TE - White Papers

TE Automotive /// Driving the Data-Fueled Future Page 2 AUTOMOTIVE MEGATRENDS ARE ALL ABOUT THE ACES The acronym ACES is gaining momentum as the moniker that summarizes the four key trends in mobility. Auto- mated. Connected. Electrified. Shared Mobility. Much has been written on these subjects, and exciting technical developments are progressing at breakneck speed. The automated, or assisted, trend is all about the balance of decision-making and control between the driver and his or her automobile. Increased data availability and pro- cessing power in a vehicle enables advanced driver assis- tance (ADAS) features including anti-lock brakes (ABS), collision alert, lane keeping, pedestrian detection, and automatic parallel parking. Additional ADAS features are continually being introduced. Adaptive body height con- trol, for example, utilizes lateral motion sensors to detect an imminent side collision and increase the car's body height ride by as much as 10 cm or more. More assistance from the vehicle means more automated functionality as we travel on the road to, potentially, 100 per cent assis- tance (full autonomous driving). The connected trend is related to society's ever-increas- ing desire to stay engaged. Given recent worldwide events, personal and business travel by automobile is expected to climb as individuals feel more comfortable and in-control of their personal space. Consumers expect the ability to stream infotainment content (music, mov- ies), shop online, navigate journeys, and conduct business (professional and personal) directly from their cars. Gone are the days when one must be home or in the office for optimal connection. The electrification trend is the migration from internal combustion engines to electric motors (e-motors) as the primary method of propulsion. This trend is driven by a desire to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, reduce (even eliminate) tailpipe emissions, and improve energy usage efficiency. Suites of sensors and complex control algo- rithms are employed to optimize e-motor performance, reduce maintenance costs, safely charge batteries, and maximize distance travelled per charge. Along with bat- tery electric vehicle (BEV) introduction comes the needs to think about when and where to charge one's car when on a trip. By automatically processing range, location, and route information, cars are addressing this range anxiety head on because they are able to navigate to conveniently located charging stations. The shared mobility trend is driven by the demand for shared transportation services and the potential to reduce personal vehicle ownership in exchange for easy access to vehicles. The vehicle experience needs to be personalized for each user. Eventually, each shared vehicle will have the ability to be personalized for the driver or rider, just like one's phone, tablet, pc, and home television deliver tailored experiences. Whether a livery service like Uber or Lyft, or a car-sharing vehicle rental like ZipCar or Turo, readily-available access to mobility applications (apps) as well as data from the cloud makes this all possible. DATA IS THE FUEL TRANSPORTING US TO THE ACES FUTURE What do these four ACES megatrends have in common? The answer is that they are all heavily reliant upon data as the key enabler for successful execution. For these trends to reach their full potential, decisions made from vast amounts of information generated by sensors must be processed and executed in fractions of a second. Some of these decisions, although important, are rather benign. Finding the closest ice cream parlor, while an important use of data, is not a safety-critical task (although not all will be in agreement). Detecting a pedestrian in-path of a vehicle and automat- ically applying brakes, however, is an action that must take place within milliseconds and where failure is not an option. As time rolls on, each of the ACES megatrends will rely on increasing amounts of information. This requires decisions to be made in shorter amounts of time for out- comes that are more critical for safety, reliability, and effi- ciency. It is imperative that any data that is generated at its source makes it to its intended destination swiftly and flawlessly.

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