Five major automotive technologies that may become popular in the future: autonomous driving is the core

Every year, CES is a rare technology event for the automotive industry. In these few days, a large number of automakers from all over the world come to compete on the same stage with their latest technologies, application results and development concepts from the past year or several years. For example, the highly anticipated technologies at this year's CES, such as autonomous driving, artificial intelligence, and smart connectivity, are the focus of various companies' efforts in the past period of time, reflecting their thinking on the future development of automotive technology, and more importantly, highlighting the overall technological development trend of the automotive industry in the next few years.

1. Autonomous driving

Since 2013, autonomous driving has become the highlight of CES. Not only do many OEMs and parts manufacturers showcase autonomous driving related technologies and products, but in the past two years, some IT companies such as LeTV and Google have also joined the "car-making" movement and brought their latest achievements to the annual CES. Autonomous driving has become one of the most mainstream future automotive technologies.

Throughout the 2017 CES, automakers such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Honda, and Hyundai, component suppliers such as Delphi and Renesas Electronics, and emerging car manufacturers Faraday Future, Intel, and AImotive all displayed autonomous driving and driverless related technologies and products. Among them, Faraday Future’s first mass-produced model has officially debuted at CES, and its investor Jia Yueting even personally took an autonomous driving car to the stage and demonstrated the automatic parking technology on site, which can be said to have attracted a lot of attention. Toyota’s previously revealed "mysterious concept car", according to Gasgoo, also has autonomous driving functions, and it is a car that can achieve Level 5 autonomous driving (fully autonomous driving) under the SAE standard, which can be called a major technological breakthrough.

If Faraday Future, Toyota and others are solving the technical problems of self-driving cars, Hyundai is solving the price problem. It is reported that Hyundai also brought a self-driving car, Loniq, to ​​the 2017 CES. Unlike other companies developing self-driving cars, Hyundai did not use expensive 360-degree laser radars on Loniq, but used cheaper IBO LIDAR laser radars, as well as low-cost sensors such as mid-range and long-range radars and fewer computing devices, making Loniq an affordable self-driving car for ordinary users.

As can be seen from the above, the technology of autonomous driving vehicles is becoming more and more mature. Correspondingly, various companies are trying every means to reduce costs so that autonomous driving vehicles will eventually become affordable commodities for consumers. Although this process may be long, it is a foregone conclusion that autonomous driving will dominate future automotive technology.

2. Artificial Intelligence

Like autonomous driving, artificial intelligence has also been a hot topic at CES in the past few years. As the automotive industry pays more and more attention to higher-level autonomous driving cars and even driverless cars, artificial intelligence has become more important in the development of autonomous driving cars by enabling computers to think, make predictions, learn and solve problems more like humans. Automakers, parts companies and other related companies have also accelerated the development of related technologies.

At present, Honda, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Faraday Future, and Intel have all been researching the application of artificial intelligence in automobiles. They also brought the latest research progress to this CES. Take the Toyota concept car Concept-i, which has already been unveiled, for example. The car is equipped with Toyota's "Yui" artificial intelligence system. When the owner opens the door, Yui will appear with an aperture the size of a ping-pong ball and greet the owner. After that, Yui will appear on the dashboard and perform corresponding operations by monitoring the driver's behavior and mood, interacting with the driver and enhancing the relationship between the driver and the car.

The above example is one aspect of the application of artificial intelligence in automobiles. In the long run, if traditional automobiles are to achieve driverless driving and let the system completely take over and control the vehicle, the core is intelligent driving, and the core of intelligent driving is artificial intelligence. Because driverless cars are essentially mobile service robots with high artificial intelligence, they use machine learning, natural language processing and analysis to produce more accurate and personalized responses, thus constantly approaching the reactions of real humans in various driving scenarios, so that the system can achieve the same operating effect as humans.

3. Intelligent connectivity

Influenced by the "Internet +" and the need for automotive technology innovation, traditional cars are gradually moving away from their original "transportation tools" attributes and developing towards intelligence and networking by integrating various "black technologies". Among them, intelligent networking is one of the most popular automotive technologies nowadays and is also a major direction that future automakers need to pay attention to.

As the name suggests, smart interconnection is achieved through the elements of vehicle networking, V2V (vehicle to vehicle), V2I (vehicle to infrastructure), V2P (vehicle to people), autonomous driving, intelligent transportation infrastructure, etc., integrating sensors, radars, GPS positioning, artificial intelligence and other technologies, to achieve intelligent transportation and interconnection with all things. The bicycle will automatically analyze the safety and danger status of the car's driving, reach the destination according to the will of the person, and ultimately replace the autonomous operation of people.

