Car2 Cloud drives the future - using data storage to drive automotive industry upgrades and urban development

Data storage is driving the automotive industry forward

Automakers are building smarter technology into autonomous vehicles (AVs) that could change the way we transport people. As AVs become more integrated into society, they have the potential to revolutionize the way people live their daily lives and could even impact the way cities are designed. The road to getting there is long, but innovations in data storage can help navigate the journey.

Choosing the right storage device for your car

The first step in automotive design is to understand the AV data requirements. It is important to understand how the internal NAND storage, controller chip, and firmware work together to help the data communicate with the rest of the vehicle system.

When asked how data storage is affecting automotive design, Russell Ruben, director of marketing for Western Digital's global automotive division, attributed it to the increasing levels of autonomy in vehicles. "Storage requirements have really taken off. It's changed significantly with the increase in applications and connectivity in vehicles," said Russell Ruben.

Ruben has worked in the automotive storage space for nearly a decade and believes embedded NAND offers automakers high-quality solutions and strong reliability.

Accurately calculating data workloads is critical when designing vehicle systems. The endurance of a storage device depends on the amount of data written and can vary by storage capacity. Every device has a limit, so it is important to determine data write requirements based on actual system workloads.

Write amplification factor (WAF) is also part of the system workload. Because the amount of data written to NAND storage helps determine endurance and wear over time, understanding WAF is important for optimizing drive performance. According to Ruben, for most automakers, the typical WAF range is 1.0-2.5, which means that data workloads are best handled when automotive-grade NAND is integrated from the beginning of the vehicle design process.

Leveraging data to achieve more

AVs are essentially supercomputers on wheels. With an array of built-in sensors, cameras, and internal networking, they can seamlessly detect everything that is going on. They are able to see more of what is on the road, from other cars, cyclists, pedestrians, and road signs. Smarter vehicles have a greater awareness of their surroundings than most human drivers.

Self-driving cars also use more data. One self-driving car is equivalent to nearly 2,700 average internet users.

Ruben recently spoke at Automotive World, a leading provider of research and events for the automotive industry, explaining how much data AVs use and how that compares to the data used by the average internet user.

“By 2020, the average self-driving car will process 4,000 GB of data per day, while the average internet user will process 1.5 GB,” he said.

As self-driving cars continue to upgrade with more advanced cameras and sensors, they will have smarter features and technologies, generating more data.

New intelligent feature sets can help drivers stay on the road. With reliable storage, aspects such as lane departure detection, rear-view video, and object avoidance can be enabled. In addition, over-the-air (OTA) software updates from manufacturers can be pushed to add new features and improvements.

Some cars even have the ability to park themselves and can drive themselves completely autonomously. However, the automotive world still has some way to go before self-driving cars are a regular sight on the streets.

Upgrade lanes

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released a grading system of automated driving levels—Level 1 (no automation) to Level 5 (full automation)—to explain the current state of the industry and how it will impact the future.

Most AVs on the road today are Level 2 – partial automation or lower. And as higher levels become integrated into society, the potential for growth and economic benefits is enormous.

For many people, employment or independent living depends on the ability to drive. Self-driving cars could help more people get to work and create new jobs for the estimated 2 million people with disabilities.

As automotive data technology advances, the impact won’t just be limited to cars. Soon, roads and cities may begin to see major changes in parking, road construction, and public transportation.

“Expanding” urban space

As AVs continue to roll out more onboard digital storage, reaching Level 3 and higher levels of autonomy could help reduce traffic and road congestion. This could have a significant impact on the planning of road development and urban layout.

In the future, driverless cars will be able to drop off passengers and then continue on their way, so real estate once occupied by parking lots and large garages can be replaced by more human-centric needs, such as housing, parks or shopping malls.

Russell Ruben hypothesizes that there may even be a day when people don’t want to own cars. “…Instead, they could subscribe to a ride-sharing service, similar to streaming music or movies.”

With more efficient self-driving cars on the streets, cars can travel closer together, creating more space for cyclists and pedestrians.

The road ahead

This is still the beginning of the autonomous vehicle revolution. With the right NAND storage, vehicle data workloads can be balanced to fundamentally improve the way people travel and experience life. It will take time, but as with any major shift, there is the potential to change everything for the better.