driving. In China, it actively cooperates with local partners.

For example, the maps of the United States are completely open and can be used directly. However, the situation in China is different (policy), so Bosch chooses to cooperate with domestic map manufacturers.

On April 17, Bosch announced that it had reached a cooperation with three Chinese map suppliers, Baidu, AutoNavi and NavInfo, to introduce Bosch's precise positioning service, "Bosch Road Signature", into the Chinese autonomous driving market, thereby promoting the localization of autonomous driving technology in China.

High-precision map ecosystem with integrated Bosch positioning services

Bosch provides the hardware and path logic judgment program for autonomous driving, and the three major map vendors provide Bosch with high-precision map services. The research focus of both parties is on high-precision map positioning issues.

The Cherokee on display was modified with an autonomous driving solution, with an autonomous driving level between L2 and L3. The car is equipped with five Bosch mid-range millimeter-wave radars, a multi-function camera, electronic stability program ESP, and electronic power steering system EPS.

Under normal circumstances, when using high-precision maps, self-driving cars rely on a machine on the roof called GNSS (GPS Positioning Server) for positioning. However, this system is relatively expensive and although it can transmit large amounts of data, it is not convenient for mass production.

Bosch, with its creative ideas, proposed a solution to locate the vehicle based on the common on-board camera + millimeter-wave radar on the front of the vehicle.

Millimeter-wave radar has strong penetration, and even in bad weather conditions (such as rain, snow, fog, etc.) it will not affect the generation of high-precision positioning layers. At the same time, millimeter-wave radar has a long detection distance (long-range radar 0-250m), which can detect changes in the positioning features in front of the vehicle earlier, while the camera can capture the signs on the road and compare them with the high-precision map to obtain very accurate positioning.

Through the cooperation, Bosch can verify whether its autonomous driving technology can be adapted to high-precision maps, while map suppliers can also improve their own high-precision maps through Bosch's actual road tests, thus achieving a win-win effect.

The problem of high-precision maps has been solved. In the field of connected transportation, Bosch chose to cooperate with Huawei to conduct road tests of V2X, the Internet of Vehicles technology.

In the field of connected transportation, Bosch, Huawei and British mobile network operator Vodafone jointly conducted road tests on the vehicle-to-everything (LTE-V2X) communication technology in Germany to enable data exchange between vehicles and provide technical preparation for connected and autonomous driving.

At the same time, the cooperation between Bosch and Huawei has also expanded to China. They are currently conducting localized development and testing of vehicle-to-vehicle collision warning and emergency braking scenarios based on Chinese laws and regulations and road conditions to better serve the needs of the local Chinese market.

In terms of autonomous driving products, Bosch's perception and execution product matrix is ​​relatively complete. At this year's Shanghai Auto Show, Bosch demonstrated a vehicle frame equipped with a complete set of autonomous driving products. The frame includes three categories of products that Bosch can provide: sensors, actuators, and interconnection controls.

Bosch configures the chassis of a complete set of autonomous driving products

The sensors include binocular cameras, long-distance monocular cameras, long-distance millimeter-wave radars, medium-distance millimeter-wave radars, and ultrasonic radars. The actuators include all lateral and longitudinal control products, iBooster, ESP, and Servolectric.

Perception system In terms of sensors, including monocular and binocular cameras, millimeter-wave radars, and ultrasonic radars, Bosch already has mass-produced automotive-grade products. As for the immature LiDAR sensors, while major component suppliers are busy acquiring or investing in cooperative products of LiDAR companies, Bosch is particularly low-key. Considering that Bosch has a complete MEMS production line, the company is likely to be developing low-cost MEMS LiDARs and then wait for the product to mature before it is announced to the public.

Actuators In terms of control products, Bosch has ESP, iBooster and Servolectric. Currently, Bosch's ESP has monopolized the entire market in terms of reliability and price. Domestic mass-produced cars equipped with iBooster will be available in 2018.

With its accumulated experience in various aspects of autonomous driving, Bosch is now capable of providing a complete set of autonomous driving products. At the same time, it also provides individual products according to customer needs.

Denso In a hurry

Denso's success in becoming one of the giants in the automotive parts industry is closely related to its advantage of "taking shelter under a big tree".

Denso's predecessor was one of the parts factories of Toyota Motor Corporation. In December 1949, Toyota Corporation reorganized and separated the parts factory from the group.

The Denso plant separated from Toyota re-registered "Denso Japan Co., Ltd." in Kariya City, Aichi Prefecture with an asset valuation of 15 million yen. According to the agreement, although Denso has separated from Toyota, it is still the main supplier of Toyota auto parts .

Currently, Denso and Toyota are in a cross-shareholding state. Toyota Motor holds 24.77% of Denso's shares and is Denso's largest shareholder, while Toyota Industries holds 8.72% and is the second largest shareholder. Denso holds 2.59% of Toyota's shares and is the third largest shareholder.

