EUROPA,DEUTSCHLAND, MÖNSHEIM, Porsche Engineering: Portraits Albrecht Böttiger und Jürgen Bortolazzi fotografiert am 17.10.2023, (c) 2023 NOI CREW

Engineering talk: Technically leading solutions for automated driving

Advanced driver assistance systems and automated driving functions increase comfort and safety. Jürgen Bortolazzi, Head of Driver Assistance and Automated Driving at Porsche, and Albrecht Böttiger, Head of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems at Porsche Engineering, talk about the current state of the art and the future of driving in an interview. Read more in the current eMove360° magazine in german language.

What role will driver assistance systems and highly automated driving play in the future – especially for Porsche customers?

Jürgen Bortolazzi: Porsche customers expect support, comfort and safety at the highest level from a driver assistance system. We must and can offer technically leading solutions in this area – as well as in automated driving. However, the same premise will apply here in the future: A Porsche will always remain first and foremost a self-driving car.

Albrecht Böttiger: However, we are increasingly seeing that Porsche customers want to be relieved in special situations – for example in traffic jams or when looking for a parking space. Just think of the situation in big cities like Shanghai, Beijing or Los Angeles. There, a Porsche cannot be driven in a sporty, dynamic manner like on a picturesque country road in the Black Forest. Instead of concentrating on the ‘stop and go’, everyone would probably like to use their time wisely. For example, with secondary activities that are not permitted or possible during active driving.

You have just mentioned the legal requirements. Are these harmonised worldwide or are there very big differences?

Bortolazzi: We see very big differences here. There are global regulations, such as the UN’s ECE regulations for the technical requirements for vehicles, which many countries follow. But we also have to deal with country-specific characteristics. China in particular is becoming increasingly emancipated and is entering the market with its own authorisation and legal requirements.

With JUPITER, Porsche Engineering has established a scalable ADAS architecture platform to prepare new technologies more efficiently for series development. The platform is constantly being further developed in an international software environment.

What level of automated driving are we currently at?

Bortolazzi: We are at level 2, i.e. still assisted driving. Here the driver still has full responsibility. But we are currently working intensively on a further development of level 2, which is often referred to as level 2+. In the future, the driver will be able to take his hands off the steering wheel. At the same time, however, the vehicle must monitor that he remains able to take over at any time. This means that we must monitor that the driver has his eyes on the road, that he continues to observe traffic and can take control again at any time.

Some OEMs are currently at the border between level 2 and level 3 of automated driving. How big is the jump from level 2 to level 3?

Bortolazzi: It is a bigger jump because a redundancy path must be implemented in the vehicle. It takes over the driving task – at least for a certain period of time – when the main system reaches its limits or a problem occurs. There is a considerable amount of effort behind this, including in the surrounding braking, steering and energy supply systems.

Böttiger: We got from Level 1 to Level 2 relatively quickly, for example from a simple longitudinal guide to a combined longitudinal and transverse guide. The step to Level 3, on the other hand, takes more time – despite the massive acceleration of the development processes through data-driven development. This is mainly due to the required fallback level, which, in addition to the material expenditure in the vehicles, also entails a great deal of implementation effort in development.

Bortolazzi: At Level 4, this fallback level will be even more pronounced, so that the vehicle can also be driven in a redundancy mode over a longer period of time. There is also additional redundancy – for example in the drive, so that the vehicle can drive off the highway independently, for example.

In the USA there are already robotaxis without drivers. Are the manufacturers there ahead of the European OEMs in autonomous driving?

Böttiger: A distinction must be made here between the use cases. Robotaxis have a limited operational design domain within cities, and the vehicles belong to service providers or fleet operators – just like driverless buses today. For vehicles that belong to individual customers and are driven by them themselves, the focus of development is on relaxed driving on the highway or in traffic jams and not on driverless driving. Here, the main focus is on longer distances. Therefore, there are differences in the approach here. We cannot therefore conclude that the US manufacturers are further ahead because they no longer need a driver.

What about the Chinese manufacturers?

Bortolazzi: According to our observations, Chinese vehicle manufacturers are approaching the topic of automation very ambitiously. The fact that it is supported and favored by the state certainly contributes to this. For example, we expect approval legislation for Level 3 this year. The form is also somewhat different there: the Chinese manufacturers have a lot of technology on board, in addition to sensor technology, also control units with very high computing power. However, it still has to be proven that the actually leads to useful vehicle functions.

Which technologies do you use when developing highly automated driving functions?

Bortolazzi: For safety reasons, our current Level 3 and Level 4 concepts provide for three independent physical sensing principles: radar, lidar and cameras. These are tried and tested, but still have potential for further improvements, for example through imaging radars. These are high-resolution radars that create a three-dimensional image of the environment, similar to a lidar.

