Tying up with Tucson to mass-produce unmanned trucks, what key capabilities ZF has in reserve for autonomous driving

1.ZF joins hands with Tucson Future to land commercial vehicle autonomous driving

Recently, German Tier 1 component supplier ZF and self-driving truck solution developer Tucson Future announced that they will jointly develop a mass-production driverless truck system.

Specific aspects of the collaboration between the two companies include:

Sensing technology incorporating cameras, LIDAR and millimeter-wave radar;

Autonomous driving control technology;

Automotive-grade central processing platform, ZF?ProAI;

ZF will provide Tucson with engineering support to advance the front-loading configuration of self-driving truck systems.

The partnership will be officially launched in ?April? of this year, and future products and systems from the partnership will be supplied to the global market.

In a way, this means that ZF and Tucson will form a new Tier 1 in the field of self-driving trucks, a model that other Tier 1s and innovators in the industry can learn from.

Before ZF and Tucson reached the future of cooperation, they have a **** the same good friend called NVIDIA.

On the one hand, NVIDIA participated in Tucson Future's ?B? round of financing in ?2017? as a strategic investor to acquire the latter's ?3%? s shares. Tucson Future's self-driving truck program also uses NVIDIA's self-driving computing platform, and every year at NVIDIA's ?GTC? conference, Tucson Future's prototypes are not absent.

On the other hand, NVIDIA established a partnership with ZF at the ?2017?CES? and ZF built an autonomous driving computing platform based on NVIDIA's ?Xavier??ProAI, a product that is highly expected by ZF, and is now advancing to its fourth generation.

While it was fate that brought ZF and Tucson together, it was the two companies' complementary technologies and autonomous driving strategies that ultimately led to the future collaboration.

The so-called technical complementarity refers to ZF's deep accumulation of self-driving sensors, computing hardware and control technology, while Tucson Future is specialized in the overall algorithms of self-driving systems. The cooperation between the two will be very beneficial to the development of a complete set of automated driving hardware and software systems.

In terms of autonomous driving, ZF has already established a focus on developing passenger car L2+ autonomous driving systems and commercial vehicle/autonomous driving systems at this year's CES. level autonomous driving systems and commercial vehicles/urban passenger transportation?L4?level autonomous driving systems in the strategic direction.

Tucson Future is an innovative company specializing in L4+ autonomous truck solutions, and ZF's choice of Tucson Future is most appropriate at this time.

Tucson Future's operation in the United States has good momentum, according to the official information they have more than ?20? postal delivery, e-commerce, logistics industry customers, and manages a fleet of more than ?50? self-driving trucks, and in the future will also open up new operating routes.

According to Tucson's future plans, they want to achieve fully unmanned freight services by ?2021?, and with ZF's help, this goal has added more certainty in achieving it.

In fact, before choosing Tucson Future, ZF has already carried out extensive and in-depth layout in the field of automatic driving, and the results are beginning to show.

At this year's?CES?ZF also announced its latest commercialization progress in the field of automated driving:

For one thing, ZF's self-developed?coASSIST?system can bring drivers a safe and comfortable experience at a price of?less than?1,000?dollars. The system meets the requirements of the European New Car Assessment Program?2024 (Euro?NCAP?2024) test, and can provide the commonly used?L2+? The system will be in production with a major Asian automaker by the end of?2020.

Secondly, based on the?ProAI?autonomous driving computing platform, ZF is currently developing an electronic control unit (ECU) for?L4?systems for a global commercial vehicle manufacturer, which is scheduled to be available in?2024/25.

This time, the choice of Tucson Future for cooperation is just one of ZF's first steps in the field of automated driving for commercial vehicles, and should be followed by many more new moves.

So what ammo does ZF have ready for autonomous driving?

3. ZF's comprehensive layout in the field of automated driving

ZF put forward the "See?Think?Act" path of automated driving technology development in?2016, which has become ZF's consistent strategy.

The so-called "See" is the automatic driving perception, including all kinds of sensor hardware and systems; the so-called "Think" refers to the automatic driving computing unit, that is, "ProAI" central processing platform; and "Act" is ZF's traditional strengths, and the chassis system, braking system, steering system, transmission and other related to vehicle control are all categorized.

Over the years, ZF has been building its autonomous driving capabilities around the "See?Think?Act" path, through investments, acquisitions and strategic partnerships.