In recent years, although Denso has been continuously innovating for the Toyota Group in the field of driver assistance systems, Toyota is not very satisfied with Denso's performance, as can be seen from the fact that the 2015 new Corolla uses Continental's more advanced "accident prevention system."

Toyota's strong competitors for the global throne, such as General Motors, are constantly developing driverless technology and gradually establishing their relative advantages. Denso is obviously under great pressure from Toyota, its largest customer and shareholder, to provide more advanced driver assistance systems.

Judging from its frequent actions in recent year, Denso is really anxious this time.

In April 2016, Denso joined hands with NEC Corporation (NEC) to jointly develop microcontrollers for autonomous driving systems. In May, it established an ADAS company in Germany to develop image recognition technology.

In September, Denso acquired a 51% stake in Fujitsu Ten, a Japanese company engaged in radar system manufacturing and autonomous driving system research and development. In October, it led the investment in Thinci, a machine learning and image processing startup.

In April this year, Denso and Toshiba announced that the two companies have begun discussions on strengthening cooperation in multiple fields such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving. In fact, this is not the first time that Denso and Toshiba have cooperated.

In October 2016, the two companies reached a basic agreement to jointly develop an artificial intelligence technology called "Deep Neural Network-Intellectual Property (DNN-IP)" for use in image recognition systems independently developed by the two companies to help achieve advanced driver assistance and autonomous driving technologies.

Denso is moving faster to keep pace with other top suppliers.

Denso divides autonomous driving into three different states and provides three different solutions for these three different stages.

1. Mainly provides ACC, AEB, etc.

2. Semi-autonomous driving can be achieved through the technical integration of sensors such as millimeter-wave radar, lidar, and cameras.

3. In the future, we will achieve true driverless technology by introducing V2X and developing new sensor technologies.

Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) is the interconnection between vehicles and everything else.

It includes vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-road facilities (V2I), and vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) interconnections, and can obtain a series of traffic information such as real-time road conditions, road information, pedestrian information, etc., thereby providing long-distance environmental signals.

Denso believes that cars can judge the environment within a range of 100 meters with the help of vision, radar, and sonar, and V2X between 100 and 1,000 meters. Between 1,000 meters and 10,000 kilometers, 5G networks and the support of a high-precision map are required.

Currently, DENSO's core products are millimeter-wave radar, lidar and V2X.

Millimeter wave radar is a mature product of Denso. In 2000, Denso proposed to use matrix, multi-beam or array methods to obtain target recognition. Such products made Toyota cars far surpass BMW around 2005.

LiDAR The amount of data obtained is far greater than that of millimeter-wave radar, but its cost is also incomparable to that of millimeter-wave radar. Although millimeter-wave radar has obvious shortcomings, it has a long measurement distance of up to 200m and can also be used in rainy and snowy weather. The fusion of LiDAR and millimeter-wave radar just makes up for their respective shortcomings.

Denso started developing LiDAR very early, and the company's LiDAR was equipped on Hino Motors' trucks in 1996. However, the requirements for LiDAR in autonomous driving are getting higher and higher.

In April 2016, Denso invested in TriLumina, a solid-state lidar company.

In terms of information communication, Denso's V2X products have achieved vehicle-to-vehicle communication and traffic light communication. The next generation product is the PLUS communication device.

Denso V2X technology demonstration

In 2000, Denso successfully developed the 700 MHz frequency band for wireless communication. In 2012, the Japanese government completely opened up the frequency band for automobile companies to use. Later, Denso formulated global standards for vehicle-to-vehicle communication in the 700 MHz frequency band. In 2016, Denso mass-produced V2X products.

At present, on the main streets of Japan, such as Tokyo and Nagoya, Denso has installed many traffic lights that can transmit information, such as the delay of traffic lights and the information of the central control system to the traffic lights, and the traffic lights to high-end cars. Through continuous promotion, there are now about 30,000 units per year.

In addition, according to relevant media reports, in the 2017 fiscal year (ending March 2018), Denso's R&D expenses reached 425 billion yen, increasing to a level comparable to the three major German companies.

At CES 2017, Denso and MIT jointly built a next-generation PEV. This concept car not only has a simple and cool appearance, but also includes wireless charging, luminous exterior lights for unmanned driving/semi-automatic driving/normal driving modes, and other functions.

Others include a holographic touch controller, a V2V technology experience scene based on the hTC VIVE virtual reality device, and a contactless human-computer interaction system. It uses a motion control system composed of multiple sets of sensors to track the driver's eyes and head movements, so that the driver can perform certain operations without leaving the steering wheel.

