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CONTENTS
FEATURES
2 ‘Software, Start Your Engines’
The 2021 Indy Autonomous Challenge is a
high-speed laboratory for advancing
automated driving.
6 Lidar Infiltrates ADAS
Once considered a necessity only in fully
autonomous vehicles, lidar sensors are now
being evaluated for lower-level driver-
assistance systems.
10 The Case for FOTA in AV
Data Security
Firmware over-the-air data transmission
helps OEMs drive secure vehicle autonomy.
14 AV and ADAS Testing from
Out of the Box
A new tool from Foretellix guides engineers
through virtual systems testing to minimize
the risk of getting dangerous
pre-deployment bugs.
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
17 Reconstructing Accidents in the
ADAS Age
Data access and privacy concerns will be key
challenges to determine ADAS-influencing
factors, according to an SAE WCX Digital
Summit expert panel.
TECH BRIEFS
20 Nature-Inspired Sensors Could Help
Autonomous Machines See Better
21 Leap in Lidar Could Improve Safety and
Security of New Technology
22 Light Helps Autonomous Vehicles Better
Scan for Nearby Fast-Moving Objects
ON THE COVER
For high-level automated
driving, a variety of vehicle
sensors will generate a
360-degree view not only of
the surroundings, but also of
onboard conditions. (Bosch)
DECEMBER 2020 1
‘Software, Start Your
Engines’
by Bill Visnic
The 2021 Indy Autonomous Challenge is a high-speed
laboratory for advancing automated driving.
T
he Indianapolis 500 has long billed itself
as “the greatest spectacle in racing,” but
it’s difficult to imagine that cars racing at
120 mph (193 km/h) or more around the
fabled “Brickyard” – sans drivers – isn’t going to be
its own kind of spectacle. That’s the intent for the
Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) race scheduled
for October 23, 2021, when a field of driverless
racecars competes at the legendary Indianapolis
Motor Speedway (IMS) for a $1 million first prize.
Dallara, one of several IAC sponsoring companies, supplies the open-wheel racecars that student-engineer teams will modify for
fully-automated operation.
2 DECEMBER 2020
The IAC is more than spiritually related to the
famous DARPA Grand Challenge initiated in the
early 2000s by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA). That pivotal event
spurred interest in automated-driving technology.
Similarly, the Indy competition also is not intended
for professionals. Instead, it’s aimed at global
collegiate engineering-student teams to hone
development of the sophisticated software required
to extract maximum performance from a driverless
DALLARA
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
 IAC driverless racecars must run the fabled Indianapolis track at speed against a field of others also bent on winning the $1 million first prize.
racecar, one that’s simultaneously maneuvering
with other vehicles bent on the same objective.
After four development gateways – including a
simulation-based “qualifying” race followed by solo
laps on the track itself – teams that pass will compete
in a physical race at IMS. The grid will comprise
15 open-wheel Dallara racecars modified with
automated-driving hardware and software. The team
that completes the 20-lap race with the best time
under the 25-minute time limit will win the $1-million
first prize. Completing 20 laps of IMS in 25 minutes
amounts to an average of about 120 mph. Indianapolis-
based non-profit Energy Systems Network (ESN),
the event organizer, said the IAC is the “world’s first
head-to-head, high-speed autonomous race.”
Up to the high-speed ‘edge’
The event was conceived to “inspire the next
generation of STEM talent,” said the IAC website.
It adds that racing, as perhaps the ultimate variant
of the “edge case” scenarios on which much
automated-driving development focuses, will help
improve autonomous-vehicle software’s ability to
handle unexpected events at more normal speeds.
Simulation software developer Ansys is one
of the program’s nine primary sponsors and
supplies each team with its VRXPERIENCE
Driving Simulator powered by SCANer real-
time, interactive driving simulation software.
ANSYS
Sandeep Sovani, the company’s director for
ADAS and Autonomy, told SAE International that
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
furnishing each team with VRXPERIENCE is “a big
benefit from a product-development perspective.”
The teams in the IAC “are going to be spending
thousands of hours in simulation.” The VRXPERIENCE
software, he explained, is designed to address the
spectrum of simulation needs: model-in-the-loop
(MIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) functionality;
plus driver-in-the-loop (DIL) validation and testing.
Sovani said such unique and intensive use of
company’s simulation software is invaluable to Ansys’
own developers, calling it a prime opportunity “to
see firsthand what improvements are needed in
our technologies.” He added that Ansys, however,
is acting as more than a simulation-software
supplier. The company also is providing software
training for the students, managing the event’s
three hackathons and will conduct the crucial
February 2021 simulated race in which teams
must complete 10 virtual solo laps in 15 minutes
or less to earn their way into the final race.
He also pointed out that working with the race’s
student teams during the COVID-19 pandemic
has presented unexpected opportunities. Ansys
software was delivered to each team with sponsor
Microsoft’s cloud service, for one, and all teams
have had to conduct an inordinate degree of
remote testing and validation. Personnel from
several areas of Ansys’ operations – application
engineers, information-technology technicians
– are taking part in the company’s collaboration
with the student teams, Sovani noted.
DECEMBER 2020 3
‘Software, Start Your
Engines’
October 2021’s Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) promises high-speed racing
at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a field of racecars without drivers.
Hardware enabler
Although the IAC largely is meant to expand
the engineering students’ software-development
skills, the event also is a proving ground for the
electromechanical aspects of automated-driving
development. Schaeffler Group, another event
sponsor, is outfitting each of the Dallara-supplied
racecars with its Space Drive drive-by-wire system,
which is being developed by Schaeffler Paravan,
a joint-venture company. Space Drive was initially
envisioned as an aid for physically challenged
drivers by replacing traditional mechanical steering
and braking with electronically actuated systems.
Noel Marshall, Schaeffler Paravan director of
engineering, said the IAC racecars’ sensors will be
4 DECEMBER 2020
To win the IAC, automated racecars are
required to average at least 120 mph.
the “eyes and ears – and we’re the arms and legs.”
She said Space Drive will turn the commands from
the autonomous racers’ into the precise acceleration,
steering and braking required to run the Speedway
at high speed. The conventional software used for
Space Drive “has to be customized and modified”
by the teams; the differentiator [in performance]
being “in their software,” she explained.
Marshall noted that Space Drive already has
passed a racing-connected trial. In June 2019, an
Audi R8 LMS GT3 using Space Drive to eliminate
the physical connection between the steering
wheel and the steering gear, raced in Germany at
the 24 Hours Nurburgring. Subsequently, other
racecars have used Space Drive’s by-wire steering
with almost unanimously positive feedback from
drivers. Eliminating the need for a steering column
and its physical connection to the wheels, Marshall
said, is a significant factor in transforming the
cabin environment of commercial and personal
vehicles operating with high-level automation.
On the development path to high-level autonomy,
Marshall said, Schaeffler intends to integrate
elements of Paravan’s efforts with the company’s
Chassis Group to upgrade functionality of more-
conventional vehicles and integrate with advanced
driver-assistance systems (ADAS) working at the
SAE Level 2-3 degree of automation. Elements
of Space Drive also are being used in off-road
FROM TOP: ANSYS; DALLARA
commercial applications such as tractors and other
heavy machines in which precise steering integration
with other electronic systems is desirable.
Marshall said Schaeffler’s engineers envision
plenty of upside from working with the IAC’s
student engineers. “We’re going to get a lot from
them,” she enthused. “They’re the brightest and
the best coming into our [automotive] world.”
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
Lidar Infiltrates ADAS
by Paul Seredynski
Once considered a necessity only in fully autonomous vehicles,
lidar sensors are now being evaluated for lower-level driver-
assistance systems.
L
aser-based light detection and ranging (lidar)
sensors were only recently thought to be
applicable within the realm of fully automated
vehicles (AVs). The spinning lidar “flowerpots”
that grace the tops of AV prototypes, providing
360° point-cloud views and unmatched resolution
are considered a vital sensing component of the
driverless future. As that future continues to recede