Back in 2018?2018, newly appointed ZF?CEO?Wolf-Henning?Scheider said he would invest about?12?billion euros (about?14?billion U.S. dollars) in electrification and autonomous driving over the next five years. That means ZF will then have to allocate ?2.8?billion dollars a year to invest in the aforementioned R&D.

Roughly speaking, its investment in autonomous driving should not be less than ?1?billion dollars a year, which is no less than that of autonomous driving leader ?Waymo.

'See'

Let's start with the sensors and perception technology that 'See' represents.

ZF's range of sensor hardware includes the latest generation of cameras, millimeter-wave radar, lidar and sound sensors. They are used to monitor the vehicle's internal and external environment, thereby increasing the safety of self-driving vehicles.

ZF has been a veteran in the field of cameras and millimeter-wave radar for many years.

Back in 2018?2018, ZF introduced the latest generation of the camera?S-Cam4?series, a high-performance single current view camera with a very small footprint. The camera utilizes?Mobileye?s?EyeQ4? image processor, with an optional?2.3 MP?high-resolution imager to extend the length and width of the field of view, and is currently rated?ASIL?B? in automatic emergency braking applications, including pedestrian protection.

Back in?June?2019, ZF developed another?Dual-Cam?dual-mirror camera dedicated to commercial trucks, also powered by?Mobileye?s?EyeQ4?processor. The camera works with ZF's other ADAS technologies.

Dual-Cam is part of ZF's?S-Cam4? family of products, and with its assistance, vehicles can realize functions including traffic sign recognition, lane keeping assist, lane centering, object and pedestrian monitoring, and automatic emergency braking.

In addition, in 2019?2019, ZF also announced a strategic partnership with HELLA, which will see the two companies collaborate fully on vision systems, imaging and radar sensor technology. The first joint development program for camera systems between the two companies is expected to be brought to market in?2020?

In the field of millimeter-wave radar, in addition to the traditional ?77GHz? radars ?AC1000/AC100/AC20, ZF also acquired in ?2017? about ?45 percent? of ?Astyx? stake in Astyx, which produces radar sensors and modular products with ultra-high frequency rates.

The company's products include short- and long-range radars that can detect the relative distance and speed of objects with high resolution, and accurately sense centimeter-level changes in the movements of pedestrians and objects based on deep-learning technology.

Lidar is now an industry-recognized must-have sensor in ?L4?-class self-driving vehicles, and back in 2016?ZF acquired a 40%?stake in Hamburg, Germany-based lidar company ?Ibeo? s stake in the company.

On May?20?2019, ZF joined forces with?ams and Ibeo to launch a solid-state LiDAR system for the automotive industry. However, there is not much detailed information about this system yet, except that it will probably be put into use in ?2021?. This system, for which no detailed information has been released yet, is expected to be put into mass production in ?2021?year.

This series of layouts at the "See" level gives ZF a comprehensive autonomous driving sensing capability.

"Think"

At the "Think" level, it actually refers to ZF's autonomous driving computing platform?ProAI, which ZF has been pushing.

The platform was first unveiled at the 2017?CES?show, and attracted a lot of attention. After two years of iteration, the fourth generation of ProAI?s?ProAI?RoboThink?controller made its debut at?CES?2019.

First-generation?ProAI: entry-level model that meets all?NCAP?2022?standards.

Second-generation?ProAI: Has enough computing power to partially satisfy highly automated?Level 2?Autopilot and?Level 3?Autopilot.

Third-generation?ProAI: offers extensive modularity and integrates different chips on three performance motherboards, which will provide the computing power needed for real-time data processing for ?4? level autonomous driving.

Fourth-generation?ProAI?RoboThink: adds expandable computing power and a self-contained image processor.

The ProAI?RoboThink?platform comes with its own image processor, which has more than ?150?teraOPS?of computing power (equivalent to ?150?trillion calculations per second) and can be modularly combined with up to ?4?units to achieve a total of approximately ?600?teraOPS?of computing power.

The platform, combined with ZF's sensor components, enables self-driving vehicles and ****-enjoyment services at the ?L4? level and above.

Also, the ZF?coPILOT?prototype, equipped with ZF's second-generation?ProAI?product, was unveiled at the?2019?Shanghai Auto Show.

The coPILOT?system is capable of meeting?L2+? autonomous driving, suitable for semi-autonomous driving, and moreover can be controlled by voice. coPILOT?will begin mass production in?2021?

