HELLA’s ‘open interface’ allows VMs to integrate automated assistance functions

Communication between vehicles and suppliers possible for first time, making future maintenance easier

HELLA’s ‘open interface’ allows VMs to integrate automated assistance functions

HELLA and a German research have developed a near-series fusion platform with open interfaces that will enable faster integration for VMs with driver assistance functions.

The Open Fusion Platform, abbreviated to OFP, enables vehicle manufacturers and their suppliers to cost-effectively integrate highly and fully-automated driver assistance functions for the purposes of automated driving.

The OFP was developed by HELLA, the network coordinator, together with the German Aerospace Centre, Elektrobit Automotive, Infineon Technologies AG, InnoSent, HELLA Aglaia Mobile Vision, Reutlingen University, the RWTH Aachen Electromobility Centre, Streetscooter Research and TWT GmbH Science and Innovation.

In addition, associated partners Continental and Nvidia, also supported the project.

Fully autonomous functions

The project, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research with €4.4 million, was successfully completed in just over three years with the integration of the first fully autonomous driving functions in three demonstration vehicles.

In the implemented scenario, a fully-automatic electric vehicle drove to a free charging station in a car park and positioned itself over the charging plate.

After the charging process had been completed, it automatically searched for an available parking space, without a charging plate.

“For such highly or fully automated scenarios, so far only prototypes that were not yet close to series production have existed,” explained Dr Michael Schilling, project manager for pre-development of automated driving at HELLA and network coordinator for the OFP project.

Systems should know all surroundings

Today, there already are driver assistance systems in series production, such as traffic jam assistants that merge data from two sensors.

Dr Schilling continued: “But for fully automated driving, it is necessary for the vehicles to be able to perceive their entire surroundings.

“To achieve this, data from a multitude of sensors and cameras has to be merged in order to create a full model of the surroundings.

“Such a model then shows the driving environment with the required amount of accuracy, allowing to implement a reliable driving function.”

One of the challenges revolves around the interfaces between the individual sensors and the central electronic control unit, which have not yet been standardised.

Interface currently dependent on supplier

The interfaces of actual driver assistance systems are very function-specific and depend on the individual supplier or vehicle manufacturer.

This is exactly where the research project started its work.

Four cameras and eight 77 GHz radar sensors, covering 360° around the vehicle, served as input for the OFP.

An additional Vehicle to X-Communication module (V2X module) also enables communication between vehicles and external infrastructure, such as the charging plate.

The network partners have disclosed the interface descriptions of the individual components in a freely available “Interface Specification”.

During the project, an ISO working group for the standardisation of the sensor data interfaces was launched by the research group, together with other vehicle manufacturers and suppliers.

Upon completion of the project, an updated interface description is published, which also flows into the ongoing ISO process.

Standardised sensor interfaces

This means that for the first time, all vehicle manufacturers and suppliers will have the opportunity of integrating their products quickly and easily into the fusion platform.

With the complex environmental model, HELLA Aglaia Mobile Vision has developed the central component of the OFP.

Using the OFP visualisation, developers can see how the vehicle perceives the entire environment and then, on this basis, decide how the sensor data is to be merged.

Work on the OFP will continue after the project.

Crucial questions will include how the sensor data can be processed with machine learning in order to improve functions and further accelerate the development work.

The car park scenario is also to be expanded to include urban driving situations and general driving at over 20 km/h (12mph).

These scenarios require interaction with other sensors, such as LiDAR sensors.

It is precisely in this area of multisensory data fusion that OFP will be able to exploit its full potential.

Future maintenance

Moreover, functional safety will play a role in further development to ensure that all developed functionalities are and remain fail-safe.

Further developments could support garages with ADAS-vehicle maintenance through a single interface, rather than the need for numerous supplier or manufacturer-specific products.

Find out more about HELLA’s existing automotive aftermarket products by clicking ‘more details’ below.

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