For example, the concept car that Bosch will display at the 2017 CES has intelligent interconnection functions. Through a series of technologies, the car is connected with the driver, home, bicycle, and maintenance station, improving travel efficiency, enhancing driving safety, and completely changing people's car life, making the car the third largest living space besides home and work.

Considering the current technologies of major automakers in the field of intelligent interconnection, "interconnection" is actually not far away from us. What is far away is "intelligence". How to make cars "smart" and able to judge road conditions by themselves, such as avoiding peak traffic flow, improving travel efficiency, and reducing the occurrence of traffic accidents, is something that we will need to continue to break through for a long time in the future.

4. Biometrics

According to the report "2016-2025 Global Automotive Industry Biometrics Technology", by 2025, nearly one-third of cars will be equipped with biosensors to control vehicles through biometrics. With the development of smart car technology, biometrics are increasingly used in cars. In addition to common voice recognition and fingerprint recognition, more technical biometrics such as gesture recognition and facial recognition are also gradually being used in cars to improve driving experience, passenger health, and driving safety.

At the 2017 CES, Continental launched an in-vehicle biometric recognition technology. According to Gasgoo, through this technology (facial recognition technology), passengers can personalize various in-vehicle functions such as seat position, rearview mirror angle, music playback, temperature adjustment and navigation. And only after the driver completes the identity verification through the fingerprint sensor can the driver start the engine, which greatly improves the safety of the vehicle.

Bosch's biometric technology has a similar purpose. When the driver enters the car, the driver monitoring camera can quickly recognize the face and provide personalized services. For example, the steering wheel, mirrors, car temperature or radio station can be adjusted according to the driver's preferences; during driving, if the driver is detected to be asleep or distracted, the car will issue a warning to help prevent emergencies...

It can be said that as consumers' demands for higher safety, intelligence and personalization of vehicles continue to increase, scenarios in which cars use biometric technology to control vehicles and monitor drivers' heartbeats, brain waves, stress levels, pulses, and fatigue conditions will become more and more common in the future, and it is even possible that this will become the "standard configuration" of future cars.

5. Solid-state LiDAR

Since its debut, LiDAR has been known for its high price. For example, Google and Baidu, which are currently the most successful in the field of autonomous vehicle research, use LiDARs on their driverless cars for a price of RMB 700,000 to 800,000, which is simply unaffordable for ordinary companies. In addition, traditional LiDAR equipment is relatively bulky and ugly and needs to be installed on the outside of the vehicle, which greatly affects the appearance of the car. Therefore, some companies have begun to challenge smaller and lower-cost technologies, such as solid-state LiDAR, to replace traditional LiDAR technology, and the progress is good so far.

At this year's CES, TriLumina, a company that was spun off from Sandia National Laboratories in the United States, will showcase a new 256-pixel 3D LiDAR solution. This solid-state LiDAR solution is driven by TriLumina's lighting module, which has the advantages of high resolution, long sensing distance, small size, durability and cost-effective packaging. It can provide support for the next generation of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles.

In addition, in December, Velodyne, a well-known lidar manufacturer, announced that it has successfully designed a new solid-state lidar technology that can be used in self-driving cars. This technology provides high-quality and reliable 3D imaging, and when it is put into mass production, it can reduce the unit price of the product to less than US$50. It is reported that Velodyne's newly developed solid-state lidar sensor is a practical application of gallium nitride (GaN) monolithic integrated circuits. This design can fix the components, thereby reducing the size and cost of the sensor, while significantly improving reliability.

It can be said that solid-state LiDAR is a product of the development requirements of solid-state, miniaturization and low cost of LiDAR. With the rapid development of autonomous driving technology, the "landing" of autonomous driving vehicles has been accelerated. However, if autonomous driving vehicles are to truly become affordable commodities for consumers, the cost problem must be solved. In this context, solid-state LiDAR, as a feasible solution, must be one of the directions that future car companies need to work hard on.

In general, the hot automotive technologies at CES 2017 are all related to autonomous driving, whether artificial intelligence, intelligent interconnection, biometrics, or solid-state laser radar, all serve the automotive industry's ultimate vision of autonomous driving. It can be predicted that any technology that helps to accelerate the "landing" of autonomous driving cars in the future is likely to become the direction of future automotive technology development. After all, autonomous driving has become the "next commanding height" in the automotive field.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.