The new generation of PEV developed by Denso and MIT

Magna Step by step

In 1957, Magna's founder, Mr. Frank Stronach, started his business in a garage in Canada (another garage), and his first pot of gold came from the sun visor bracket business of General Motors. Today, Magna has become the well-deserved number one in the North American market and one of the top three in the global automotive parts industry.

As one of the most diversified automotive parts suppliers in the world, the company's business spans nine major business departments, including automotive seat systems, exterior systems, locking systems, mirror systems, roof systems, body and chassis systems, powertrain, electronic systems, and vehicle engineering/OEM manufacturing.

In 2016, the company's global sales reached 36.4 billion US dollars, with more than 159,000 employees and 321 factories in 29 countries and regions, covering almost all OEM customers. The company ranks among the top in almost all market segments.

Magna's advantage lies in its OEM manufacturing capabilities for complete vehicles . Other suppliers are strong in certain areas but cannot provide solutions from the perspective of the entire vehicle. This is an extremely important difference from other suppliers. Magna can not only have an in-depth understanding of a certain product system, but also understand the integration between systems from the perspective of the entire vehicle.

In July 2015, Magna acquired Getrag, one of the world's largest automotive transmission system suppliers, for $1.9 billion.

In December 2016, Magna announced that it would work with Innoviz Technologies to develop long-range lidar remote sensing technology solutions to achieve various functions of autonomous driving.

In May this year, Magna also invested in Peloton, a US company that mainly develops vehicle-to-vehicle technology that can improve the fuel efficiency of commercial trucks.

Magna agrees that autonomous driving is a major trend. It believes that from a technical perspective, some technologies that make driving more convenient and comfortable will have breakthroughs in the next three to four years, but the driver does not need to take active control or even sit in the driver's seat. The era of fully autonomous driving is still a long way off, at least until after 2025.

In the process of achieving fully autonomous driving, we will go through different levels and stages of development, and the technical issues will be gradually resolved. However, issues such as infrastructure, system reliability and ethics remain thorny.

Magna Chief Marketing Officer James: At present, each vehicle manufacturer is conducting its own research and development independently, but there will always be a day when vehicle manufacturers must provide services on one platform and with one standard.

In the field of autonomous driving, Magna's products cover advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), electrification of components and automotive systems, vehicle networking and data security.

Magna's driver assistance system team is part of Magna Electronics Systems, with two core R&D teams in Detroit and Frankfurt. However, there are also related software and hardware application engineers in other product divisions, such as powertrain, mirrors and locks.

When Magna needs to provide a complete system solution, it will gather all relevant R&D engineers to establish a project R&D team. At present, Magna mainly focuses on its own technical capabilities and technical features. For example, during the test ride, Magna focused on camera technology. In North America, Magna is already the number one supplier of camera-based DAS systems.

Magna CTO Swamy: We also realize that cameras alone are not enough, it requires the integration of sensors, radars and electronic components. From the perspective of autonomous driving assistance systems, we continue to focus on the various sensors needed to achieve autonomous driving.

Electrification of components and automotive systems In Magna's existing product portfolio, there are already a lot of electronic system software and hardware that can promote autonomous driving in different aspects. For example, when you are driving on ice and recognize that the road is slippery, Magna's all-wheel drive system will automatically open to increase torque and switch between all-wheel drive and four-wheel drive.

Magna is more concerned about the practical application of autonomous driving technology, hardware and software, and how to make the existing product portfolio more intelligent, able to utilize and identify vehicle information, and make the entire system operate more efficiently.

In terms of Internet of Vehicles and data security , Magna has partnered with Israel's Argus Cyber ​​Security to provide Internet of Vehicles security solutions.

Magna believes that more and more data is being transmitted in cars, and it is very important to ensure the security of the transmission.

One of the major advantages of Magna's Internet of Vehicles security solution is that it can not only deal with known threats, but also continuously monitor potential hacker attacks. Once suspicious data is found, the system will alert the OEM and upgrade according to the OEM's requirements to deal with emerging new threats. It not only provides existing data protection, but also provides an Internet of Vehicles solution that can be monitored in real time and updated infinitely.

At CES 2017, Magna will showcase its latest ADAS innovations and demonstrate how they can help automakers achieve all levels of autonomous driving.

In addition, Magna's booth also showcased a lidar product developed by its partner Innoviz.

Given the necessity of LiDAR to achieve the required performance and safety requirements, Magna will integrate Innoviz’s technology into its autonomous driving systems, thereby providing automakers with a complete sensor integration solution.

Vision of the future travel ecosystem

Looking to the future, Magna will leverage its unique advantage of a holistic perspective on the entire vehicle to integrate forward-looking technologies across product systems, creating unlimited possibilities for the realization of emerging mobility concepts.

Source: iCar, Autohome, China Auto News

Exclusive compilation of Global Internet of Things Observation

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