in the face of technical and regulatory hurdles,
lidar’s unique properties will migrate to lower-level
advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS) [https://
www.sae.org/news/2019/01/sae-updates-j3016-
automated-driving-graphic], with ADAS and other
features projected to benefit from lidar’s acuity.
Cepton Technologies has partnered with Tier-1 headlight supplier Koito to help OEMs bring embedded and forward-looking lidar sensors to market.
6 DECEMBER 2020
Typically part of a sensor suite that also
leverages radar and cameras, lidar has unique
characteristics that provide improved capability
and redundancy. Unlike camera-based systems,
lidar makes its own light and therefore requires
no illumination to operate. Compared to radar,
its main advantage is improved precision.
Most manufacturers consider 360° lidar a
necessity for fully automated systems, helping
provide complete real-time environmental
awareness to safely operate a vehicle. But
targeted lidar sensors already are being
exploited to provide additional safety and
conveniences apart from high-level autonomy.
CEPTON
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
 Committing to ADAS
As the timetable for high-level autonomy
stretches, many lidar developers have been caught
in non-production scenarios. “There are about –
and I lost count a long time ago – maybe 57 lidar
companies out there, 20 of which are startups,
and we’re one of these,” explained Dr. Jun Pei,
CEO of Cepton Technologies, a San Jose-based
supplier of lidar solutions founded in 2016.
“Over the past years, tons of these companies
were focused on autonomous vehicles, which never
really happened,” Pei noted. “And now people
are just looking for an alternative application.
One of them is coming down to a lower level
because the OEMs started to realize that lidar
from the get-go is just an extra safety device
to enable very low levels of automation, not
necessarily a fully autonomous vehicle enabler.
“We basically aimed for this ADAS project from
the get-go, and all our products are designed
for it,” Pei said of Cepton’s early commitment to
targeted lidar applications. “It’s become clear to
us: lidar will be introduced in the mass automobile
industry, but first as a safety device. It will bring
the safety level to a higher standard, whether it’s
for moving, slow-going or fast-moving scenarios.”
According to Pei, the industry is realizing that lidar
as a sensor will not first be proliferated through
SAE Level-4 vehicles. It will be proliferated through
a Level-3 or even a Level-2.5 type of application.
All about redundancy
The redundancy in the lidar technology propelled
OEMs to think of other things we can add that can
be added into the sensor suite to make vehicles safer
than before, “If you have a camera, in order to defeat
the camera, you cannot just have two cameras,” Pei
noted. “That’s not redundant because you can just
have a heavy fog and none of the cameras will work.”
The alternating strengths of each sensor type
are what contributes to a widening of the safety
envelope, in aggregate. “Then you put in radar,”
he said. “It won’t be affected by the fog and it
will give you reliable information, with some
limitations. I am actually a true believer that these
three sensors, camera, radar and lidar – redundant
sensors of complementary technologies – are going
to be coexisting in the near-future in all cars.”
Rather than develop 360° lidar systems, Cepton
CEPTON
focused on its forward-looking sensors. “What we
have is a frontal-view lidar with a limited field of
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
Cepton Technologies’ CEO Dr. Jun Pei noted that lidar’s
inherent advantages make it a natural component to improve
redundancy in ADAS sensor suites.
view. In layman’s terms it works like a camera,”
Pei explained. “These are the modalities that we
adopted to design our sensor. Kind of like the
headlamp, we put most of the sensitivity at the
very front and it slowly tapers off to the side.”
According to Pei, imaging and radio-wave (radar)
sensors can ably serve driver-assist duties most
of the time. When those two types of sensing
fail, however, it could equate to dire outcomes. “If
you have cameras and radars, you will actually be
able to take care of 99 percent of the scenarios.
Lidar is only for that 1 percent, or maybe only 0.1
percent,” Pei figured. “Unfortunately, that fractional
percent, as you hear from many of the autonomous-
vehicle companies or software developers, are
the corner cases that actually kill people.”
The additional but essential capabilities derive
from lidar’s light-based format. “Lidar has self-
illumination, it doesn’t worry about whether there’s
sunlight or that it’s completely dark,” Pei said. “It
measures the physical response from the object
instead of using AI to get what it is. It sends a pulse
and listens to the return pulse, so there’s physical
interaction between the object and your own sensor.
It’s the difference between looking and touching.”
The other crucial feature of lidar is its precision.
“The angular resolution between lidar and radar is
about one order magnitude or higher for lidar. Both
radar and lidar can see there’s an obstacle in front,
but lidar can see it much clearer,” Pei said. “Radar
will tell you there is a car stopped 200 meters away
from you, but it does not know in which lane. A lidar
will tell you there’s this car stopped, and it will tell
you whether it’s in your lane or on the shoulder.”
DECEMBER 2020 7
Lidar Infiltrates ADAS
“
Camera, radar and lidar are going to be coexisting in the
”
near-future in all cars.
San Jose-based Cepton Technologies’ lidar solutions include the
ADAS-focused Vista products.
OEM applications
The next obvious step for lidar is to have
the technology begin to be adopted by the
OEMs for near-term uses. Cepton has partnered
with Japan’s Tier-1 headlight supplier Koito
Manufacturing, which led a $50 million Series C
funding round for Cepton in February 2020.
“We have a deep partnership with the biggest
headlamp maker in the world,” Pei said. “Naturally,
the intention is for our lidars to be buried inside
the headlamps so you have a very nice front view
with plenty of redundancy for safety reasons.”
According to Pei, working with its partners,
Cepton intends to see its products integrated by
OEMs looking for the additional capabilities and
redundancies inherent in lidar sensing. He noted
that in the near term, lidar-equipped vehicles
will be readily available. “A few years from now,
you’ll see a car from a dealership that you can buy
with our lidar inside. That’s a huge deal for us.
“It’s not some demonstration vehicle from an
autonomous fleet run by a startup,” he said. “It’s
actually a car in a dealership for everyday people.”
8 DECEMBER 2020
For the OEMs, as form factors shrink and costs
decline, lidar becomes another viable sensor
option. According to a spokesperson at FCA, it’s
the rapid pace of lidar development that has most
automakers considering the implementations:
“The technology is advancing very quickly. FCA is
studying lidar technology within the L3 parameters
and beyond. Lidar delivers data that can help the
automated driving system build a more detailed
understanding of the vehicle’s surroundings.”
Craig Stephens, director of controls and automated
systems at Ford, said he sees similar opportunity
for integration. “We remain interested in all sensor
modalities. What the vehicle can perceive about its
surroundings defines what it can do,” he explained.
“Redundancy – having multiple sensors providing
the same information; and diversity – exploiting
measurement capabilities that provide different
capabilities – are both factors in deciding which
sensors we pick for a given application.”
“Advances in radar and particularly computer
vision are exciting and there is a tremendous
amount of ongoing innovation in lidar development,
both from established companies and start-ups,”
Stephens said. “That work is increasing performance
for a given price point and so lidar remains under
consideration for driver-assistance technologies.”
Low-speed lidar
Where lidar will likely make the swiftest inroads is
in low-speed driver-assist features such as automatic
parking and valet-like vehicle retrieval. With vehicle
speeds greatly reduced in parking-lot environments,
sensor-fusion agility and therefore compute power
requirements and costs drop dramatically.
Speaking recently with SAE on automated-parking
systems, Alexander van Laack, VP of sales, Faurecia
Clarion Electronics, described the scenario that is
likely to be consumers’ first brush with full autonomy.
“This is a low-speed level of autonomous driving
because the car would drive across the parking
lot with nobody inside. We will use cameras and
ultrasound, but we also use the lidar sensors to
detect moving objects, pedestrians, and so on,”
van Laack explained. “With the integration of the
lidars, the cameras and other sensors like ultrasound
sensors, you have a good mix that you can leverage
CEPTON
for understanding your surroundings, react very
quickly and basically give you the eyes and ears.”
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
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The Case for FOTA in
AV Data Security
by Holger Hilmer

