Public Funding for Idiada Automotive Technology UK LTD.

no public description

With the Digital Security by Design (DSbD) programme seeking business led demonstrators, an automotive focused project is essential: road vehicles are becoming increasingly software-based and connected and the impact of cyber security is obvious as breaches can result in risk to life, serious injury or massive financial penalties. For example, in September 2021 Elon Musk said that a fleet wide hack of Tesla would be "the end of Tesla". The 2016 Jeep cyber attacks are reported to have cost vehicle manufacturers up to $1 billion and security researchers have demonstrated taking over braking functionality from drivers. We will therefore demonstrate and review the use of DSbD technologies for cyber critical and safety critical applications in the automotive sector. Specifically, four connected vehicle use cases will be developed and tested. They have been selected as they vary in safety and time criticality and therefore demonstrate the versatility of DSbD. For each, the impact of DSbD technologies on security, safety and performance will be assessed. * Over-the-air software updates. Cyber-critical. Not safety-critical. Timeliness \\\> 1hour. * Vehicle diagnostic data sent from vehicle to cloud. Cyber-critical. Not safety-critical. Timeliness < 1 minute. * Traffic or accident ahead advisory sent from road infrastructure to vehicle with acknowledgment from vehicle (Vehicle to Infrastructure "V2I"). Cyber-critical Safety-critical. Timeliness 1-3 seconds. * Remote control and teleoperation of vehicle. Cyber-critical. Safety critical with possible risk to life. Timeliness <50 milliseconds. Go-to-market routes for future DSbD based products and services in the automotive sector will also be assessed with the consortium working directly with Original Equipment Manufacturers and their supply chains. This will include a review of how DSbD technologies for automotive applications fit within the emerging regulatory environment for vehicle cyber security and the existing requirements for vehicle safety systems. Cyber security is an area of high focus and activity for the automotive industry. There is active discussion on hardware and software solutions which improve cyber resilience with OEMs and their supply chain and on routes to commercialisation. By means of a comparative trial, this project will provide evidence of DSbD technologies supporting a step change to vehicle-based cyber security and has the potential to lead to mass adoption by OEMs. Success will promote the application of DSbD within automotive applications and provide real commercialisation opportunities which improve security and safety.

Vehicle automation solutions cannot address all real-world scenarios and as such require a supervisor to be able to monitor and take control when it is appropriate to do so. The Automated Vehicle (AV) business case partly hinges on the reduction in operational costs -- closely linked to labour. It is therefore essential to provide a remote monitoring and teleoperation solution that allows an operator/supervisor to be responsible for multiple vehicles. To achieve this there needs to be a clear understanding of the AV and RMTO requirements that ensure the safe operation of automated vehicles in public environments. SAVOR explores the key requirements to apply remote monitoring and teleoperation to automated vehicles as an essential safety measure in achieving L4 operation on public roads. These requirements apply both to the vehicle automation stack, the communications and the remote monitoring and control interface. The project includes essential human factors and technology assessments to provide recommendations that may be used by DfT, CCAV, and other industry stakeholders when deploying their solutions. The human factors study will be undertaken in a simulation environment to identify key usability targets that will be used to configure the evolved AV stack for testing on the CAVWAY Testbed and subsequently on the Midlands Future Mobility Zone (MFMZ) Testbed in Coventry. The project will define a prioritised set of strategies for the AV to "get safe"; the end states will be assessed as hazards to inform the target response times for remote operators to be able to identify problems and respond. E.g. AV pulls over and stops on the left curb is safer than stopping in the middle a lane. The integrated AV & RMTO solution will be initially tested on IDIADA's CAVWAY facility with the "get safe" strategies deployed on Conigital's automated Ford Ranger and Coventry University's automated Nissan ENV200\. IDIADA will facilitate testing with its automated Kia Nero. Further on-road assessment will be undertaken on the MFM Testbed in Coventry.

Awaiting Public Project Summary

This project will build on the existing environment at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground to provide a comprehensive, flexible set of highway intersections. These will be able to mimic a wide variety of UK road junctions from high speed smart motorways to rural A and B roads in order to allow Connected and Autonomous Vehicles to be tested in a representative, yet safe and secure way. The extensions to the track network will be designed by IDIADA, who have experience of designing and operating some of the world's most comprehensive proving grounds. The site will have a comprehensive communications network, including a private cellular network and V2I roadside beacons. Visual cues will be controlled through smart variable message signs and flexible ground signals. Additional equipment will be provided to mimic the "built up" feel of some road junctions, while at the same time adding the extra dimension of other road users in form of controlled robot vehicles and pedestrians. The upgraded proving ground will be able to test almost any vehicle under almost any scenario in a representative environment which is repeatable and fully controlled.

The Multi-Car Collision Avoidance (MuCCA) Project will develop a multi-car collision avoidance system that aims to reduce the occurrence and consequences (injuries and damage) of multi-car collisions on motorways. The technologies developed and used will be very similar to those that will be included within a fully autonomous vehicle including sensor systems, machine learning, vehicle-to-vehicle communications and vehicle control systems. To support the system development the project will also configure, integrate and develop a number of simulation tools to create a vehicle automation modelling and test environment that will facilitate a more rapid development of automated vehicles. This environment will include a human driver model to allow simulation and collision avoidance prediction of ordinary non-equipped vehicle paths, so that this technology provides immediate real-world benefits on today's roads. The technology, systems and tools being developed will be readily adaptable to the broader vehicle automation domain, facilitating a significant evolutionary step in vehicle cooperation and automated driving development in the UK.

"There's a growing consensus among powertrain experts that EVs need to evolve multi-speed transmissions if they are to realize their full potential" This is the tagline from a recent article in "Transmission Technology International" which reports that industry has recognised the need for a transmission within an electric vehicle. This project is to investigate the overall efficiency gains that can be achieved by including a variable transmission into an electric vehicle instead of the normal single speed transmission. A variable speed transmission would overcome drawbacks such as energy loss during shifting and passenger discomfort. This will allow significant improvements in energy efficiency to be made as well as potentially allowing the electric motor to be downsized. Initial modelling studies have indicated that improvements of 16% could be achieved. The improvements will be quantified during the project to prove the increase in EV range The project will utilise a Mazaro Variator transmission fitted to an electric Nissan Cabstar. The Mazaro transmission has a novel approach, which produces a very high mechanical efficiency at all speed ratios and so is ideal for this project.