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© Copyright 2016 COMSOL. COMSOL, COMSOL Multiphysics, Capture the Concept, COMSOL Desktop, COMSOL Server, LiveLink, and Simulation for Everyone are either registered trademarks ortrademarks of COMSOL AB. All other trademarks are the property of their r espective owners, and COMSOL AB and its subsidiaries and products are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, orsupported by those trademark owners. For a list of such trademark owners, see www.comsol.com/trademarks
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EXCLUSIVEHonda R&D’s new presidenttalks technology
PLUS:
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face theAutonomous
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YoshiyukiMatsumoto
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May 2016 magazine.sae.org/auto
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AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING May 2016 1
REGULARS
2 Editorial: Send in Yamaguchi!
4 Technology Report4 2016 SAE World Congress: Connected
vehicles will be hackers’ trophy | ELECTRONICS
6 2016 SAE World Congress: Nautilus claims
radical advance in HCCI engine development |
POWERTRAIN
8 2016 SAE World Congress: Electric propulsion
now “inescapable” | ELECTRONICS
10 Chipmakers gearing up for onboard wireless
charging | INTERIORS
28 Global Vehicles28 Tesla’s highly-anticipated Model 3 brings
technology questions
30 Mazda reveals retractable-hardtop MX-5 RF
30 Enter two new plug-ins: 2017 Mitsubishi
Outlander PHEV and Toyota Prius Prime
32 Lincoln unveils big-SUV future with Navigator
concept
33 Nissan targets cabin NVH with big investment
in Sentra upgrade
34 Product BriefsSpotlight: Test equipment & software
42 Companies Mentioned, Ad Index
44 Q&AUnveiling the reengineered 2017 version of Nissan’s
revered GT-R supercar, Keno Kato, Corporate Vice
President, Global Product Strategy & Product
Planning, talks about the GT-R’s role in Nissan’s
product-development “ethic” and the relevance of
driver’s cars in the autonomous future.
FEATURES
12 New dawn at Honda R&D COVER STORY President Yoshiyuki Matsumoto aims to invigorate Honda’stechnology and product-development organization with “full soul.”
16 Automated driving meets regulation:NHTSA and the next 50 yearsREGULATIONS | STANDARDS The challenges and opportunities on the road to “zero deaths”
demand a new level of federal automotive safety technical standards,
and a new safety-defect reporting and recall system. NHTSA and the
U.S. Congress must act boldly and quickly to make it happen.
20 Autonomous driving meetsregulation: Hands off, eyes off,brain off SAFETY Euro NCAP’S president warns that without coherent policies, the
growing availability of automated technologies may result in
piecemeal technology development—and unintentional
consequences.
23 Designer yin meets engineer yangDESIGN | STYLING Efficient and effective vehicle development means even closer
collaboration between the two former sparring partners.
26 The e-LSD alternative to AWD POWERTRAINEaton’s new-for-2018 electronic limited-slip differential offers mass,
fuel-consumption, and packaging benefits over typical AWD while
enhancing vehicle dynamic control.
ON THE COVERAE’s veteran Asia correspondent Jack Yamaguchi—known as the
“dean” of Japanese auto writers—was the first journalist to get a
sit-down interview with Yoshiyuki Matsumoto in his new role as
Honda R&D President. Matsumoto said he intends to re-invigorate
Honda’s technology and product-development organization.