Böttiger: Porsche Engineering has – also in connection with its international locations – in-depth expertise in all three sensor types. We also have the necessary expertise for developments up to Level 4 in the area of ​​control unit platforms, including, for example, graphics resources and accelerators for neural networks. The use of AI is becoming increasingly indispensable, especially in the area of ​​environmental perception and data-driven development – ​​we have consistently focused on this with our own international AI competence center. And when we look at the required processes, methods and tools: We are We are currently working on being able to map these along the entire V-model, from requirements engineering to software development to validation and release. This is a topic that we are particularly looking into and consider essential for a successful release to the customer.

What is Porsche Engineering’s unique selling point when we look at the development process?

Böttiger: We are able to use not only hardware and real vehicles, but also virtual tools along the entire V-model for the end-to-end development of ADAS functions. These enable us, for example, to simulate and test emerging functions before control units exist as hardware. Another strength is our worldwide locations. There we can, for example, operate hardware-in-the-loop test benches and thus continue testing and development around the clock. Errors discovered in Shanghai, for example, are immediately incorporated into an update that is then rolled out in Europe. is being tested. This international presence also enables us to support real-world testing in the markets. This means that we can carry out the application and validation required locally on the market using physical test vehicles on site.

How will the vehicle generally change if driving is increasingly taken over by technology?

Bortolazzi: Automated driving requires higher IT performance in the vehicle. We need high-performance computers on board to process sensor data and then take over the planning and implementation of the route. There will also be broadband communication between the vehicle and the digital infrastructure, in which electronic maps and swarm data are stored, for example, i.e. movement profiles and traffic information, but also warnings about accidents. There will also be vehicle-to-X communication as soon as the relevant standards are established.

Böttiger: The numerous components that have to be integrated are particularly important for this. Installation space has to be created for this, and the integration usually has to take place without affecting the visible exterior of the vehicle. However, certain components can also be deliberately highlighted as a feature – this is an approach that we often see in other markets such as China: there, lidars are sometimes not “hidden” but deliberately highlighted.

Since you’re mentioning it: How can the new vehicle functions be combined with the styling?

Bortolazzi: We definitely want to make technology visible – but in a way that really looks intentional. Porsche’s design philosophy is very clean with clear lines and uninterrupted shapes. On the other hand, the optical sensors always have to have a certain viewing angle. Integrating this cleanly is actually a big challenge. We work closely with our design and technology specialists in the bodywork area.

What does highly automated driving mean for the interior?

Bortolazzi: Our vision is to give our customers an adequate experience in the interior in automated driving mode. Depending on whether the driver wants to do office work, communication or entertainment, the surfaces in the vehicle are made usable, for example, through displays or projections. But the safety aspect is always important: we have to guarantee occupant protection in any case, because accidents cannot be completely ruled out with automated driving, for example due to the misconduct of other road users. The passengers must therefore also be protected in relaxed positions. For this, we need intelligent airbags and new restraint systems that are integrated into the seats. In addition, there is high-precision interior and passenger monitoring so that the vehicle can recognize exactly which position the driver or passengers are in and what the optimal triggering strategy for these restraints looks like.

The development of driver assistance systems and automated driving functions is very demanding. Does Porsche cooperate with other companies here?

Bortolazzi: An important partner is Porsche Engineering, because the company has built up a number of basic competencies over many years. This applies, for example, to data-driven development, but also to the topic of simulation. I would also like to mention the software development competencies that we are continuing to develop and expand together. In addition, there are Porsche Engineering’s nearshore and international locations, which are very important to us because we have to test and secure new systems in many regions due to the different approval conditions. Porsche Engineering offers us excellent support in all of these areas.

Another partner is Mobileye. Why did you choose to work with this company in particular?

Bortolazzi: Mobileye is currently one of the technology leaders. The company is characterized by more than ten years of intensive development work in the field of driver assistance systems and automated driving. In addition to a functional stack, Mobileye also offers a system-on-chip solution – already in its sixth generation – into which a great deal of experience has been incorporated. In addition, there is a complete digital ecosystem with a cloud-based map and an efficient connection of the vehicle to this.

What milestones have there been in this cooperation?

Bortolazzi: We have had cameras in Porsche vehicles based on Mobileye technology for several years. Now the new control unit platform is being added. It offers a high-performance interface to the electronic map and greatly expanded sensor technology – in particular the camera belt that monitors 360 degrees.

Finally, the question: Do you prefer to drive yourself or have someone drive you? And what are you most looking forward to when the car takes over for you?

Böttiger: When I’m driving on the Stilfser Joch road in the 911, I don’t miss Level 3. Then I want to drive myself. The same goes for the Black Forest. As soon as I’m in the city, however, I already switch on the combined longitudinal-lateral assistant, which offers me a lot of relaxation and comfort. If I didn’t have to drive myself at all, I would surf the Internet or do business things. Or watch sports and other videos.

Bortolazzi: I would prefer to use automated driving for the way to the office – for example, to be able to use my 50-kilometer commute sensibly in traffic jams or in congested traffic on the A8 in the morning.#

Text: Christian Buck

Text first published in Porsche Engineering Magazine, Issue 1/2024 and in the current eMove360° Magazine in german language. Download the PDF for free or order the print version at sabine.metzger@emove360.com.