Firmware over-the-air data transmission helps OEMs drive

secure vehicle autonomy.

C
ars are increasingly becoming mobile living
spaces. That’s why the subject of security
is so important for OEMs and suppliers.
When a car becomes a personal mobile
device that the owner uses for communications
and personalizes with apps, it becomes
vulnerable to opportunities for manipulation.
Hacker attacks on connected cars have already
made the headlines. In one example, a wireless
connection was used to access the CAN bus
that controls many network units in the vehicle.
This allowed the hackers to remotely control
the car and switch off the engine while it was
in use. Other criminals have managed to gain

MOLEX CONNECTED MOBILITY SOLUTIONS

To help thwart the global vehicle-hacking threat, Firmware Over-the-Air (FOTA) can quickly and continuously correct weaknesses while integrating new
functions and modernizing the cryptographic algorithms used to safeguard control devices.

10 DECEMBER 2020 ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT

 control over brakes, door locks, air conditioners
and windshield wipers. This is hardly surprising,
since more and more vehicles have interfaces
for exchanging data with the outside world.
As the trend continues to move to networked
cars that communicate with other smart
vehicles within the Internet of Things (IoT),
it will lead to even more of these interfaces,
and thus to a higher risk of hacker attacks.

Cat-and-mouse with hackers

The car industry wants to protect its customers
and itself against attacks, and so is looking for
ways to limit the options for hacker attacks on
vehicles. One approach is to seal off all wireless
interfaces. However, this is not in the interest
of customers. A connection for data exchange
is needed – particularly for innovative V2X
infrastructure services and autonomous driving.
Furthermore, with the traditional method of A cellular gateway acts as an
recalls and shop upgrades it will not be possible to intermediary between the
reliably protect vehicles against digital attacks. backend and the control units
Recall campaigns incur high costs and damage to be updated. Image above
the reputation of the OEM. Recalls also take shows wireless interfaces in
too long until all vulnerable vehicles have been the vehicle; below is the FOTA
patched. Meantime, it’s open season for hackers. gateway approach.
A vulnerable vehicle poses an enormous risk to
the driver and their surroundings, so prolonged
time frames are not acceptable. In addition, it is
often possible to identify additional weaknesses
in the vehicle software during this interval. This
makes the update obsolete when it is installed.
An alternative can be found in the world of apps
and smartphone operating systems. Regular updates
and patches are commonplace. The software and
firmware are updated over the air (OTA), which
means via the mobile network interface. Once the
update has been transferred to the device, it is
automatically unpacked and installed. Similarly, software packages via the OTA interface and
MOLEX CONNECTED MOBILITY SOLUTIONS

for the automotive industry, Firmware Over-the-
Air (FOTA) can help with supplying updates to
a large number of devices in a short time. This
method could be used to quickly and continuously
correct weaknesses by means of patches, integrate
new functions, and modernize the cryptographic
algorithms used to safeguard control devices.
Many devices can be updated using the FOTA
method. A control unit equipped with a mobile
network interface acts as an intermediary (cellular
gateway) between the backend and the devices
to be updated in the vehicle. It receives all the
distributes them to the target devices over CAN
bus systems or high-performance communications
channels such as Ethernet. As the master
device, the cellular gateway unit also monitors
and coordinates the entire update process.
Technical challenges of OTA
FOTA poses major technical challenges. For
example, it is necessary to ensure that the process
can be reliably executed and does not bring any
additional vulnerabilities. If FOTA could be used
to load manipulated software into a unit, the

ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT DECEMBER 2020 11

The Case for FOTA in
AV Data Security
“
A dedicated HSM is vital to implement secure memory and enable
secure execution of cryptographic algorithms.
Dr. Holger Hilmer is
senior staff engineer
at Molex, with a
current focus on
security, including
software OTA update
of automotive
control units.
consequences for data security and functional safety
would be immeasurable. This means that the over-
the-air interface must be cryptographically protected,
for example by encryption with the TLS protocol.
The keys and certificates needed for this
must be entered in the devices in a secret and
tamper-proof manner, and they must be stored
in a secure memory area in the devices. A
dedicated hardware security module (HSM) is
vital to implement secure memory and enable
secure execution of cryptographic algorithms.
Protection against unauthorized installation of
manipulated software could be achieved by using
a secure installation process called secure flashing
and a security check when the device software
starts up called secure boot. Digital signatures for
validation of software authenticity are used in both
methods. Development interfaces such as UART,
USB or JTAG must either be disabled in series-
production units or protected by cryptographic
methods to prevent device penetration. Attackers
could use these paths to try to read out or
manipulate the software or confidential data.
Adaptations needed
Along with technical aspects, organizational and
development aspects must be adapted to the new
circumstances. For example, end-to-end threat analyses
and risk assessments are currently not standard practice,
but they should be included in the requirements that
manufacturers set for their suppliers. These analyses
examine possible attack scenarios on all components
12 DECEMBER 2020
”
of the chain and their impact on data security and
functional safety. Based on the results, suitable protective
measures can be defined. This procedure can only yield
the desired result if the OEM, the supplier of the backend
solution and the manufacturer of the control units work
together starting with the early development phase.
The approach requires switching from a black-
box development of control units to an integrated
approach with regard to security. In addition,
measures to achieve and maintain security must
persist after the start of production. Security
analyses, security testing, and elimination of
security gaps by FOTA must be carried out
continuously during the entire product lifetime. The
upcoming ISO/SAE 21434 standard ‘Road vehicles
– Cybersecurity engineering’ provides rules and
guidelines for all phases of the vehicle lifecycle.
FOTA offers more than just security benefits for
OEMs. In the future, expensive recalls will no longer
be necessary in the event of software problems.
Many of them can be resolved without active
customer involvement, since patches can be sent
wirelessly to the vehicle. FOTA can also play a role
in establishing new business models and customer
relationships, as shown by the example of Tesla.
Its models equipped with the company’s Autopilot
system have evolved into semi-autonomous
vehicles. This opens new perspectives for OEMs.
The value of a new vehicle typically drops by
50% when it leaves the dealer’s lot. Subsequently
the value continues to decline. In the future
with new functions loaded into vehicles via
FOTA, cars might not lose value over time, but
instead retain or even increase their value.
Standardization of FOTA is essential
Molex understands the critical need to ensure
that security and safety are top priority as these
changes occur. Along with likeminded companies an
alliance known as eSync has formed to address the
need for developing and promoting the technology
required for automotive OTA and in-vehicle networks.
The industry-wide initiative is working to reduce
the cost of software and firmware updates, recalls
and improve data services for the connected car.
This commitment to address a lack of standardization
by promoting a secure and open path for end-to-end
OTA vehicle data transmission helps OEMs create
advances needed to further drive the industry.
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
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AV and ADAS Testing
from Out of the Box
by Lindsay Brooke
A new tool from Foretellix guides engineers through virtual
systems testing to minimize the risk of getting dangerous
pre-deployment bugs.
F
or self-driving vehicle systems to gain the
full confidence of the public, the mobility
industry and government regulators, OEMs
have to prove that AVs (and those equipped
with enhanced SAE Level 2 automated-driving
systems) are safer being driven by software than
by humans. But a recent string of unfortunate
events in 2020 involving automatic emergency
braking (AEB) systems is causing concerns.
Early in the year, Volvo recalled 750,000 cars
from 2019 and 2020 production over a fault in its
AEB. Engineers discovered a software glitch that
prohibited the system from activating under certain
For self-driving vehicle systems to gain the full confidence of the public, the mobility industry, and government regulators, OEMs have to prove that AVs
and those equipped with enhanced SAE Level 2 automated-driving systems are safer being driven by software than by humans.
14 DECEMBER 2020
temperatures. Then in June, in Taiwan, a Tesla
Model 3 operating in Autopilot mode slammed
into an overturned tractor-trailer rig at 70 mph,
reportedly due to software issues related to the
car’s forward-facing sensor array and an AEB that
failed to react. This incident was followed in August
when the American Automobile Assoc. (AAA)
released results of a blockbuster study that painted
a worrisome picture of the real-world performance
of active driver-assistance systems (see sidebar).
“There is the tragic impact on human lives, and a
huge cost to the manufacturer in these scenarios,”
noted Roy Fridman, VP Business Development
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ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
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AV and ADAS Testing
from Out of the Box
AAA study is troubling picture for AV developers
In a comprehensive study released in August 2020, researchers at the
