Redundant System Research: The Last Line of Safety for Intelligent Vehicles
Redundant design refers to a technology adding more than one set of functional channels, components or parts that enable the same function to places where a system or device plays a critical role in accomplishing a task, so as to ensure that the system or device can still work normally when a part fails, lowering failure probability and improving reliability.
As the level of driving assistance gets ever higher, human drivers are gradually being replaced by vehicle systems. To ensure that vehicle systems are always in operation, redundant systems are essential. In the future, redundant systems will become standard configurations for L3 and higher-level driving assistance.
At present, the redundancy for ADAS ranges from perceptual positioning (environmental monitoring), controller (brain) and actuator (braking and steering) to communication (control over information transmission) and power supply (support for failure and degradation).
Most of vehicle models (like Great Wall WEY Mocha, NIO ET Series, Li Auto L8/L7 Max and Volvo EX90) with ADAS functions such as NOH, NGP and NOP are equipped with fully redundant systems.
Coffee Intelligence, Great Wall Motor’s department for redundant systems, released six redundant systems in 2020, including perceptual redundancy, controller redundancy, architecture redundancy, power redundancy, brake redundancy and steering redundancy, which debuted on WEY Mocha in May 2021.
Perceptual redundancy adopts a multi-source heterogeneous sensor solution and L+R+V fusion. Controller redundancy uses dual controllers that run around the clock and back up each other. Brake redundancy uses Bosch’s ESP+iBooster combination. Steering redundancy applies the third-generation intelligent steering product developed by HYCET EPS System, an affiliate of Great Wall Motor, with dual winding motors, dual-motor position sensors, dual CPUs and dual controllers. Communication redundancy adopts dual communication architectures with three independent physical communication links supporting each other. Power redundancy applies the "double insurance" design consisting of dual power supply and dual circuits.
In November 2022, Volvo released its flagship SUV - EX90, which is its first production model equipped with a safety redundant system and is expected to be available on the Chinese market in mid-2024.
The perceptual redundancy for this car adopts a LiDAR+radar+camera+ ultrasonic radar out-cabin solution, in which LiDAR is provided by Luminar, with a detection range of 250 meters. The in-cabin solution first introduces a driver understanding system (DUS) consisting of two in-vehicle cameras and a capacitive steering wheel. As for controller redundancy, there are two sets of parallel cooperative computing platforms packing NVIDIA DRIVE Orin and NVIDIA Xavier chips with the computing power up to 286 TOPS. In addition, the vehicle features fully redundant design in braking, steering, power supply and communication.
As intelligent vehicle architectures evolve, redundant systems are evolving as well. For example, JIDU ROBO-01, released by Jidu Auto in June 2022, carries Jidu Auto's self-developed high-level intelligent architecture - JET, which integrates the EEA and SOA operating system. Its backup solution for “cockpit domain + intelligent driving domain” fusion is based on Qualcomm 8295 with AI compute of 30 TOPS, supporting intelligent driving redundancy. When the intelligent driving fails in extreme cases, the intelligent cockpit can take over the vehicle and let it stop safely.
Foreign suppliers offer comprehensive redundant designs. For example, the redundancy of Bosch’s perception module adopts the multi-sensor redundancy solution composed of ultrasonic sensors, radars, cameras and LiDAR. The positioning module redundancy adopts the redundant positioning solution constituted by absolute positioning based on satellite signals and relative positioning based on road features. The decision module is redundantly configured with two core computing units (i.e. domain controllers). The actuator redundancy design covers the steering system, brake system and engine management system. For the brake system redundancy, three solutions are used: iBooster+ESP, IPB+RBU and DPB+ESP. The steering system redundancy solution adopts a steer-by-wire system, which is equipped with two motors, two sets of power supply and two sets of windings.
Moreover, Chinese suppliers are working to deploy redundant systems. Examples include Jingwei Hirain Technologies that developed R-EPS, a fully redundant EPS for L2-L4 autonomous driving, in August 2022.
Automotive Integrated Die Casting Industry Report, 2024
Integrated Die Casting Research: adopted by nearly 20 OEMs, integrated die casting gains popularity.
Automotive Integrated Die Casting Industry Report, 2024 released by ResearchInChina summari...
