ZF develops dual-lens camera for commercial vehicles; launches in 2020 with integrated ADAS technologies

ZF has developed the Dual-cam two-lens camera specifically designed for the commercial truck market and to be used in concert with other ZF ADAS technologies. The camera features ZF’s longitudinal and lateral vehicle control expertise combined with Mobileye’s advanced EyeQ4 processor.

Part of ZF’s S-Cam4 family of automotive-grade cameras, the Dual-cam is designed to help meet varying global regulatory requirements and delivers advanced functions such as Traffic Sign Recognition, Lane Keeping Assist and Centering and object and pedestrian detection to enable Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB).

ZF dual-cam image

To help ensure these technologies work effectively on commercial trucks a second lens is necessary for some of these advanced functions. For example, for pedestrian AEB in some instances a standard mono-camera with a 52-degree field can limit the ability to detect pedestrians or other vulnerable road users with enough time to actuate the brakes and help avoid or mitigate accidents for larger trucks in complex environments.

—Dan Williams, head of ADAS and autonomy for ZF Commercial truck applications

Having a second lens also enables redundancy for Level2+ functions—if one lens becomes blinded or non-functional the second lens helps ensure the camera can still operate due to multiple optical paths.

ZF’s camera technologies feature best-in-class optical performance and an enhanced fusion envelope. When combined with a full suite of the company’s ADAS technologies such as forward looking and corner radar, automated functions such as lane change assist, and traffic jam assist are enabled. These functions can form the basis for technologies such as truck platooning to make long haul trucking safer and more efficient.

ZF has a long history of commercial truck ADAS supply for major European truck makers, and will launch an advanced ADAS system for a major Japanese manufacturer in 2020. The launch will include ZF’s first application for its Image Processing Module where camera images will be processed in a separate unit from the camera housing.

MobilEye And Tesla Will Part Company Soon

During an earnings call with analysts and investors this week, MobilEye chief technical officer Amnon Shashua announced that his company is severing its business relationship with Tesla Motors. The MobilEye EyeQ3 is a critical component in Tesla’s Autopilot semi-autonomous software suite that allows cars to accelerate, brake and steer on their own within certain parameters.

Shashua did say MobilEye would continue to work with Tesla to improve how EyeQ3 performs in the Model S and Model X. “EyeQ3 shipments will continue for the near future, and maybe for the longer future,” Shashua said. The problems the two companies are having seems to be related to the fatal accident that killed Joshua Brown on a Florida highway on May 7.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued a statement yesterday saying its preliminary findings indicate that Autopilot was enabled at the time of the accident and that Brown’s car was travelling 74 miles per hour when it ran into a cargo trailer that was crossing the highway. Some people are incredulous that the system did not identify a 48′ long trailer directly in its path.

As part of his remarks, Shashua said his company believes achieving true autonomy means going “beyond typical supplier relationships.” He refused to respond directly to questions put to him about whether the accident in Florida was the cause of the rupture between the two companies. “We simply decided where we wanted to put our resources for the future of autonomous driving… and we decided what we decided.” He also said that Tesla’s business is “not material” to MobilEye’s bottom line, nor is it a significant percentage of the company’s overall revenue.

Interestingly enough, at a press conference at the new Tesla Gigafactory in Nevada yesterday, Elon Musk also refused to be drawn into a discussion about MobilEye. As reported by Fortune, he stated, “Certainly we’re going to do full autonomy of our cars. They’ll go their path and we’ll go ours. Us parting ways was somewhat inevitable. So there was nothing surprising from our standpoint.”

Tesla’s business may not be “material” now, but when and if the company is successful at selling “millions of cars,” as Musk insists it will do soon, MobilEye may have cause to regret the rupture in its business relationship with Tesla.

There are rumors that Tesla may make its own self driving hardware components and develop its own autonomous software in-house, something it prefers to do rather than relying on outside suppliers who may or may not be able to meet Tesla’s ambitious production targets.

Source: TechCrunch   Photo credit: Teslarati

Musk Makes Secret Visit To Mobileye Headquaters

Elon Musk is always three steps ahead of the competition. When he unveiled the Tesla Model 3 to the public last Thursday, it created quite a stir. But Elon says we ain’t seen nothing yet. That was just Phase 1 of the reveal. Phase 2 will be when the really spectacular stuff gets announced.

Photo credit: CleanTechnica

Barely a week later, Tesla has received more than 325,000 reservations for the car. That represents almost $15 billion worth of new business for a car that won’t even go into production for another 18 months — at least. What has Musk not told us that could top that?  Our compatriots at CleanTechnicahave come across a story that may offer a clue.

According to Globes, an Israeli business news website, Elon hopped a private jet to visit the headquarters of Mobileye in Jerusalem in March, 2 weeks before the launch of the Model 3. Mobileye works closely with Tesla on its Autopilot autonomous driving systems. It has two Model S sedans it uses to test its new systems. Sources tell Globes that Mobileye has come up with groundbreaking new technology and that Musk flew to Israel to see a demonstration in person.

The new Mobileye technology is said to permit machine learning while a car is in motion. Advanced sensors allow it to follow a road even if there are no shoulders, curbs, or sidewalks that mark its boundaries. It can detect different road surfaces, navigate when there are no road markings, and recognize more that 1,000 road signs and pavement markings in common usage throughout the world.

The Model 3 has no dashboard. All it has is a 15″ touchscreen mounted horizontally in the middle of the interior. When someone complained to Musk on Twitter about the shape of the steering wheel, that’s when Musk tweeted back about the wonders that will be revealed in Phase 2.

What’s going on? A good guess is that the Model 3 will contain the hardware needed to make it the first mass produced car with full self-driving capability. The sources who spoke with Globes said the hardware will be dormant at first. It can be switched on later, when safety regulators catch up with Tesla and its advanced technology.

That’s exactly what Tesla did with the Model S. It started installing the Autopilot hardware in October of 2014. The over the air firmware update that activated the system did not take place until almost a year later.

What is there about the steering wheel in the Model 3 that gets Musk excited? Will this be the first car built with no steering wheel at all? Will it have some sort of joy stick instead? The details won’t be revealed until the start of production for the Model 3 gets nearer.

But putting everything we know now together — including reports that Mobileye has come up with ground breaking new autonomous driving technology — it seems safe to say Tesla is planning something spectacular that will rock the automotive world once again.

Musk says someday self driving cars will be as common as automatic elevators. It’s quite possible that someday Tesla automobiles will be as common as elevators, too.