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By Ulrich Schreyer
Photo: Daimler
Daimler and Bosch want to offer a shuttle service with autonomous cars in a Silicon Valley town from the middle of next year.
Stuttgart – Daimler and Bosch plan to launch a shuttle service for automated driving in California in the second half of next year. This is what explains the automaker and the world's largest automotive OEMs during a conference call. We still do not know in which city in Silicon Valley autonomous cars should roll on the streets.
First, there is always a driver
The use of the shuttle service should cost nothing to customers during the pilot phase. Although trips are limited to a specific area, vehicles can use any route and route. During the test phase leads in cars always a driver who can intervene if necessary. Initially, two pbadengers will be transported. The test yard operator is the Daimler Mobility Service Division. The decision to try them comes from California because both companies have research and development teams there. In addition, local regulations allowed to use autonomous cars. The roads are also wider than in Germany, so the vehicles have a little more time for reactions, such as traffic obstructions.
Daimler and Bosch began their development cooperation in April of last year. When working on fully automated vehicles, both companies work together exclusively. They finance development equally. On the costs had been agreed silence, so a spokesman for Daimler. The vehicle manufacturer provides the necessary development vehicles, as well as the test equipment and later the cars for the test fleet. Bosch provides components such as controllers and sensors. For testing, Daimler also uses his test track at Immendingen, Bosch his field at Boxberg. For individuals, autonomous cars must be offered from the beginning of the next decade
The first autonomous cars should be electric vehicles
According to Daimler, the first automated vehicles are electric cars. However, it is conceivable to subsequently equip the internal combustion engine cars with components allowing autonomous driving. Since 2014, Mercedes-Benz has been approved for testing automated vehicles in the Sunnyvalle area of California. A similar authorization has been granted to the company since last year for the region around Sindelfingen and Böblingen. Bosch was the first supplier in the world to test automated driving on public roads. The first maneuvers in Germany and the United States took place in 2013.
At the same time as the shuttle project with autonomous vehicles, Bosch and Daimler announce the selection of the American company Nvidia as supplier of high performance processors for artificial intelligence. The company provides both hardware and software components. Artificial intelligence is necessary to allow a vehicle to respond to a variety of traffic situations.
American Society as Partner for Data Processing
Nvidia software runs algorithms that Bosch and Daimler have created in an automatic learning process. A combination of ECUs in vehicles reaches a capacity of hundreds of billions of operations per second. According to a memo by Daimler and Bosch, this capacity is as high as six ultra-modern computer workstations. For example, Bosch's stereo video camera generates 100 gigabytes of data per kilometer traveled. The combination of control units evaluates huge amounts of data in just 20 milliseconds, then plans the route of the car. In the pilot phase, control elements must learn to behave in traffic. The test operation will show how autonomous vehicles can be integrated into the traffic system.
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