American Automobile Assoc. (AAA) found that over the course of 4,000
miles (6,437 km) of real-world driving, vehicles equipped with active driving
assistance systems (ADAS) experienced some type of issue every 8 miles
(12.8 km), on average. The researchers noted instances of trouble with the
systems keeping the vehicles tested in their lane and coming too close to
other vehicles or guardrails. AAA also found that ADAS which combine
vehicle acceleration with braking and steering often disengage with little
notice – almost instantly handing control back to the driver. Performance at
night was unacceptable.
The study’s conclusions present a troubling picture for AV development
teams and engineers working on ADAS systems. AAA recommends OEMs
and suppliers increase the scope of testing for active driving assistance
systems and limit their rollout until functionality is improved to provide a
more consistent and safer driver experience.
AAA tested the functionality of ADAS in real-world conditions and in a
closed-course setting to determine how well they responded to common
driving scenarios. On public roadways, 73% of errors involved instances of
lane departure or erratic lane position. While AAA’s closed-course testing
found that the systems performed mostly as expected, they were particu-
larly challenged when approaching a simulated disabled vehicle (a scenario
similar to the Taiwan Tesla crash). When encountering this test scenario, in
aggregate, a collision occurred 66% of the time and the average impact
speed was 25 mph (40 km/h).
AAA conducted closed-course testing in partnership with the Automobile
Club of Southern California’s Automotive Research Center. Vehicles participat-
ing in the tests included a 2019 BMW X7 with “Active Driving Assistant Profes-
sional” ; a 2019 Cadillac CT6 with “Super Cruise”; a 2019 Ford Edge with
“Co-Pilot360”; a 2020 Kia Telluride with “Highway Driving Assist” and a 2020
Subaru Outback with “EyeSight.” (See AAA.com).
- Lindsay Brooke
at Foretellix, the Tel Aviv-based developer of
automation and analytic tools for AV-systems
testing and development. In an interview with
SAE International, he argued that both the Volvo
and Tesla incidents could have been avoided
with improved testing, using Foretellix’s new
ADAS and Highway Solution package, part of the
company’s Foretify platform; go to foretellix.com.
Fridman describes ADAS and Highway Solution
as “an out-of-the-box tool that is able to tell
you what you need to test in order to get a real,
thorough verification for your ADAS and highway
(AV) system – from [SAE] Level 2 through the
fully autonomous Level 4 systems now in use in
highway trucks.” It guides engineers on how they
need to test, while providing “a kind of benchmark
noting when enough testing has been done, so
you can minimize the risk of your systems getting
these pre-deployment kind of bugs,” he said.
The new tool contains a library of 40 scenario
categories. Once you know what to look for,
the “engine of Foretify generates millions of
meaningful tests and edge cases – things that
we as humans would not think about before
deploying a system,” Fridman explained.
Upon completion of a test run, the data is
16 DECEMBER 2020
“We can
work with all
the popular
testing tools
used by OEMs
because we
are ‘simulator-
agnostic,’” noted
Foretellix’s Roy
Fridman.
aggregated into a dashboard that suggests more
specific investigations and test scenarios.
For example, ADAS and Highway solution will
report, “You have not done enough right turns in the
rain, and enough left turns into the snow – but you
have completed enough merges into the highway
when you have two vehicles on your right and on your
left,” he asserted. “It guides you to where you need
to direct your next effort for further verification.”
Fridman said he believes that had Volvo and
Tesla used the Foretellix product, it is likely that
they would have discovered their AEB-related
problems and fixed them. He added that soon
after the Tesla Taiwan crash Foretellix engineers
replicated the incident and had tested more than
100,000 variables “within a couple weeks.”
Founded in 2018, Foretellix’s “mission” is to
enable measurable safety of AVs by transitioning
from the traditional industry standard of measuring
the number of miles/kilometers the vehicle has
driven, to automatically testing and covering billions
of possible scenarios before the vehicle enters
road use. The company’s innovative algorithm
for describing scenarios is Measurable Scenario
Description Language (M-SDL) – an open, human-
readable language that allows simplifying the
capture, reuse, and sharing of driving scenarios.
M-SDL is capable of specifying any matrix of
scenarios and operating conditions to identify previously
unknown hazardous core and edge cases, the company
claims. It has been adopted for development of the
OpenSCENARIO 2.0 industry standard. “We can work
with all the popular testing tools used by OEMs because
we are “simulator-agnostic,” Fridman said. “We’re easily
integrated into OEM systems, and easy to operate.”
Foretellix’s ADAS and Highway Solution package
was developed with inputs from customers, data
from past accidents, technology limitations,
upcoming regulations, safety standards, and
disengagement reports. The company claims it
FORETELLIX
delivers the industry’s most effective solution
for exposing bugs and verifying the quality
and reliability of ADAS and AV systems.
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
 Reconstructing Accidents in
the ADAS Age
Data access and privacy concerns will be key challenges to determine ADAS-influencing factors,
according to an SAE WCX Digital Summit expert panel.
by Paul Seredynski
W
ith advanced driver-assist systems
(ADAS) evolving rapidly, the technology
will continue to improve safety as it
augments the skill and attention of
human drivers. Accidents will still occur, however,
and when they do, determining fault and failures will
become more complex when a range of electronic
sentinels are involved. A panel discussion during
SAE’s 2020 WCX Digital Summit [www.sae.org/
attend/virtual-events/wcx-digital-summit] brought
together experts in the accident reconstruction
field to discuss how ADAS might influence the
determining factors contributing to a crash.
Moderated by Origin Forensics’ principal Jarrod
Carter, the “Accident Reconstruction in an ADAS
Future” panel speakers included: Edward Fatzinger,
