Supplier Technologies Could Nix the Steering Wheel and Unleash 360-Degree Stereo Camera Views

Hitachi Astemo is developing 360-degree stereo camera sensing and steer-by-wire operation via a palm-sized input device.

September 1, 2024

Kami Buchholz

A driver uses a mouse-like operating device to steer a Hitachi Astemo technology demonstration vehicle. (Hitachi Astemo)

A driver’s finger movements engage with a mouse-like device to steer a demonstration vehicle. Eleven stereo cameras on another demonstrator enable detection and prediction of the distance from vehicles navigating a roundabout.

Close-up view of Hitachi Astemo’s console-located steering device. (Hitachi Astemo)

“When we develop technology, our vision is to have everyone in society benefit from the innovation,” said Harsha Badarinarayan, Hitachi Astemo’s vice president of advanced engineering. Badarinarayan spoke with SAE Media during a June press briefing at the company’s headquarters for the Americas in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

“This is a vision-only system, so it doesn’t use LiDAR or other sensors,” Hitachi Astemo’s Harsha Badarinarayan said about the company’s 360-degree stereo vision camera system. (Kami Buchholz)

Hitachi Astemo’s in-development steer-by-wire system’s palm-size device, located on a demo vehicle’s center floor console, responds to finger glide movements with virtually no lag time from input to the front wheels’ response. “The idea is to make this input device, which especially caters to people who need an alternative steering interface, as intuitive to use as a steering wheel,” said Badarinarayan.

SAE Media test drove Hitachi Astemo’s steer-by-wire system on a Honda Civic with a steering wheel and another Civic sedan equipped with the finger-operated device. Both technology demonstration cars were easy-to-steer through a parking lot dotted with orange cones to replicate slalom curves, a tight U-turn, and a three-point Y-turn.

A technology demonstration of Hitachi Astemo’s 360-degree stereo vision system includes a roundabout (shown via aerial view) driving scenario. (Hitachi Astemo)

In another demonstration vehicle, 360-degree object recognition and three-dimensional point cloud generation was facilitated by 11 fifth-generation Hitachi Astemo stereo cameras fitted on a Cadillac XT6 SUV. In a replicated parking lot roundabout, the technology demonstrator SUV detected other vehicles and their distance from the demonstration vehicle.

“Stereoscopic vision provides accurate information versus a mono-camera system that gives you distance estimation,” Badarinarayan said. Precise vision information is crucial for SAE Level 3 driving automation technology development. “For example, in a roundabout driving scenario, the vision system needs to determine when it’s safe to enter the roundabout, how to maneuver around the roundabout, and how to exit the roundabout,” said Badarinarayan. The vision system also needs to detect lanes, curb height, and other obstacles.

Hitachi Astemo’s stereo camera system provides automatic calibration during driving to maintain measurement accuracy as well as high-density 3D point cloud generation from disparity information (via artificial intelligence) of each camera pair. “We offer the stereo cameras and the IP (intellectual property) for the perception stack,” said Badarinarayan.