CONTENTS
Audited by
Automotive Engineering®, May 2016, Volume 3, Number 4. Automotive Engineering(ISSN 2331-7639) is published in February, March, April, May, June, August, September,
October, and November by Tech Briefs Media Group, an SAE International®, 261 Fifth Avenue,Suite 1901, New York, NY 10016 and printed in Mechanicsburg, PA. Copyright © 2016 SAEInternational. Annual print subscription for SAE members: first subscription, $20 included indues; additional single copies, $30 each North America, $35 each overseas. Prices fornonmember subscriptions are $115 North America, $175 overseas. Periodicals postage paid atNew York, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Automotive Engineering, P. O. Box 47857, Plymouth, MN 55447. SAE International is notresponsible for the accuracy of information in the editorial, articles, and advertising sections ofthis publication. Readers should independently evaluate the accuracy of any statement in theeditorial, articles, and advertising sections of this publication that are important to him/herand rely on his/her independent evaluation. For permission to reproduce or use content inother media, contact [email protected]. To purchase reprints, contact [email protected] for missing issues of the magazine must be submitted within a six-month time frame ofthe claimed issue’s publication date. The Automotive Engineering title is registered in the U.S.Patent and Trademark Office. Full issues and feature articles are included in the SAE DigitalLibrary. For additional information, free demos are available at www.saedigitallibrary.org.(ISSN 2331-7639 print)(ISSN 2331-7647 digital)
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EDITORIALBill VisnicEditorial [email protected]
Lindsay [email protected]
Ryan GehmAssociate [email protected]
Patrick PonticelMembership [email protected]
Lisa ArrigoCustom ElectronicProducts [email protected]
Contributors
Kami BuchholzDetroit Editor
Stuart BirchEuropean Editor
Jack YamaguchiAsia Editor
Steven Ashley, Dan Carney,Terry Costlow, Richard Gardner,John Kendall, Bruce Morey,Jennifer Shuttleworth, Linda Trego,Paul Weissler
DESIGNLois ErlacherCreative Director
Ray CarlsonAssociate Art Director
SALES &MARKETINGJoe PrambergerPublisher
Marcie L. HinemanGlobal Field Sales [email protected]
Debbie RothwellMarketing [email protected]
Martha SchannoRecruitment S ales [email protected]
REGIONALSALESNorth AmericaNew England/Eastern Canada:ME, VT, NH, MA, RI, QCEd [email protected]
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InternationalEurope – Central & Eastern:Sven AnackerBritta [email protected]@intermediapartners.de
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China:Alan [email protected]
Japan:Shigenori [email protected]
South Korea:Eun-Tae Kim+82-2-564-3971/[email protected]
Integrated MediaConsultantsAngelo [email protected]
Patrick [email protected]
Todd [email protected]
Rick [email protected]
Scott Williams
AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING 2 May 2016
EDITORIAL
Send in Yamaguchi!Ted Klaus is not given to hyperbole. So
when the Chief Engineer of Honda’s
2017 NSX says something is “the best,”
he means it. And that’s how Klaus de-
scribed hearing Jack Yamaguchi’s first
impressions of the all-new supercar,
during a pre-production drive event last
winter at the Tochigi Proving Ground.
“Jack got out of the car, looked me in
the eye and said, ‘It’s still an NSX!’ Then
he smiled. Coming from Jack, that was
the best comment I’ve heard about this
vehicle,” Klaus proudly recounted tome in early March at the NSX’s global
media launch.
When Kyoichi “Jack” Yamaguchi
talks, industry engineers listen because
they’re hearing the “dean” of Japan’s
automotive journalists. Over a career
spanning 50 years, Jack has conducted
hundreds of interviews with experts at
the OEMs and suppliers. Doors open
when Jack visits and top executives
return his calls. He’s reported on new
technologies and driven prototypes and
production vehicles—on two wheels
and four—well ahead of launch.Jack filed his first English-language
articles in 1967, and went on to become
the Japan correspondent for Road &
Track and Cycle World in the U.S. SAE
International was smart to hire him in
the early 1980s to be Automotive
Engineering’s Asia Editor, a post he still
holds today while penning monthly col-
umns in four Japanese car magazines.
And students of Mazda’s sports cars
know Jack as the author of books on
the RX-7, RX-8, and MX-5 Miata.
How did a kid living among the dev-
astation of post-WWII Japan, who was
crazy for bikes and cars, get started as
a renowned industry journalist?
