Automated Driving Picks up Speed

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Tags: ZeroAccidents, ZeroEmissions, AutonomousDriving, ArtificialIntelligence

Automated driving is a topic of the future? When it comes to ZF, this future is now: The Group offers solutions for all levels of automated driving.

Andreas Neemann, August 12, 2021

Andreas Neemann wrote his first ZF text in 2001 about 6HP transmissions. Since then, the automotive writer has filled many publications for internal and external readers, showcasing his passion for the Group's more complex subjects.

The global pandemic triggered a change of perspective for many people. We attribute more importance to topics like safety and sustainability. And we changed our mobility behavior and become more open to digitalization, connectivity, advanced driver assist systems (ADAS), and autonomous driving. In short: The mobility transition is in full swing and automated and autonomous driving is an essential part of it.

Automation for Different Vehicles

Autonomous driving plays a key role in safer, more efficient, and more comfortable traffic and mobility. It can help reduce accidents because human driving errors are still the main cause of crashes. And autonomous driving can also contribute to realizing individually tailored and conveniently available mobility concepts that reduce traffic jams and emissions. ZF focuses on all these market developments and develops solutions for passenger cars as well as commercial vehicles and industrial applications.

Several stages define how much intervention the driver has in self-driving vehicles or transport systems - from level 1 partially assisted driving to fully automated driving without human monitoring for Levels 4 and 5.

Depending on the application, the market currently demands different solutions. Autonomous driving is expected to first become more widely established in the commercial vehicle sector as well as in urban passenger transport. In the commercial vehicle sector, ZF can equip light and heavy vehicles with its AD system and thus transform them into automated machines. In the passenger car sector, intelligent assistance functions, so-called Level2+ systems, have the greatest potential for the foreseeable future.

With Level2+ systems, functions such as adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, lane change and lane keeping assist, highway and traffic jam assist are intelligently linked together and allow the driver to briefly take his hands off the wheel and feet off the pedal in certain situations, although the driver always remains responsible. The increase in comfort and safety, especially in the case of long and monotonous journeys on the highway or in traffic jams, clearly exceeds that of a Level 2 system. From the cost-effective coASSIST to the coDRIVE to the coPILOT, ZF currently offers three different Level2+ systems.

Scalable technology for all levels of automated driving

"ZF already has virtually all the necessary technologies for future vehicle and mobility concepts," said Gollewski. This includes high-performance computers, software, vehicle sensors and actuators, as well as the vehicle connectivity for mobility services. The core of new electric/electronics vehicle architectures is formed by high-performance computers which can be used either as central, domain or zone controllers like the latest generation of ZF’s ProAI supercomputer. "Our ProAI covers an enormous range of possible application fields for virtually every type of vehicle and is suitable for all stages of automated or autonomous driving," explains Gollewski. ZF ProAI offers tailor-made computing power for all types of vehicle platforms and automation levels from ADAS to AD, and is the most flexible, scalable, and powerful automotive supercomputer.

The ZF ProAI is the most flexible, scalable, and powerful supercomputer in the automotive industry. It is AI-capable and suitable for all levels of automated driving from level 2 to 5.

The future of automated driving starts now

ZF was able to win the first major orders for the ZF ProAI in both the passenger car and commercial vehicle segments and will produce the central controller in large-scale production from 2024. And the company has launched its coASSIST Level2+ semi-automated driving system on the 2020 Dongfeng Aeolus Yixuan. All of this shows that automated mobility is not a future vision anymore - the "Next Generation Mobility" is here now with ZF's technologies.