Advancing ADAS Weekly Brief—10.22.2012

Andrew

Andrew Tolve

---

22nd October 2012

In this week’s Brief: Xilinx, OmniVision Technologies, Nissan, Allianz, WirelessCar, BMW, China Unicom, Audi, Nuance Communications, Broadcom, and Hyundai

For the second straight week, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and emergency response featured prominently in telematics news. Xilinx unveiled a new platform in its Zynq-7000 series, this the “All Programmable SoC platform,” which allows ADAS developers to replace the multiple chips they currently need for different cameras and ultrasonic sensors in ADAS solutions with a single chip.

The All Programmable SoC platform is a software-based system with closely coupled and customized hardware accelerators, enabling familiar ADAS features, but it delivers a higher raw image processing performance and lower power consumption than traditional multi-chip approaches.

"Consumer demand for driver assistance applications is strong and growing but continues to be held back due to high manufacturing and development costs,” says Mark Fitzgerald, associate director global automotive practice, Strategy Analytics.

“To overcome this, it is vital to 'right size' the underlying components through increasing integration and to create common platforms that can be customized for a variety of ADAS applications.”

OmniVision Technologies announced the OV480, a companion processor that enhances camera performance for automotive vision systems. The processor operates in conjunction with OmniVision's AutoVision sensors to deliver electronic distortion correction and enhanced low-light performance in wide field-of-view applications.

Because of its ability to correct lens distortion of up to 195-degrees, the OV480 allows a single camera design to be used across multiple vehicle platforms, thus reducing integration costs associated with rear-view and 360-degree surround view systems.

Nissan debuted a technology to help reduce accidents caused by pedal misapplication. The "Emergency assist for pedal misapplication" uses four cameras of the Around View Monitor and ultrasonic sonar to detect if the car is currently in a parking space or not; and if there are obstacles such as walls in the direction the vehicle is traveling.

The function automatically controls acceleration if necessary and applies the brakes before a collision can occur. This new technology will debut on the new Nissan Elgrand MPV by the end of the year.

Outside of the ADAS sphere, Allianz launched a self-insalled consumer telematics offering in Italy. To distinguish itself from Octo Telematics' pioneering pay-as-you-drive service in Italy, Allianz's offering is built around a dongle that plugs into the OBDII port and provides the driver with feedback, such as speeding alerts, and automatically generates crash notification in the form of an eCall to local emergency response.

Emergency assistance, stolen vehicle alert, and tracking are also part of the package, which can range in cost from €125 and €225, depending on specific features.

WirelessCar announced an expansion of its global supplier relationship with BMW. WirelessCar will now provide the back-end telematics service platform for China Unicom, a Tier 1 supplier for BMW ConnectedDrive in China.

“This marks a credible expansion in WirelessCar's global footprint and is the first announcement of several to show our commitment to China as the largest and fastest growing automotive market,” says Martin Rosell, managing director at WirelessCar.

Audi integrated a text message dictation service into the new Audi A3. Audi Connect Messaging leverages technology from Nuance Communications; specifically the automotive-grade Dragon Drive! Messaging service, which allows drivers to connect their phone via Bluetooth or insert their SIM card into the MMI Navigation, then dictate and send text messages without having to take their hands off of the wheel.

Nuance’s text-to-speech capabilities also read out incoming text and email messages.

BMW released The Ultimate Drive for Facebook, a community app that enables drivers to scan millions of miles of user-suggested driving routes and to share photos and suggestions of their own favorite routes.

Deriving from BMW’s Financial Services wing, the app includes the ability to view stretches using Google Street View and to integrate with the other route-sharing apps from BMW Financial Services for iOS and Android. Users can also generate a loyalty voucher worth up to $700 off the first finance or lease payment on a new 2012 or 2013 BMW.

Finally, Broadcom, the semiconductor specialists for wired and wireless communications, announced a joint development agreement with Hyundai to harness Ethernet technology to provide a single, high-bandwidth, in-vehicle network in Hyundai cars.

Broadcom says its BroadR-Reach Ethernet technology will deliver an open, scalable network for powering in-vehicle infotainment and ADAS in Hyundai cars, while supporting faster implementation of next-generation technologies and multiple networks, improving the ability to share data from a common source to the entire network.

"Hyundai is confident about the viability of Ethernet in the car and looks forward to closely collaborating with Broadcom to develop an Ethernet network for Hyundai vehicles,” says SunJai Lee, infotainment design division leader at Hyundai. “The in-vehicle Ethernet network will enable key features including infotainment, lane departure warning, park assist and telematics to deliver greater value to our customers.”

For exclusive business analysis and insight about automotive apps, read Telematics and the future of automotive apps.

For all the latest trends in telematics, check out Telematics Munich 2012 on October 29-30.

For exclusive insurance telematics business analysis and insight, read TU’s Smart Vehicle Technology: The Future of Insurance Telematics report.