“I mostly learned English by watching
movies and listening to Armed Forces
Radio at home,” Jack told me during
the 2016 SAE Congress. He learned the
nuts-and-bolts of machines while work-
ing for Japan’s BMW and BSA motor-
cycle importer and going to races.
Jack’s coverage of the industry in ma-
jor publications soon got the attentionof top management within Japan’s
OEMs. “Three senior engineers became
my mentors and helped me get started
in this business: Yoshio Nakamura at
Honda, Jiro Kawano at Toyota, and
Shinichiro Sakurai at Nissan,” Jack said.
Each of the three are icons—Nakamura
was Soichiro Honda’s R&D director;
Kawano led development of the 2000GT
and Toyota’s Group 7 racecar; and
Sakurai headed Nissan GTR engineering,
among many other projects by each.
It was Nakamura, then president ofJapan SAE, who approached Jack with
a proposal: Would he be interested in
writing for SAE’s flagship magazine?
“My first reaction was, ‘No way!’ The
standards of a professional engineering
publication are much higher than those
for enthusiast magazines,” Jack re-
called. But his mentor’s encouragement
prevailed. “I told Nakamura that I would
write for AE for one year...and 40 years
later I’m still doing it!”
So when the grapevine told me that
Honda was about to promote YoshiyukiMatsumoto to head Honda R&D earlier
this year, my immediate reaction was,
“better send in Yamaguchi!” Jack, who
lives in Tokyo, just happened to have a
lunch scheduled with his R&D contacts at
Tochigi. His request for a sit-down inter-
view with Matsumoto-san—the first for
an industry magazine—resulted in this
month’s cover story. Our domo arigatou
gozaimasu to Honda for making it hap-
pen—and to Jack for being the “dean.”
Lindsay Brooke, Editor-in-Chief
Yamaguchi
(at right)
talks NSX
with Ted
Klaus.
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TECHNOLOGYREPORT
SAE INTERNATIONALBOARD OF DIRECTORS
Cuneyt L. Oge
PresidentRichard W. Greaves, FREng
2015 President
Douglas Patton
2017 President Elect
Robert L. Ireland
Vice President – Aerospace
Carla Bailo
Vice President – Automotive
Thomas Stover
Vice President –Commercial Vehicle
Pierre Alegre
Treasurer
David L. Schutt, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Gregory L. Bradley, Esq.
Secretary
Daniel Basch
Alba Colon
Haoran Hu, PhD
Alain P. Jablonowski
James R. Keller
Jay Meldrum
Christopher Myers
Eric TechGareth Williams, PhD
Todd Zarfos
SAE Publications Board
David B. Stout - Chair
Mohamed El-Sayed, PhD
Derek J. Logan
Ronald D. Matthews, PhD
June Ogawa
Dr. Andrew C. Pickard
Mark Zachos
SAE Sectionsand Affiliate ActivitiesSAE International offers educational andnetworking opportunities at the grassrootslevel through more than 80 sectionsaround the world. Sections are currentlylocated in Belarus, Canada, Colombia,Ecuador, Egypt, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy,Malaysia, Mexico, Romania, Russia, Taiwan,U.K., Ukraine, U.S., and Venezuela. SAEalso operates affiliates in Brazil and India.More information about sections, alongwith a complete listing and links, can befound at www.sae.org/sections.
AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING 4 May 2016
Cybersecurity has swiftly gone from a loose
concept to an issue that rivals quality, safety
and other mainstays of design must-haves. It’s
a multi-faceted challenge that extends from
simple vehicle systems to cloud connectivity.
“The biggest challenge is how many inter-
connections there are to many different
things,” said Tejas Desai, Head of Interior
Electronics Solutions, North America, for
Continental AG. “All different types of things
connect to the vehicle and we don’t know
about what’s on the other side.”
It’s not just the dark side of the Internet thatconcerns automakers. While hackers are a ma-
jor concern, automakers also must ensure that
a disgruntled employee at a supplier does not
create problems.
