Foreign ADAS Tier1 research: 4D millimeter wave radar is ramping up, CMS becomes a new battlefield-EEWORLD

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The international Tier1 ADAS/AD product matrix is complete and continues to make efforts to occupy the Chinese market.

Judging from the ADAS/AD product matrix, some head Tier 1 products have basically completed the coverage of the full product matrix.

For example, Continental’s latest products include cockpit monitoring system CMS (OMS), configured as OMS camera + cockpit radar , expected to be released in 2024; 1550nm long-range lidar HRL131, with a range of more than 300m, HFOV128°, VFOV28°, expected to be released in 2024 Annual mass production; ultrasonic radar CUS320, with a range of 0.1m-6m, is planned for mass production in 2024.

Bosch has also completed full ADAS/AD product coverage except CMS. Its latest products include 1550nm long-range lidar, which has been physically exhibited at CES in 2023. Its range is greater than 200m and its power consumption is less than 20W; inside the cabin The monitoring system IMS (OMS) is expected to be mass-produced in 2024. It is configured with an OMS camera that can be installed above the central control display or integrated in the rearview mirror in the car + a cockpit radar located on the top of the cockpit.

However, from the perspective of solutions, there is currently little deployment of international Tier 1, an integrated transportation and parking solution that is popular in the domestic market. The main reason is that it takes about 2-3 years from proposal to implementation of international Tier 1 solutions. For example, China’s latest L2+ solution equipped with Ambarella CV3 was released in January 2021, but mass production is not expected until 2026.

In order to cope with the current passive situation, international Tier1 is also actively seeking changes. For example, Bosch is developing the Wave3 solution, which is being developed simultaneously by China's XC division and the German headquarters. The Chinese solution uses dual Orin and is planned to be mass-produced as early as 2023; ZF announced in June 2023 that it will use its automotive chassis technology Department and active safety division will be merged to reduce the internal friction of decision-making between different departments and speed up the implementation time of products and solutions. In the future, it may form a company structure that integrates various vehicle businesses such as cockpit and chassis with active safety.

International Tier1 ADAS/AD product matrix comparison

Source: Compilation of public information

4D millimeter wave radar begins to increase in volume, and international Tier 1 has the first-mover advantage

According to Zosi Automotive Research data, from January to May 2023, the overall installation volume of 4D radars in new passenger cars in China was 65,500 units, including 35,700 front/rear direction radar units and 29,800 angular radar units. Models that have been confirmed to be equipped with 4D millimeter wave radar include Feifan R7, Lili L7 Pro, Wenjie M5, etc.

Installation volume of 4D millimeter wave radar in some car models

Source: Zuosi Automobile Research Database

The development process of 4D millimeter wave radar can be divided into three stages: embryonic stage, development stage and mass production stage.

Embryonic period: Before 2022, foreign Tier1 manufacturers will take the lead in upgrading from traditional 3D radar to 4D radar. For example, mainland China started the research and development of ARS540 in 2016.

Development period: 2022-2024, domestic manufacturers begin to lay out 4D radar products. For example, Nav Electronics will release 4D-S front radar, corner radar products, and a new six-cascade product in 2022; Freetech will release FVR40 in 2022.

Mass production period: After 2024, it is expected that 4D radar will begin mass production and put on vehicles.

Currently, 4D millimeter-wave radar is still in the verification stage, and whether the installation volume can increase mainly depends on two points:

1. Verify the cost-effectiveness of using 4D millimeter wave radar (replacing ordinary millimeter wave radar) in low-level assisted driving solutions (L2-L2+). For example, Aptiv's satellite-based architecture sensing and computing system supports L2 and L2+ with 5R5V12U.

2. Verify the feasibility of replacing lidar with 4D millimeter-wave radar in high-end smart driving solutions (L2.5-L2.9, that is, ADAS that supports high-speed NOA and urban NOA).

Some suppliers 4D millimeter wave radar

Source: Compilation of public information

Regulations are adjusted, China CMS is allowed to be launched, and competition in the new market is fierce

On July 1, 2023, GB 15084-2022 "Performance and Installation Requirements for Indirect Vision Devices for Motor Vehicles" will be officially implemented. This policy stipulates that M and N class motor vehicles can be equipped with electronic rearview mirrors and replace traditional optical rearview mirrors. glass.

At present, many international Tier 1, domestic suppliers and car companies have already laid out CMS products. Among them, international Tier 1 companies that have released/mass-produced CMS products include: Continental, Magna, Valeo, etc.; domestic suppliers include Zijin Technology, Yinjia Technology, Huayang, etc.

Taken together, international Tier 1 companies are slightly earlier than domestic companies in terms of CMS layout due to reasons such as the early opening up of foreign regulations.

From a technical perspective, the current mainstream CMS solution adopted by international Tier 1 is 2CMS cameras + 2 OLEDs , that is, 2 rear-facing CMS cameras (usually wide-angle cameras) are used to replace the left and right rearview mirrors. Another solution of 3CMS camera + streaming media rearview mirror/central control screen involves relatively few companies because it involves image splicing/correction and other technologies. Magna CLEARVIEW, as the representative, uses 3CMS camera + streaming media rearview. Mirror splicing display solution, it is worth mentioning that Magna also proposed a 2CMS camera + 2OLED solution in 2017, but the real large-scale mass production product is still the current 3CMS solution product.

Magna CLEARVIEW (left) Valeo Sightstream (right)

Source: Magna, Valeo official website

CMS solution for China’s major passenger car supplier

Source: Compilation of public information

Decision-making products have been upgraded, and many Tier1s have launched cross-domain/central computing platforms

With the upgrade of automobile architecture, the main control unit of automobile internal electronics has also developed from hundreds of ECUs to several domain controllers now . The next step will be to use cross-domain computing platforms (such as cabin-parking integrated domain control, travel-parking integrated domain control). Domain control, etc.) to achieve the computing needs of the entire vehicle, and in the future, a central computing platform will be used to complete all computing tasks and achieve a central electronic and electrical architecture.

Currently, many international Tier1s have released/iterated multi-domain/central computing platform solutions in 2022. Judging from the time point, it is the next generation alternative to domain controller products.

Domain controller and central computing platform solutions for some Chinese passenger car suppliers

Source: Compilation of public information

The earlier ones include ZF’s ProAI, which has gone through many iterations, and its computing power has developed from 1-10TOPS to the current 20-1500TOPS. The latest model is planned to be mass-produced in 2024, which can realize cross-domain computing and is equipped with ZF’s ProAI. Fu domain control middleware and optimized for deep learning. Aptiv has proposed three solutions based on cross-domain computing platforms: cross-domain computing platform + dual-domain control, cross-domain computing platform + three-domain control, and cross-domain computing platform + four-domain control.

ZF ProAI iteration process