To improve vehicle driving performance, software begins to "flex its muscles"

"In the current automobile era, the phenomenon of hardware homogeneity is becoming more and more serious, so under the trend of 'software-defined cars', we need to rely on software to build some differentiation." Recently, at Magna's "Black Technology is Coming Tech" Lab" series sharing meeting, Magna Powertrain Software Engineering Manager He Song said this.

In fact, the trend of "software-defined cars" has continuously refreshed the logic of car manufacturing. By decoupling a vehicle's functions and controls from the hardware, software gives the car greater flexibility and upgradeability.

In He Song's view, in the future, cars will rely more on software to realize smart cockpits, autonomous driving, Internet of Vehicles, intelligent vehicle control and entertainment functions, bringing drivers a safer, smarter and more comfortable driving experience.

Image source: Magna (the same below)

According to McKinsey’s predictions , the value of software in D-segment cars (or large passenger cars) is continuing to grow steadily, and it is expected to account for 30% by 2030. He Song believes, “We are facing a new era of automobiles that are fully dependent on software.”

From the perspective of the vehicle powertrain sector, this trend is also becoming more and more obvious in terms of vehicle power and body control.

According to He Song, today, the field is facing numerous functional and hardware requirements, including active suspension, electric drive systems, aerodynamic systems, etc. However, with so many functions and system requirements, it is no longer suitable to just rely on adding controllers to implement new functions. This approach not only results in a cumbersome and intricate wiring harness, but also adds additional requirements for hardware and software.

Therefore, the new electronic/electrical architecture urgently requires higher-level vehicle functions to uniformly manage and control the system through cross-domain control. This can greatly reduce dependence on hardware and achieve more standardization.

In this process, software plays a key role.

In order to speed up the speed of software on-boarding and expand the scope of application of software, Magna proposed the concept of Software as a Product, or "SaaP", to fully decouple software and hardware to achieve rapid deployment and application of software.

"Magna has been committed to decoupling the software system from the powertrain structure, and even decoupling it from the controller, so that our software scope can become wider and achieve rapid deployment." He Song So expressed.

It is reported that with the blessing of "SaaP", the software functions provided by Magna no longer rely on a fixed form of powertrain structure, and can adapt to various forms of powertrain architecture, such as hybrid, electric, dual motor or three-motor structure. motor. At the same time, the software itself no longer relies on specific controller hardware, but is compatible with most existing vehicle hardware to achieve software and hardware decoupling.

More importantly, based on this concept, Magna's energy and motion control software can achieve efficient energy management and precise body motion control through advanced data acquisition and software strategies, optimizing the travel experience.

For example, under dangerous working conditions such as snow on the road and highways, traffic accidents caused by vehicle loss of control are common. How to improve the safety of driving on ice and snow roads through precise control of vehicles has received increasing attention. Based on this demand, the software makes it possible for vehicles to drive quickly and safely on icy and snowy roads, and even drift continuously.

According to reports, the software supports a more precise torque vectoring function. When the vehicle is driving, the torque of the wheels is constantly being dynamically adjusted. When the vehicle needs to corner, different positive and negative torques are allocated to different wheels. In some working conditions, the vehicle can still remain stable even at speeds up to 60 km/h. When the vehicle needs to exit a corner, the driver steps on the accelerator, and the software can redistribute the driving torque to ensure smooth connection of power.

In addition, the software also has an active sideslip angle limit control function, relying on algorithms to achieve real-time and accurate calculations and even predictions of the vehicle's attitude and key information, significantly enhancing vehicle performance without any additional hardware. Even ordinary drivers can achieve professional driving performance with the help of this feature. For example, in certain drifting conditions, the driver does not need to reverse the steering wheel, but the system controls the drift steering target in real time based on the angle of the steering wheel.

In addition, the software fully considers the safe and dynamic two-wheel drive/four-wheel drive switching strategy. It is said to be able to calculate the wheel-end torque limit required for safe driving of the vehicle in real time, and combine it with the torque distribution taking efficiency into consideration to carry out the operation. Smart mode switching.

Taken together, Magna's software products include five dimensions, covering vehicle input, vehicle physical model, vehicle motion control strategy, intelligent actuator and real vehicle performance.

Among them, vehicle input mainly refers to the vehicle information obtained by sensors or buses, such as wheel speed, accelerator and brake information, etc.

It will then apply the basic data input previously to an advanced and accurate vehicle physical model to run and simulate the vehicle's driving status in real time, especially key information that cannot be directly observed or directly calculated, such as wheels and Body slip angle, road friction coefficient, etc.

Next, the vehicle motion control strategy performs torque vector allocation at the wheel end based on vehicle information, driver operation information and vehicle attitude information calculated by the physical model, and sends the torque demand value to the actuator - such as the front and rear axle electric drive system , torque distribution system, power disconnection decoupling device, etc. Finally, the excellent performance of the actual vehicle is achieved.

He Song said that among these five dimensions, the vehicle physical model and vehicle motion control strategy play an important role in the entire control system. The combination of the two determines the vehicle's handling, safety and drivability.

It is reported that from single-dimensional software applications to complete software solutions, Magna can provide a very flexible cooperation model according to the needs of OEMs.

As for the vehicle architecture requirements of related applications, Feng Yongsheng, senior expert in Magna powertrain product line management, said that from a system perspective, it can be divided into two situations:

In the first case, if the hardware system of the customer's current vehicle has such capabilities, but this function has not been developed, then the function can be directly added to the customer's vehicle. The main work is in the later stage, that is, some aspects of vehicle software calibration and verification.

In another case, if the current vehicle hardware system does not have such capabilities, some upgrades and iterations may be required, which requires involvement from the source of vehicle development, which is equivalent to the need to participate in the powertrain architecture. Design, formulate and develop together with the client.

"There are also considerations in electronic and electrical architecture. For example, if a traditional distributed architecture is used, considering the functions of communication, including coordination, it is best to be involved in the early stages of development. Because of this, no matter the wiring harness In terms of layout and function coordination, we can make some plans in advance. But if we are developing towards the future architecture, we can intervene later, or even intervene during the mass production stage." He Song added.