“Threats are not just external, they can be
internal, from within the company or the
supply chain,” said Joe Kwederis, Principal,
Deloitte & Touche. “That’s not to discount
that a predicted 200 million connected ve-
hicles by 2020 will be a huge target; vehicles
will be a real trophy for hackers.”
Companies have to protect systems that
might not seem to be of interest to hackers.
But mundane systems could be taken over by
extortionists who search for easy targets.
“Even the heating-air conditioning system
has to be protected,” said Roger Berg, Vice
President at Denso
International America.
“You might well wonderwho would attack that,
but it’s still something we
have to consider.”
Experts described a
number of issues that
arise with connectivity
during the 2016 SAE
World Congress Panel,
“Controlling Digital
Exhaust: Cyber Risk and
Security in the Age of
Autonomous and
Connected Vehicles.”Panelists all cited the
need for defense in depth,
with a number of layers of
protection to an attack
that bypasses one protec-
tive technology will be
ELECTRONICS
2016 SAE World Congress: Connected vehicles will behackers’ trophy
Numerous conduits to onboard
vehicle systems will be
required for connected-vehicle
capabilities and features (Image
courtesy of Infineon).
Toyota’s Derek Lewis and Denso’s Roger Berg ruminate
on the many security challenges being detailed by Tejas
Desai of Continental. (Terry Costlow)
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AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING 6 May 2016
caught by another security feature. Many
of the charts presented showed scores
of factors that must be considered and
options that can be implemented.That has made security an integral part
of development programs, much akin to
functional safety. It’s becoming a part of
processes within Toyota and its suppliers.
“In every development project I’m
part of at Toyota, the OEM and suppli-
ers work closely together for a common
goal,” said Derek Lewis, Manager,
Electronic Systems at Toyota Technical
Center. “It’s really critical to have a con-
stant discussion back and forth.”
Corporate searches for solutions ex-
tend outside the automotive industry.Many are tapping information technol-
ogy teams and military providers who
have dealt with security for years.
“We want to partner with companies
in other industries,” Desai said. “We
want to gain insight from what they’ve
already learned.”
Companies also must address long-
term factors. Hackers will be looking for
vulnerabilities throughout the vehicle’s
lifecycle, so it will be important to deal
with evolving threats. Information shar-
ing may become common.“We need global standards about how
to react to attacks and minimize vulner-
abilities,” Berg said. “The industry has to
look at the complete lifecycle domain,
from concept through decommissioning.
We need to look at lifecycle of 15 years.
The attack surface is a long-term thing.”
Panelists also noted that it will be
helpful to provide a way for relevant
companies to share information about
attacks. That way, it will be easier for
them to stay up-to-date. When compa-
nies learn about new types of attacks,they can create fixes and send them out
using over the air updating technology.
Updates are seen as an essential tool in
the OEMs’ security arsenal.
“There has to be a refined tracking
system for attacks,” said Richard
Popovich, Executive Vice President of
FEDITC LLC. “The risk will turn more to
OEMs if there are accidents. OEMs have
to ensure that updates are installed to
minimize their risks.”
Terry Costlow
POWERTRAIN
2016 SAE World Congress: Nautilus claimsradical advance in HCCI engine development
Nautilus says
its HCCI engine
should be
cheaper to
build than a
spark-ignition
gasoline
engine and
require
no special
manufacturing
investment in
return for as
much as 30%
improved fuel
economy and
near-zero NOx
emissions
(Nautilus
Engineering).
Claiming its novel base-engine design
solves most of the intrinsic drawbacks
that have slowed auto-industry develop-
ment of homogenous-charge compres-
sion-ignition (HCCI) engines, NautilusEngineering used the 2016 SAE World
Congress to introduce its Nautilus Cycle
engine, saying the unique platform of-
fers an opportunity to introduce effi-
cient, low-emissions HCCI technology to
a variety of industries.