China Passenger Car Cockpit Multi/Dual Display Research Report, 2023-2024
In intelligent cockpit era, cockpit displays head in the direction of more screens, larger size, better looking, more convenient interaction and better experience. Simultaneously, the conventional “on...
Automotive Microcontroller Unit (MCU) Industry Report, 2024
With policy support, the localization rate of automotive MCU will surge.
Chinese electric vehicle companies are quickening their pace of purchasing domestic chips to reduce their dependence on impor...
Automotive Digital Key Industry Trends Research Report, 2024
Automotive Digital Key Industry Trends Research Report, 2024 released by ResearchInChina highlights the following: Forecast for automotive digital key market;Digital key standard specifications and co...
Automotive XR (VR/AR/MR) Industry Report, 2024
Automotive XR (Extended Reality) is an innovative technology that integrates VR (Virtual Reality), AR (Augmented Reality) and MR (Mixed Reality) technologies into vehicle systems. It can bring drivers...
OEMs’ Next-generation In-vehicle Infotainment (IVI) System Trends Report, 2024
OEMs’ Next-generation In-vehicle Infotainment (IVI) System Trends Report, 2024 released by ResearchInChina systematically analyzes the iteration process of IVI systems of mainstream automakers in Chin...
Global and China Automotive Lighting System Research Report, 2023-2024
Installations of intelligent headlights and interior lighting systems made steady growth.
From 2019 to 2023, the installations of intelligent headlights and interior lighting systems grew steadily. I...
Automotive Display, Center Console and Cluster Industry Report, 2024
Automotive display has become a hotspot major automakers compete for to create personalized and differentiated vehicle models. To improve users' driving experience and meet their needs for human-compu...
Global and China Passenger Car T-Box Market Report, 2024
Global and China Passenger Car T-Box Market Report, 2024 combs and summarizes the overall global and Chinese passenger car T-Box markets and the status quo of independent, centralized, V2X, and 5G T-B...
AI Foundation Models’ Impacts on Vehicle Intelligent Design and Development Research Report, 2024
AI foundation models are booming. The launch of ChapGPT and SORA is shocking. Scientists and entrepreneurs at AI frontier point out that AI foundation models will rebuild all walks of life, especially...
Analysis on Geely's Layout in Electrification, Connectivity, Intelligence and Sharing
Geely, one of the leading automotive groups in China, makes comprehensive layout in electrification, connectivity, intelligence and sharing.
Geely boasts more than ten brands. In 2023, it sold a tota...
48V Low-voltage Power Distribution Network (PDN) Architecture Industry Report, 2024
Automotive low-voltage PDN architecture evolves from 12V to 48V system.
Since 1950, the automotive industry has introduced the 12V system to power lighting, entertainment, electronic control units an...
Automotive Ultrasonic Radar and OEMs’ Parking Route Research Report, 2024
1. Over 220 million ultrasonic radars will be installed in 2028.
In recent years, the installations of ultrasonic radars in passenger cars in China surged, up to 121.955 million units in 2023, jumpin...
Automotive AI Foundation Model Technology and Application Trends Report, 2023-2024
Since 2023 ever more vehicle models have begun to be connected with foundation models, and an increasing number of Tier1s have launched automotive foundation model solutions. Especially Tesla’s big pr...
Qualcomm 8295 Based Cockpit Domain Controller Dismantling Analysis Report
ResearchInChina dismantled 8295-based cockpit domain controller of an electric sedan launched in December 2023, and produced the report SA8295P Series Based Cockpit Domain Controller Analysis and Dism...
Global and China Automotive Comfort System (Seating system, Air Conditioning System) Research Report, 2024
Automotive comfort systems include seating system, air conditioning system, soundproof system and chassis suspension to improve comfort of drivers and passengers. This report highlights seating system...
Automotive Memory Chip and Storage Industry Report, 2024
The global automotive memory chip market was worth USD4.76 billion in 2023, and it is expected to reach USD10.25 billion in 2028 boosted by high-level autonomous driving. The automotive storage market...
Automotive AUTOSAR Platform Research Report, 2024
AUTOSAR Platform research: the pace of spawning the domestic basic software + full-stack chip solutions quickens.
In the trend towards software-defined vehicles, AUTOSAR is evolving towards a more o...