In fact, ZF has decided at this stage to make a push into passenger car?L2+? autonomous driving systems and has developed several product packages, including:

ZF?coASSIST - is an economical?L2+ solution;

ZF?coDRIVE - extends traffic congestion assistance and highway driver assistance functionality;

ZF?coPILOT - designed to enable the scalability of advanced computing and processing power for ?L2+ to ?L4?autonomous driving, offering features including freeing up the driver's hands and feet, autonomous lane changing and overtaking, autonomous garage parking and route learning.

'Act'

Talking about the 'Act' execution part of autonomous driving brings us back to the traditional strengths of ZF, a 100-year-old supplier.

Autonomous vehicles are, after all, still cars, with traditional components such as the chassis, steering, transmission and braking systems missing.

Building a self-driving vehicle without this expertise is a futile endeavor, which is why we're seeing?Waymo?ultimately choosing to work with OEMs and parts suppliers.

ZF is recognized as the world's leading global supplier of automotive powertrain and chassis technology. Even after achieving the top?10?revenue among global component suppliers at the time, ZF still announced the?$13.5?billion acquisition of U.S.-based Trina Automotive Group (TRW) in?May?2015.

Then ZF?CEO?Stefan? Dr. Stefan?Sommer, then ZF?CEO, briefly explained the rationale for launching the acquisition: "Trina's experience in occupant safety systems and electronics, as well as in steering and braking technology, is a perfect complement to our existing portfolio and the integration will enable us to grow even further."

After ZF's acquisition of Trina, the latter was integrated into ZF as a new business unit, Active and Passive Safety Technologies, but maintained its independence and branding. Later, after a rapid integration, ZF and Trina were finally presented to the public with a unified image.

The acquisition strengthened ZF's original product portfolio and also gave it a number of key technologies related to autonomous driving. Because Trina had previously developed a variety of intelligent safety technologies for vehicles, including vehicle dynamics control, electronic stability control, collision warning, driver assistance and more.

Four years after acquiring Trina, ZF has opened up another M&A drive.

In April?2019, ZF announced the acquisition of Wabco for $?136.50?per share (totaling about $?7?billion), and the two together will become a leading global supplier of integrated systems for commercial vehicle technology. The acquisition will close in the second quarter of this year.

Wabco is a leading provider of variable speed braking systems, technologies and services, including integrated braking systems and stability control, air suspension systems, automatic transmission control products, as well as aerodynamics, telematics and fleet management solutions.

ZF said the acquisition of Wilburco is part of its next-generation mobility strategy and will expand the company's capabilities to include commercial vehicle braking solutions.

This is central to the implementation of autonomous driving functions, including emergency braking systems for trucks and trailers.

When it comes to truck braking, Chen Mo, CEO of Tucson Future, said, "In addition to the difficulty of braking, trucks have a loose structure, and parts tend to shake at high speeds, which requires a high degree of sensor installation and coordinate positioning; at the same time, trucks have a high center of gravity and a long body, which makes it easy for them to roll over in a turn, and the vehicle's load also affects the balance of the body."

By acquiring Wilburco, ZF engineers can systematically solve the problems related to difficult braking, shaking and rollover of self-driving trucks in the future.

Of course, from a more long-term goal, ZF is hoping to accelerate the pace of commercialization of self-driving in commercial vehicles through Wilburco's technology accumulation.

4. Replicable "ZF + Tucson Future" model

Through acquisitions, investments and cooperation, ZF has completed a relatively comprehensive layout in the "See", "Think" and "Act" levels of autonomous driving.

At the same time, in the automatic driving commercialization promotion strategy, ZF has also established the passenger car?L2+? and commercial vehicles? L4?

ZF?CEO?Wolfgangenin Schaider clearly said, "For passenger cars, we see the greatest potential for the?L2+ concept, which enables autonomous driving functions and makes them available to all drivers; for commercial vehicles, we are already seeing strong customer demand for?L4? and higher-level autonomous driving systems."

The choice to partner with Tucson Future on such a path forward is a first step for ZF in the field of automated driving for commercial vehicles, with more to come.

Looking at the industry as a whole, the combination of traditional Tier 1 companies + autonomous driving innovators has also been a major factor in the development of the automotive industry.

From the perspective of the industry as a whole, the combination of traditional ?Tier?1?+? autonomous driving innovation enterprises is also likely to become a more mainstream business cooperation model, and such a combination will become a new type of ?Tier?1 serving the mass production of autonomous driving vehicles.

This article is from the author of the Automotive House, and does not represent the viewpoint of the House of Automotive standpoints.