Although Nautilus said in a news re-
lease the company “believes it now
holds patents to make controlled HCCI
combustion possible for a wide range
of engines and applications,” company
CEO and chief research scientist
Matthew Riley said he started theNautilus effort with a somewhat hum-
bler horizon: “I just wanted to clean up
lawn-mower engines.”
Low-temperature HCCI combustion
has been a lingering Holy Grail of auto-
motive powertrain development, promis-
ing to impart on gasoline engines the
efficiency of diesel—without diesel’s
emissions and cost baggage. But a de-
cade or more of serious development
has proved HCCI an elusive target, its
need for intensive combustion control,
issues with cold-start operation and dif-
ficulty in addressing the entire automo-
tive rpm range suppressing introduction
for production-vehicle application.
Nautilus, however, said its approachto the issue was not to layer on yet
more levels of costly engine software
control. Instead the engine’s defining
feature—a novel piston design that cre-
ates a small “primary” combustion
chamber that propagates the air/fuel
detonation to the larger secondary cyl-
inder for full and controlled expansion—
and an equally unique approach to
dealing with the intake and exhaust
paths of the two-stroke cycle create an
architecture conducive to relatively sim-
ple control of full-range HCCI operation.“Everybody’s always tried to take a
spark-ignition engine and make it
HCCI,” Riley said at the 2016 SAE World
Congress. “Bad idea.”
On its website, Nautilus said, “With
this new technology, we’ve achieved full
control over the HCCI cycle in all con-
ventional rpm ranges, loads and tem-
peratures. This may be rapidly imple-
mented into existing platforms and will
meet and even exceed 2025 EPA (emis-
sions) regs.”
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AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING 8 May 2016
It’s all about that smallcombustion chamber
Air and fuel are mixed outside the cylin-
der in the intake manifold via a fuel in-
jector ideally operating at something
approaching 160-200 psi. A couple of
potential design options for the Nautilus
engine’s small primary combustion
chamber mean compression ratio could
be fixed (perhaps for small single-cylin-der engines) or enable a variable com-
pression ratio of perhaps 1.5 to 2.5 times
the large secondary combustion cham-
ber’s fixed compression ratio of some-
where around 10.5:1. Twin intake and
exhaust ports are valved with conven-
tional-looking poppets envisioned to be
driven by digital hydraulic (or potentially
even electric) actuators. The valves also
could be operated by a more conven-
tional camshaft arrangement.
The engine design uses a single
ELECTRONICS
2016 SAE World
Congress: Electricpropulsion now“inescapable”
Though battery-powered vehicles
haven’t yet met predicted sales levels,
leading OEMs are bullish about the fu-
ture, saying that newer generation ve-
hicles now provide features and prices
that will attract buyers.
“There will certainly be an electrified
vehicle in your future, it’s inescapable,”
said Kevin Layden, Director, ElectrifiedPrograms & Engineering at Ford Motor
Co. “When you look at global CO2 regu-
lations, the industry can’t meet the
goals without electrification.”
Members of the “Why it’s likely that
there will be an electrified vehicle in
your future?” panel at the 2016 SAE
World Congress went beyond fuel-effi-
ciency and environmental benefits, cit-
ing drivability as a key reason that buy-
ers will turn to electrified vehicles.
“Education is the key, most custom-
ers don’t understand the benefits ofcost of ownership,” said Larry Nitz,
Executive Director at General Motors.
“We’ve been bad at explaining that to
customers. When people get into a car,
a light bulb goes off and they realize
these vehicles are fun to drive.”
Panelists all observed that consumer
opinions change once they drive an EV
and see benefits like good torque and
quiet cabins. They noted that range
anxiety, another objection that’s slowed
acceptance, is declining as perfor-
mance increases.“In the fall, the second generation
Prius plug-in vehicle will come out, of-
fering twice the range of the previous
generation,” noted Jackie Birdsall,
Executive Engineer, Toyota Engineering
and Manufacturing North America Inc.