forensic engineer, Momentum Engineering
Corp.; Eldon Leaphart, principal engineer,
Carr Engineering Inc.; Alan Moore, consultant,
A.B.Moore Forensic Engineering; and David Plant,
mechanical engineer, D P Plant & Associates.
Adoption and market penetration
The ADAS panel discussed the technology as
applied on both passenger and commercial vehicles,
SAE
Thanks to a swift adoption timeline, ADAS is expected to soon play a role in a majority of accidents.
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
as well as on motorcycles. The consensus is that
passenger vehicles lead in ADAS implementations
due to the proliferation of electric power steering
(EPS), which allows the system to control
lateral position. In terms of market penetration,
Moore noted that the adoption-timeline curve
was typical for this type of tech, and ADAS will
soon play a role in a majority of incidents.
“By the best I’ve seen, we’re at about 20 percent
adoption by the fleet of all passenger vehicles on the
road, and that’s important because in a year or two,
we’ll be at 25 percent adoption, which means that
half of our two-vehicle crashes will have some ADAS
component to it,” Moore explained. “This is a really
good time for us to be talking about how ADAS fits
into accident reconstruction because a year or two
from now, it’s going to be about half of our cases.”
According to Plant, the ADAS-equipped ratio for
commercial vehicles from a 2018 study is directly
proportional to fleet size. “Smaller fleets, [those]
that were less than 10 units, only 24 percent of
those fleets were equipped with some form of
ADAS,” Plant said. “Whereas a much larger fleet,
greater than 50 units, about three-quarters of
those fleets were equipped with some form of
DECEMBER 2020 17
Reconstructing Accidents in
the ADAS Age
More ADAS technology such as adaptive cruise control (shown here) is being
adopted for motorcycles, but safety features such as automatic emergency braking
will be difficult to apply to 2-wheelers, experts said.
ADAS. Blind-spot monitoring, which is pretty
important on commercial vehicles, seems to have
the greatest penetration into the fleets at this point.”
Features and how to alert
Deciding how to alert when an ADAS system
calls for intervention, and which features are most
needed, varies by vehicle type. Fatzinger noted
that motorcycles present a particular challenge
for ADAS implementation. “I like the haptic area
– vibrate to seat, vibrate to hand grips – and I
think it would be the most effective,” he noted in
terms of a rider-alert system, adding that rider
position will prove a challenge for engineering
critical motorcycle ADAS functionality.
“Autonomous emergency braking on motorcycles
is going to be quite difficult to achieve,” Fatzinger
said. “The rider has to be in a ready position to
brace for the deceleration. There’s going to have
to be force sensors in the hand grips to tell the
system, ‘Hey, the rider’s reacting and applying
force to the handlebars.’ The emergency braking
realm is going to be pretty far off, but I think
the classic lane-departure warnings, blind-spot
warnings are going to be pretty easy to achieve.”
On the heavy-vehicle side, Plant noted that each
year the technology evolves and improves, with
the biggest commercial concerns being collision
mitigation and automatic emergency braking
(AEB). “Initially, when these systems came out for
collision mitigation and AEB, automatic emergency
braking wasn’t responding to stopped vehicles.
Now, as improvements are made, these systems can
respond to stopped vehicles, and can stop at higher
speeds,” he said. “This is an evolving technology,
and we’re not where 100% of every hazard can
be avoided or mitigated, but we’re improving.”
18 DECEMBER 2020
Managing driver complacency
Leaphart noted that one of the biggest
challenges with ADAS is getting drivers to
understand the limitations of the technology,
similar to when ABS was introduced three
decades ago. “Similarly, when we look at some
of the ADAS technologies in the current state of
the art, especially automatic emergency braking,
how does the driver interact with that?”
“The positive aspects of ADAS are pretty
obvious: Safer driving and more-convenient
driving,” Moore explained. He noted that the
downside is drivers quickly become complacent
and over-reliant on ADAS. “If you look in the
owner’s manual of most newer vehicles,” Moore
said, “the list of reasons why ADAS won’t work
is longer than the list of reasons why ADAS will
work, because while it’s definitely safer than
not having it at all, it still has lots of limitations
and lay-person drivers often miss that point.”
Data access and privacy concerns
Accident reconstruction relies heavily on data,
for which ADAS could prove a trove, depending
on how much access is provided via the OEMs
and via privacy laws. When asked if OEM
data-management policies would affect sales,
Moore responded, “I don’t think that it affects
manufacturers plans for sales all that much, but
has a huge effect on their liability exposure.
When you put together manufacturer liability
exposure and privacy laws, frankly I’m surprised
we have the data available today that we do.”
Moore noted that in terms of OEM data access,
Toyota is currently leading the OEM pack with its
Techstream software and that GM also is active on
this front. “This is going to come down to electronic
data,” Moore said. “That’s truly where we’re going
to find the answers for a lot of this stuff. Which
means we’ll be depending to a great extent on the
manufacturers to give us access to that data. We’re
completely beholden to manufacturers at this point.”
“Getting data isn’t easy and especially if it’s a
matter that goes into litigation,” Leaphart said.
“Over time, one would expect EDR [event data
recorder] regulations would catch up or would
inform and consider some of this data. EDR
regulations certainly standardize things, and as
we get more penetration of these vehicles into
the marketplace, one would expect that there
BMW
would be some sort of a standardization.”
ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT
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TECH BRIEFS
Nature-Inspired Sensors Could Help Autonomous Machines See Better
The sensors can be built into the shells of aircraft, cars, or other machines.
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

