CES 2019: Blueprint for Future Auto Shows?

February 1, 2019

Lindsay Brooke, Terry Costlow, Paul Eisenstein and Bill Visnic

The mammoth annual trade event formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show has escalated into an automotive techfest, with OEMs and suppliers of every size and from every industry segment using the week-long event to showcase their advanced technologies. It’s a mind-boggling, often unwieldy and grueling grind in Las Vegas for reporters, but CES is undeniably a must-attend event both for media and for all organizations working in autonomous and connected mobility.

Talk about diversity: At what other trade show would you see demonstrations and displays by John Deere, PACCAR (which showed the latest iteration of its hydrogen-fueled Kenworth tractor powered by two Toyota fuel cells), Bell Helicopter (displaying its vertical-takeoff, electric-fan-propelled Air Taxi), along with expansive booths from Honda, Daimler, Hyundai, Ford, Aptiv, Delphi, Continental, ZF and others?

And proving that CES may be the prototype for future auto shows, FCA came to Vegas with a display of new trucks and Jeeps — and without any AV/connected news or message. Remarked one veteran tech-geek reporter to Automotive Engineering, “Did you see that orange Jeep pickup with the dirt bikes in the bed? So cool!”

Toyota advances Guardian concept

Toyota Research Institute (TRI) again used CES as a news platform, with CEO Dr. Gill Pratt and VP of Automated Driving Dr. Ryan Eustice laying out TRI’s next steps.

“We have a moral obligation to apply automated vehicle technology to save as many lives as possible, as soon as possible,” said Dr. Pratt, during a media roundtable. To that end, Dr. Pratt and TRI, which is Toyota’s think tank for AV technology development, made two significant announcements at CES: the introduction of a new “Platform 4.0” (P4) research and development car, and that Toyota will offer its Guardian driver-assist system to other OEMs. TRI will soon begin testing Guardian and its SAE Level 4-5 Chauffeur system, on the new R&D car. Dr. Pratt indicated Guardian will enter production “in the early 2020s.”

Toyota will offer the system as standard equipment on the e-Palette platforms that it introduced at CES 2018. At the North American International Auto Show that followed CES, Dr. Pratt told AE that Toyota has received inquiries from OEMs regarding the Guardian offer. He said the company has not yet decided whether it will license both its hardware and software, or only the software. The technology includes artificial intelligence. He said it aims to “amplify, rather than replace, human ability” in driving a vehicle.

Guardian, whose performance Dr. Pratt describes as “blended envelope control” that combines the sensing of both the car and the human driver, could have prevented the crash of a TRI 2.0 development vehicle last year on Interstate 80 in California (it was struck by another vehicle), he believes. TRI showed video, both in-car and externally shot, during the CES media conference.

The P4 development platform, currently under construction at Toyota’s York Township, Michigan, facility, is based on a Lexus LS hybrid. Visually, the car does a better job in integrating its sensors into the body; its rooftop sensor array is part of a streamlined module. The P4’s first role will be testing the Guardian and Chauffer software packages. Compared with TRI’s previous P3 R&D cars, the P4 adds two cameras for side view and new LiDARs fitted front and rear with greater fidelity and dynamic range. The car’s imaging-sensor suite is optimized to improve the vehicle’s field of view (FOV), in particular at close range. The P4’s LiDAR array employs eight heads to scan 360° around the vehicle.

The car has greater processing power compared with its predecessor. The car’s 288-volt nickel metal-hydride battery pack that is used solely for propulsion and regenerative braking in the production LS500h, now powers the P4’s computing system. It also features a second set of driving controls for system redundancy, as well as for developing future by-wire control strategies.

ZF debuts enhanced CPUs, adjusts autonomous focus

Electrified and autonomous-vehicle (AV) technologies have seen heavy investments from automotive suppliers, but sales haven’t yet begun to support the expenditures. That’s a major challenge for top-tier suppliers like ZF that need to stay at the forefront of technology, yet still remain profitable. This challenge is among many discussed by the supplier during the 2019 CES conference in Las Vegas.

On the technology front, ZF unveiled new controllers and other technologies to advance AV processing and sensing. The company is among several jump-starting the AV market with vehicles developed within an ecosystem of partners. ZF is focusing on AVs that operate in geofenced areas in the near term, an application that many believe will grow more quickly than AVs with unlimited operating envelopes.

This shift in focus doesn’t slow down spending in emerging areas. As part of its ongoing plan to diversify from mechanical parts to digital technologies, ZF plans to invest more than 12 billion euros in automated driving and electrification over the next five years. Connecting all its products to the Internet of Things by 2025 is another aspect of its transition.

