Highway Driving Assist: totally relaxed at 75 mph - ZF Friedrichshafen AG
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`Highway Driving Assist
`Totally relaxed at 75 mph
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`ZF’s Highway Driving Assist system supports semi-automated driving. A novel driving experience on the autobahn near Düsseldorf in Germany.
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`Black paintwork gleams in the sunlight: a sporty-looking station wagon is parked in the yard of ZF’s Düsseldorf plant. From the outside, the car looks
`identical to a standard production model. But hidden beneath the skin are sophisticated systems representing an extra 2,500 hours of work. Only when you
`flip open the tailgate and lift the floor of the trunk does the car reveal its secret. It’s an experimental vehicle. The space normally reserved for the spare tire
`holds a neatly wired computer network with enough processing power to teach a computer on wheels how to recognize its surroundings.
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`In the open-plan office above the ZF TRW workshops in Düsseldorf, robotics experts rub shoulders with physicists and IT wizards. All of these team
`members were recruited with the aim of gathering together the broadest possible range of IT expertise – supplemented by an ability to think outside the box.
`The car in front of me is among the most complex pieces of equipment that customers can buy. However, you need to build up some experience with this
`system before you can safely relinquish control and allow it to brake and steer on its own. “Our development team in Düsseldorf can draw on ZF resources
`from across the entire company,” enthuses Dr. Marco Wegener. We’ve left Düsseldorf’s city center far behind us and now we’re cruising along the A3
`autobahn, heading toward Cologne. That’s when the 30-year-old Wegener tells me to press two buttons – and let go of the steering wheel.
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`Highway Driving Assist: totally relaxed at 75 mph - ZF Friedrichshafen AG
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`“Highway Driving Assist represents an important milestone on the way to highly automated driving.”
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`Source: Dr. Carsten Hass, Engineering Manager Automated Driving
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`Centering automatically
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`There’s no computer display to tell me what the experimental vehicle is about to do. But I can clearly feel the action of the electric motor on the steering gear,
`automatically keeping the car in the center of our lane. It works like a lane-keeping assistant, using cameras to monitor the lane ahead. A radar-assisted
`Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) system is responsible for keeping us at the correct safe distance from the vehicle in front. ZF TRW has been producing
`driver-assist systems like this for a long time – increasingly, they’re becoming standard equipment in the automotive industry. Starting in 2017, for example,
`all Peugeot, Citroën and DS models will be equipped with the latest camera and radar technology from ZF TRW.
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`The systems supplier will also be responsible for function development and systems integration – for both the individual sensors, and for data fusion across
`the sensor network as a whole. What does the camera behind the windshield see? What’s the radar system picking up? I keep asking myself these questions
`during the test drive. As we travel along at 75 mph, cars regularly overtake us on the left and right. As we approach an on-ramp, a green station wagon cuts in
`front of us so sharply that the Highway Driving Assist system slams on the brakes. From the viewpoint of a machine whose job it is to maintain the statutory
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`Highway Driving Assist: totally relaxed at 75 mph - ZF Friedrichshafen AG
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`safe distance, the incident must be just as stressful as the absence of lane markings on a freshly asphalted section of road. The system must respond to events
`within fractions of a second, and then return the car to the middle of the lane. By flicking a directional indicator, I can also make the car change lanes
`automatically. That means it not only has to monitor its own lane, but the neighboring lane as well. The computer can only be sure the maneuver is safe to
`execute once all the different types of sensors have reached a consensual “world view”.
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`“Teaching a car what it’s supposed to do is an absolutely fascinating job.”
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`Source: Dr. Marco Wegener, Development Engineer
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`Cruisin’ down the freeway in a semi-automated ride
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`Detect – anticipate – act
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`At present, driver assistance – or as they are known in the industry, “driver assist” – systems are only capable of perceiving a very limited segment of the
`vehicle’s surroundings. In particular, they lack the experience required to classify objects and judge their movements. For example, emergency braking
`assistants attempt to recognize pedestrians crossing the road. So far, however, this only really works in cities. By contrast, seasoned drivers develop a sixth
`sense. If the vehicle in front of us starts to move toward the median strip, we can tell it’s about to move out and overtake – whether or not it is signaling. A
`self-driving vehicle must constantly observe, analyze, anticipate and plan for everything around it.
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`In actual fact, I’m able to take my hands off the steering wheel for long stretches of the A3 freeway. But I’m not allowed to pick up my notepad and take
`notes while driving at high speed. The ZF experts are specially trained as test drivers. They keep a close eye on the traffic at all times and can override the
`system whenever they want to. Let’s be clear: fully automated – i.e. driverless – cars are still a media-titillating myth. Reporters love to tell us about self-
`driving research vehicles fitted out with laser scanners that cost as much as a luxury sedan. But such research vehicles are only tangentially relevant to
`production cars. If clever onboard assistants are to become truly affordable, they’ll have to do without all the expensive extras and use advanced versions of
`standard components instead.
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`Highway Driving Assist: totally relaxed at 75 mph - ZF Friedrichshafen AG
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`The ZF TRW team in Düsseldorf always keeps this democratization of innovations firmly in mind. “We’re working on automated driving functions based on
`our next-gen camera and radar systems,” explains project head Dr. Carsten Hass. The high priority ZF is giving to this key area of future activity is reflected
`by the company’s latest acquisition: this summer, ZF purchased HDLE GmbH. The German company’s 50-strong development team specializes in driver-
`assist systems and “surround view” technology. The cameras they use are capable of monitoring cross-traffic movements superbly, even at highway on-
`ramps, whereas conventional cameras and radar systems only patchily detect pedestrians and cyclists, even when they’re directly alongside the car.
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`After my test drive, it has become clear to me just how crucial this 360° surround-view technology is for automated driving. Admittedly, even if the car had
`been fitted with this technology, I still wouldn’t have been able to take notes during the drive – but it would have been another big step in that direction.
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`Photos: Mareike Foecking
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`TAGS
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`• Trends (magazine_homepage.html#tag=Trends)
`• Driver assistance (magazine_homepage.html#tag=Driver assistance)
`• Automated driving (magazine_homepage.html#tag=Automated driving)
`• IAA (magazine_homepage.html#tag=IAA)
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`Published on Sep 4, 2015 Print Page (#print)
`Next Article (magazin_artikel_viewpage_22127016.html) Previous Article (magazin_artikel_viewpage_22123624.html)
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`Chauffeured safely while you relax
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`http://www.zf.com/corporate/en_de/magazine/magazin_artikel_viewpage_22123496.html
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`10/1/2015
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`Highway Driving Assist: totally relaxed at 75 mph - ZF Friedrichshafen AG
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`The car drives, the driver relaxes – this was long considered something out of science fiction, but thanks to the newest electronic assistance
`systems in the car, it is close to becoming a reality.
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`© ZF Friedrichshafen AG
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`10/1/2015
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