Visteon debuts DriveCore autonomous driving platform in China

Visteon Corporation, the leading automotive cockpit technology company, is showing its DriveCore autonomous driving platform for the first time in China at the 2018 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition.

Designed to accelerate the development and commercialisation of autonomous driving technology, Visteon says DriveCore is the first solution to allow automakers to build autonomous driving solutions quickly and in an open collaboration model.

DriveCore was designed as a complete technology platform, consisting of the hardware, in-vehicle middleware and PC-based software toolset needed to develop machine learning algorithms for autonomous driving applications of Level 3 and above. Building on Visteon’s success with a centralized computing approach, DriveCore will provide automakers a fail-safe domain controller, with a high degree of computing power scalability, which supports the integration of data from multiple camera, Lidar and radar sensors. Visteon officially introduced its DriveCore technology at CES 2018 in Las Vegas, which immediately generated positive feedback within the industry.

“To meet the safety demands of self-driving technology, cars will need unprecedented levels of processing power, as well as the ability to support multiple sensor technologies and advanced software capabilities,” explained Sachin Lawande, president and CEO of Visteon. “We’ve seen huge advances and breathtaking innovations in each of these areas, but automakers need a single, holistic platform to manage and support them.

“DriveCore will accelerate the development and commercialization of autonomous technology by bringing together extremely high processing power and software development tools that enable collaboration with the broader ecosystem,” Lawande added.

DriveCore consists of three primary components:
- Compute is a modular, scalable computing hardware platform that can easily be adapted to all levels of automated driving. It is designed to deliver from 500 gigaflops to 20 teraflops of processing power (with existing Systems on Chip) in a scalable manner, independent of the type of central processing unit (CPU) used. It will support NVIDIA, Freescale, Qualcomm and, later, other processor types seamlessly – protecting an automaker’s investment in this technology.

- Runtime is in-vehicle middleware that provides a secure framework to enable applications and algorithms to communicate in a real-time, high-performance environment. It enables sensor fusion in a sensor-independent manner, so sensors can be upgraded as new capabilities become available, such as radar going from 2-D to 3-D.

- Studio is a PC-based development environment that enables automakers to create and support an ecosystem of algorithm developers, unlocking innovation potential through an open framework for sensor-based artificial intelligence algorithm development. Studio allows easy integration of third-party algorithms and access to real-life sensor data – complemented by a simulation, validation and benchmarking environment for algorithms ranging from object detection to camera-based lane detection.

“Successful implementation of autonomous driving technologies will require collaboration from multiple companies offering specific expertise in different aspects of the solution,” said Visteon Chief Technology Officer Markus Schupfner. “We are showing how our investment in new technologies such as machine learning and collaboration with leading tech partners will help drive the future of autonomous driving.”

During the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, Visteon is hosting demonstrations of DriveCore at its booth, where it will also be showcasing solutions that will speed the transition to an all-digital vehicle cockpit and, ultimately, autonomous driving. From fully reconfigurable instrument clusters and the latest-generation, high-definition (HD) digital display technologies to driver monitoring, ADAS integration and a virtualized instrument cluster domain, Visteon will be displaying products that will underpin the epic shift toward connected cars and autonomous vehicles.

Also read: Visteon's SmartCore cockpit domain controller to go on Geely's new EV platforn

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