Brief analysis of the three main lines of development trends of automotive electronic technology (I)

The development of automobile technology now focuses on three directions: automobile safety, energy saving and emission reduction, and automobile performance/comfort and convenience. The technological development trend running through these three main lines is the electrification, integration and intelligence of automobile systems. The development in the field of "electronic chassis" is particularly prominent. This technological trend will shape the future of the automobile industry.

　　At the 2013 International Forum on Automotive Electronics and Semiconductor Technology Innovation held in Shanghai recently, Pan Dinghai, General Manager of the Automotive Electronics Technology Center of Shanghai Aerospace Automobile Electromechanical Co., Ltd., systematically described the applications in some key automotive electronic systems and key core technologies, and gave a detailed introduction to the development trend of technology, especially the development trend of automotive-grade chip technology applications and the requirements of automotive electronics for chips. At the same time, he discussed the current status of domestic automotive electronic technology development and some existing problems, and put forward thoughts and suggestions for the development path and strategy for trying to break through the bottleneck of automotive electronic technology in the future.

　　Three main lines of automotive technology development

　　At present, the cost of electronic systems in automobiles may account for about 25-30% of the total cost of the automobile, and will exceed 40% in a few years. In 2012, the scale of China's automotive electronics market is expected to exceed 300 billion yuan. On the other hand, the rapid development of new energy vehicles has also accelerated the pace of application and development of electronic control systems in automobiles. Automotive electronic control technology has become the main battlefield for automotive technology development and market competition.

　　From the current market development trend, Pan Dinghai believes that the systematization, integration and intelligence of automotive electronic technology are inevitable directions, and the three trends are developing along the three main lines of automotive safety, energy saving and emission reduction, and comfort and convenience/enhanced performance. The mainstream technology running through these three main lines is the electronicization, systematization, integration and intelligence of automotive systems.

　　Let's talk about car safety first. Pan Dinghai pointed out that the market and social demand for car safety technology mainly come from three factors: consumers' demand for safety, the formulation of the latest safety regulations, and drivers' increasing distraction. "The survey found that 57% of consumers believe that driver assistance systems or lane guidance systems that help them prevent lane deviation are very important factors to consider when buying a car. In order to reduce the occurrence of car accidents, many countries have formulated various regulations to make specific requirements for car safety. On the other hand, the use of smartphones, in-car entertainment systems and navigation systems in cars has made drivers more and more distracted, and improper use is likely to cause traffic accidents. Therefore, government regulations and user requirements determine the development of the market. Modern electronic technology makes it possible to avoid accidents and car accidents, or can greatly reduce the degree of loss caused by car accidents and promote the development of safety technology."

　　Automobile safety technology can be divided into two categories: active safety systems and passive safety systems. Active safety systems refer to safety technologies that can prevent accidents, such as ABS/ESC, various driver assistance systems such as collision warning, lane keeping system, blind spot warning system and rear monitoring system, tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS), electric power steering system (EPS) and body electronic safety system, etc. Passive safety systems refer to safety technologies used to avoid or reduce casualties after an accident, such as seat belts, airbags, rollover passenger protection systems, etc.

　　For traditional energy vehicles, automotive energy conservation and emission reduction electronic technologies include engine electronic control and management systems, electronically controlled automatic transmissions (ECAT), electronically controlled steering systems, and vehicle start/stop systems. For new energy vehicles, automotive electronic control technology is the basic technical condition for realizing new energy vehicles. In turn, the development of new energy vehicles has brought more new opportunities for automotive electronics, including drive motors and drive control systems, batteries and battery management systems (BMS), vehicle electronic control systems, thermal management systems, EPS or wire-controlled steering systems, and brake energy recovery systems.

In addition to safety and energy saving, ride comfort, network informationization and system performance improvement are also the main driving forces for the electrification of automotive systems. Electronic technologies that provide comfort and convenience/enhance system performance for automobiles include body control modules (BCM) - network integration of control modules on the internal body of the car, doors, windows, wipers, headlights, seat control, defogger/defrost, etc.; vehicle information systems (Telematics) or Internet of Vehicles - the connection between the car and the external network, telephone, GPS navigation, real-time traffic information, Internet access, remote fault diagnosis/anti-theft, entertainment, C2C communication, etc., making the car a "mobile network terminal" of various electronic modules; intelligent navigation/intelligent transportation system (ITS), which can realize target monitoring, scheduling, road traffic information services, vehicle assisted navigation, etc. The system can obtain information such as weather along the way, traffic flow on the road ahead, traffic accidents, traffic jams, etc., and provide the best driving route with the shortest distance and can bypass the relatively concentrated vehicle density according to the target data items provided by the driver, so as to realize intelligent vehicle assisted navigation. Others include automatic air conditioning control system, active noise elimination technology in the car, etc.

　　Integrated integration, networking and intelligence of automotive electronic technology

　　There are more and more electronic control units in cars. The development and maturity of embedded system integrated control technology, computer technology and network technology have made the integration, networking and intelligence of automotive electronic control systems an inevitable trend in the development of automotive technology. Pan Dinghai pointed out that through integrated integration, the safety, fuel economy, handling stability, comfort and other performance of the automotive system can be coordinated and enhanced, the value of the car can be improved and the total cost can be reduced. The two most typical integration areas at present are the integration of chassis and powertrain systems.

　　Intelligence. Modern automobile technology is developing in the direction of a more active and intelligent trend to achieve intelligent coordination of "people-car-environment". The main feature of the intelligent system is to use technology to make up for the defects of human factors, so that even in very replicated road and other environmental conditions, the car can be automatically and more accurately controlled, making the car safer, more comfortable, more energy-efficient, and better performing. The value and efficiency of automotive electronic products in the whole vehicle are further improved. The characteristic of intelligence is that the system can actively assist the driver to take necessary actions, which is reflected in the fact that the system must have three characteristics, namely, real-time perception ability, judgment and decision-making ability, and control execution ability. "In fact, the highly responsive driver assistance systems (active safety systems) currently being developed have a fairly high degree of intelligence, such as: lane departure prevention system/lane keeping system; active collision avoidance system, etc.; adaptive cruise control system; intelligent navigation/intelligent traffic system; intelligent driving system-unmanned vehicle; intelligent airbags, etc."

　　Networking. Rapid data exchange, high reliability and low cost are requirements for automotive electronic network systems, which realize data communication, information sharing and functional coordination and optimization between various systems. Bus technology connects various electronic control units, intelligent sensors, intelligent instruments, etc. in the car to form an internal local area network of the car, and communicates with each other through protocols to realize information sharing between various systems. The main advantages include: greatly reducing the number, connection points and types of automotive wiring harnesses, improving the reliability and maintainability of the system; using universal sensors to achieve the purpose of data information sharing; improving the flexibility of the system, that is, the system function can be changed through software.

　　Pan Dinghai said that the development and competitiveness of the domestic automotive electronics industry depend on the development and industrialization of domestic upstream semiconductor products and integrated modules. The technology and industry of chips and core components are the foundation and guarantee for the development of the automotive electronics industry. However, this field is basically monopolized by foreign companies in China, which basically rely on imports and secondary development on this basis, which does not have advantages in technology and cost.