ZF's advanced Tri-Cam tech wins Nissan global supplier innovation award

ZF has received a 2020 Nissan Global Supplier Award for Innovation for the development of its Tri-cam camera technology, the first intelligent three lens camera developed for the automotive market. Tri-cam supports Nissan’s ProPILOT 2.0 autonomous driving technology on the Nissan Skyline.

“We thank Nissan for this prestigious award and the opportunity to contribute to innovative systems such as the ProPILOT 2.0,” said Wolf-Henning Scheider, CEO of ZF Friedrichshafen AG. ZF looks forward to continuing to help develop and support advanced safety and automated driving technologies for global automakers.”

This is ZF’s third Innovation Award in recognition for its camera technology developments with Nissan since 2014.

The innovative Tri-Cam is part of ZF’s S-Cam4 family of cameras. It adds a telephoto lens with a 28º field-of-view for improved long-distance sensing, and a fish-eye lens with a 150° field of view for improved short-range sensing. This allows for enhanced long-range object detection in addition to improved short-range sensing capabilities for advanced overall performance in premium ADAS applications, in particular for semi-automated driving functions including Highway Driving Assist and Traffic Jam Assist.

The compact and flexible mechanical design makes ZF’s Tri-cam the smallest multi-lens smart camera currently on the market and highlights ZF’s expertise in high-precision mechatronic/vision integration. It requires highly complex coordination of the camera lens views using intrinsic and extrinsic calibrations to provide accurate range and distance measurements.

ProPILOT 2.0 is a revolutionary autonomous drive technology designed for highway use in multi-lane traffic. Nissan was the first Japanese automaker to introduce a combination of steering, accelerator and braking that, under appropriate conditions, can be operated in fully automatic mode, easing driver workload in heavy highway traffic and long commutes and in urban traffic situations. The three-lens configuration offering wider and longer fields of view enable more sophisticated and precise functions.

This award also highlights the success of ZF’s See, Think and Act approach that enables advanced safety and automated functions as ZF continues to develop its full suite of sensors (camera, radar and a), electronic control units (Pro AI and Safety Domain ECU) and intelligent mechanical systems (steering, braking and active suspension systems) that can precisely control vehicles in piloted or automated modes.

ZF is the world leader in the design, development and supply of forward-looking camera technology and supplies more than a dozen leading automakers.