B etter sensing capabilities

would make it possible for
drones to navigate in dangerous
environments and for cars to prevent
accidents caused by human error.
Current state-of-the-art sensor
technology doesn’t process data
fast enough, but nature does.
Researchers have built sensors in­
spired by spiders, bats, birds, and other
animals whose actual senses are nerve
endings linked to special neurons called
mechanoreceptors. The nerve endings
— mechanosensors — only detect
and process information essential
to an animal’s survival. They come
in the form of hair, cilia, or feathers.
Many biological mechanosensors
filter data — the information they
receive from an environment —
according to a threshold such as
changes in pressure or temperature.
A spider’s hairy mechanosensors, for
example, are located on its legs. When
a spider’s web vibrates at a frequency
associated with prey or a mate, the
me­chanosensors detect it, generating
a reflex in the spider that then reacts
very quickly. The mechanosensors
wouldn’t detect a lower frequency, such
as that of dust on the web, because it’s
unimportant to the spider’s survival.
The idea would be to integrate
similar sensors straight into the shell
New sensors are giving autonomous machines the ability to change shape when prompted by a
of an autonomous machine such as
predetermined level of force.
an airplane wing or the body of a
car. The mechanosensors could be
ETH ZÜRICH IMAGES/HORTENSE LE FERRAND

customized to detect predetermined
forces that would be associated with
a certain object that an autonomous
machine needs to avoid.
In addition to sensing and filtering
at a very fast rate, the sensors
also compute without needing a
power supply. In na­ture, once a
particular level of force activates
the mechanoreceptors associated
with the hairy mechanosensor,
the mechanoreceptors compute
information by switching from one
state to another. The new sensors do
the same and use these on/off states
to interpret signals. An intelligent
machine would then react according
to what the sensors compute.
The artificial mechanosensors are
capable of sensing, filtering, and
computing very quickly because they
are stiff. The sensor material is designed
to rapidly change shape when activated
by an external force. Changing shape
makes conductive particles within the
material move closer to each other,
which then allows electricity to flow
through the sensor and carry a signal.
This signal informs how the auton­
o­mous system should respond.
Using machine learning algorithms,
the sensors could be trained to
function autonomously with minimum
energy consumption. There also
would be no barriers to manufacturing
the sensors in a variety of sizes.
For more information, contact
Kayla Wiles at wiles5@purdue.
edu; 765-494-2432.