While autonomy and electrification are major investment areas, revenues from advanced technologies like its ProAI processors for AVs aren’t likely to significantly contribute to the bottom line for some years. “With the changes in the mobility industry, we need to finance our projects without impacting earnings,” said CEO Wolf-Henning Scheider. “We need to do it with speed to keep up with industry demands. Sales of ProAI are currently very small, they’re mostly going to test applications.”

Scheider predicted that SAE Level 4 vehicles will start appearing in restricted areas in the next two to three years. Building familiarity with those driverless vehicles will pave the way for broader acceptance of vehicles that operate in open environments. “We have to get people on board, to get their confidence in geofenced areas,” Scheider said. “After that, it will be a bit like flying, most people have flown on planes that use autopilot and they are no longer concerned.”

ZF aims to facilitate the acceptance of robotaxis and ride-hailing vehicles with its electric automated shuttle, the e.GO Mover. Transdev, which manages transit for over 11 million passengers per day, is adding the e.GO Mover to its vehicle fleet. Scheider said he expects sales volumes for the e.GO Mover to reach five-figures by 2020-2021, but it’s mainly a proof of concept for its ecosystem collaboration, and not targeted at making ZF a vehicle supplier.

ZF also announced upgraded technical offerings at CES. The latest version of its ProAI line, RoboThink, can run at up to 600 teraflops per second (TFLOPS), with a base speed of 150 TFLOPS without the addition of optional computing modules (a marked improvement over the first-gen, 1-TFLOP ProAI board introduced in 2017). The high throughput of RoboThink lets it fuse and analyze input from a range of sensors, and also facilitate the use of artificial intelligence, which many say will be a necessary component of fully autonomous vehicles.

“Only in the last three or four years have we gotten the computing power needed for AI,” Scheider said. “It’s important to note that ProAI is scalable, so customers can choose the level of computing power they need.”

Auto, tech industries launch PAVE coalition

Acknowledging the need for enhanced public and policymaker understanding about automated-vehicle (AV) technology, a new coalition of 26 industry, academic and non-profit institutions announced the Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE) initiative at CES 2019.

In a press release announcing the group’s formation, PAVE said it “will seek to bring realistic, factual information to policymakers and the public so consumers and decision-makers understand the technology, its current state and its future potential—including the benefits in safety, mobility and sustainability.”

PAVE intends to sponsor workshops in partnership with SAE to provide consumers with opportunities for hands-on experience with developing AV technologies.

PAVE’s initial membership list: AAA; American Public Transportation Association; Audi of America; Autonomous Intelligent Driving; Aurora; Consumer Technology Association; Cruise; Daimler; General Motors; INRIX; Intel; Miami-Dade County; Mobileye; Munich Reinsurance America, Inc.; National Council on Aging; National Federation of the Blind; National Safety Council; Nvidia; SAE International; Securing America’s Future Energy; Toyota; U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Volkswagen; Voyage; Waymo and Zoox.

The coalition’s website is www.pavecampaign.org  and it also can be found on most major social-media platforms.

Byton details EV, autonomy vision

The 48-in (1219-mm) LCD screen atop the Byton M-Byte concept car’s instrument panel is not only the auto industry’s largest in-vehicle display. It also signals what could be a radical shift in the classic automotive business model.

The Chinese-owned automaker gave a close-up look at the M-byte SUV and its second model, the K-byte sedan, during a news conference at CES 2019. In keeping with the digital theme of CES, Byton focused on the user interface that will become one of the critical parts of both its new products and its business strategy. The M-byte SUV will be the first to market. The company expects to launch production of the M-byte at a new plant in Nanjing, China, late this year, sales starting in that country by the fourth quarter; U.S. and European sales are expected to begin by the third quarter of 2020. The K-byte will launch in 2021, with a third model to follow two years later.

Byton’s approach reflects a variety of changes sweeping through the world of transportation. “Our business model will not just be about selling cars, but using the car as a platform,” CEO Carsten Breitfeld said in an impromptu interview following its CES news conference. “In the future, we will make more money selling digital content and shared mobility.”

That starts with the new screen which is as wide as seven Apple iPads, as well as a screen mounted in the center console and another floating above the steering wheel. The M-byte also will utilize gesture and voice controls; the electric SUV integrates Amazon’s Alexa personal voice assistant.

As vehicles add degrees of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and automated-driving capability, experts anticipate occupants will need to be entertained. The M-byte’s large front screen, along with dual displays for rear occupants—all linked to the cloud by 5G wireless connectivity—will be used to provide a variety of services. That includes payper-view video, as well as the opportunity to play games and even shop using Amazon Alexa.

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