20 DECEMBER 2020 ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT

 Leap in Lidar Could Improve Safety and Security of New Technology
University of Colorado Boulder

W hether it’s on top of a self-

driving car or embedded inside
the latest gadget, light detection and
ranging (lidar) systems will likely play
an important role in our technological
future, enabling vehicles to ‘see’ in real-
time, phones to map three-dimensional
images, and enhancing augmented
reality in video games. The challenge,
however, is that 3-D imaging systems
can be bulky, expensive, and hard
to shrink down to the size needed
for up-and-coming applications.
University of Colorado researchers
have described a new silicon chip — with
no moving parts or electronics — that
improves the resolution and scanning
speed needed for a lidar system. Current
commercial lidar systems use large,
rotating mirrors to steer the laser beam
and thereby create a 3-D image. For the
A Google self-driving car with lidar on top, cruising the interstate in California.
past three years, the researchers have
been working on a new way of steering
laser beams called wavelength steering Lidar is a remote sensing method that silicon chip technology for use in lidar
— where each wavelength, or “color,” of uses laser beams, pulses of invisible systems. “Electrical communication
the laser is pointed to a unique angle. light, to measure distances. These is at its absolute limit. Optics has to
They’ve not only developed a beams of light bounce off everything come into play and that's why all
way to do a version of this along in their path, and a sensor collects these big players are committed to
two dimensions simultaneously, these reflections to create a precise, making silicon photonics technology
instead of only one, they’ve done three-dimensional picture of the industrially viable,” said Miloš
it with color, using a “rainbow” surrounding environment in real time. Popović, associate professor of
pattern to take 3-D images. Since Lidar is like echolocation with light: engineering at Boston University.
the beams are easily controlled by it can tell you how far away each The simpler and smaller that
simply changing colors, multiple pixel in an image is. It’s been used these silicon chips can be made
phased arrays can be controlled for at least 50 years in satellites and — while retaining high resolution
simultaneously to create a bigger airplanes to conduct atmospheric and accuracy in their imaging
aperture and a higher resolution image. sensing and measure the depth of — the more technologies they
Autonomous vehicles are currently bodies of water and heights of terrain. can be applied to, including self-
a $50 billion-dollar industry, projected While great strides have been made driving cars and smartphones.
to be worth more than $500 billion in the size of lidar systems, they remain Rumor has it that the upcoming
by 2026. While many cars on the road the most expensive part of self-driving iPhone 12 will incorporate a lidar
today already have some elements of cars by far — as much as $70,000 each. camera, like that currently in the
au­ton­omous assistance, such as en­ In order to work broadly in the consumer iPad Pro. This technology could not
hanced cruise control and automatic market one day, lidar must become only improve its facial recognition
lane-centering, the real race is to create cheaper, smaller, and less complex. Some security, but one day assist in
a car that drives itself with no input companies are trying to accomplish this creating climbing route maps,
DANIELJSF, FLICKR

or responsibility from a human driver.
In the past 15 years or so, innovators
have realized that in order to do this,
cars will need more than just cameras
and radar — they will need lidar.
feat using silicon photonics: an emerging
area in electrical engineering that uses
silicon chips that can process light.
The research team’s new finding
is an important advancement in
measuring distances, and even
identifying animal tracks or plants.
For more information, contact
Kelsey Simpkins at kelsey.
simpkins@colorado.edu.

ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT DECEMBER 2020 21

TECH BRIEFS

Light Helps Autonomous Vehicles Better Scan for Nearby Fast-Moving Objects
Mechanical control and modulation of light on a silicon chip could enhance lidar.
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

A self-driving car has a hard time

recognizing the difference between
a toddler and a brown bag that suddenly
but also the fabrication processes
involved, making the technology
more commercially viable. The MEMS
power-critical systems such as in space,
data centers, and portable atomic clocks
or in extreme environments such as
appears because of limitations in how transducers are simply fabricated on those with cryogenic temperatures.
it senses objects using light detection top of the silicon nitride photonics For more information, contact
and ranging (lidar). The autonomous wafer with minimal processing. Sunil Bhave, Professor of Electrical
vehicle industry is exploring frequency The new technology could provide the and Computer Engineering,
modulated continuous wave (FMCW) impetus for microcomb applications in at bhave@purdue.edu.
lidar to solve this problem.
Researchers have built a way
that this type of lidar could achieve
higher-resolution detection of
nearby fast-moving objects through
mechanical control and modulation
of light on a silicon chip. FMCW lidar
detects objects by scanning laser
light from the top of an autonomous
vehicle. A single laser beam splits
into a comb of other wavelengths,
called a microcomb, to scan an area.
Light bounces off of an object and
goes to the detector through an
optical isolator or circulator, which
ensures all reflected light ends up at

FROM TOP: WOOGIEWORKS GRAPHIC/ALEX MEHLER; PURDUE UNIVERSITY IMAGE/HAO TIAN

the detector array. The new method
uses acoustic waves to enable faster
tuning of these components, which
could bring higher-resolution FMCW
lidar detection of nearby objects.
The technology integrates microelec­
tromechanical systems (MEMS)
transducers made of aluminum nitride
to modulate the microcomb at high
frequencies ranging from megahertz
to gigahertz. An array of phased
MEMS transducers, also used in
cellphones to discern cellular bands,
stirs light at gigahertz frequencies
The new technology uses acoustics to better control a pulse of laser light split into a frequency
by launching a cork­screw-like stress
comb, potentially helping lidar achieve detection of nearby high-speed objects.
wave into a silicon chip. The stirring
motion modulates light such that it
can only travel in one direction.
Other transducers in the same
technology excite an acoustic wave
that shakes the chip at megahertz
frequencies, demonstrating sub-
microsecond control and tuning of
the laser pulse microcomb or soliton.
This light modulation technique not Researchers built a high-overtone bulk acoustic wave resonances-driven optical isolator that would
only integrates mechanics with optics enable lidar to better detect light that bounces off of an object.

22 DECEMBER 2020 ADAS/CONNECTED CAR SPECIAL REPORT

RE SE
S ARCH REPORTS
Inform strategy.
Explore
r critical advancements.
Get an edge.
sae.org/pu
p blications/edge-research-reports
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