Automakers are also attacking an-
other roadblock: high costs of EVs com-
pared to similar vehicles with internal-
combustion engines. They’re leveraging
the declining costs and increasing capa-
bilities of semiconductors and batteries.
Cutaway shows the Nautilus Cycle engine’s
defining feature: a piston with a top protrusion
that creates the engines “primary” combustion
chamber as the piston approaches the top of
the stroke (Nautilus Engineering).
check valve, the company said, to mini-
mize the typical two-stroke engine’s
exposure of the intake and exhaust
streams to engine lubricating oil.The Nautilus Cycle engine will run air/
fuel ratios approximately ranging from
24:1 to 31:1, as the engine design means
the air/fuel ratio is determined strictly by
engine load. As for a projected noise, vi-
bration and harshness signature for the
engine, “We’re not sure yet,” Riley admits.
He seemed to indicate an ideal configura-
tion for the Nautilus engine could be an
opposed-cylinder “boxer” layout. And he
would not rule out the likelihood that an
automotive application might require
some kind of supercharging to aid cylin-der filling and scavenging—particularly if
the Nautilus Cycle engine is adapted to
operate under Miller or Atkinson cycles.
Riley said combustion temperatures
are expected to be around 1200°F
(649°C) for an engine that for the mo-
ment exists only in computer design: no
running prototype yet exists. He said the
company plans to have a running version
in eight to ten weeks and a prototype
engine “up and functional” within six
months. After a year of prototype devel-
opment, he sees a window of two tothree years “for major streamlining of
automotive applications.”
Drone duty?
Given some past experiences, the time-
line seems uncharacteristically cautious
for a new-engine promoter—but the
Nautilus Engineering CEO is openly bull-
ish about the engine design’s intrinsic
appeal: “Somebody’s probably going to
come to us by the end of the week with a
development contract,” Riley predicted.He said the immediate goal for
Kansas-based Nautilus Engineering is to
work with academic partner Kansas
State University to develop a version of
the engine suitable for an unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) drone.
Riley also said the Nautilus engine could
easily run a conventional four-stroke cycle.
One of its chief attributes, he insisted, is
scalability to accompany its easy adapt-
ability for a range of mobility applications.
Bill Visnic
TECHNOLOGYREPORT
8/16/2019 Sae Automotive May
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AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING May 2016 9
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TECHNOLOGYREPORT
At the same time, some are using modules across many prod-
uct lines to increase volume and decrease engineering time.
“The Malibu’s electric drive system is 98% common with the
Volt,” Nitz said. “Its controls are about 85% common with the Volt
and the modular battery pack has about 80% common controls.”
Panelists acknowledged that electrified vehicle sales have
not lived up to predictions, especially in North America.
However, they noted that will change as 2025 and its 54.5-
mpg CAFE regulations kick in. They also noted that sales
could rise faster in undeveloped countries.
In the U.S., easy access to gas stations highlights the short-age of electric charging stations. In countries where vehicle
ownership has been low, market development for electrified
powertrains may come faster if charging stations are set up.
“The acceptance of electrified powertrains is a matter of
Toyota engineer Jackie Birdsall addresses a vehicle electrification issue
at the 2016 SAE Congress audience as GM’s Larry Nitz and Kevin Layden
from Ford look on.
Though 220-V chargers are faster, most owners of GM’s plug-in vehicles
are using 110-V chargers. Shown is the SAE J1772 ‘combo’ (Levels 1 and 2)
connection for the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV.
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AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING 10 May 2016
INTERIORS
Chipmakers gearing up for on-boardwireless charging
Smart phones are becoming an integral
part of vehicle infotainment options, but
this integration is putting a strain on the
phone’s battery. In-vehicle wireless
charging is increasingly seen as a pre-
ferred solution, and the normally-reticent
auto industry is moving quickly to bringthe technology to market.
“The auto industry has been an early
adopter,” said John Perzow, the Wireless
Power Consortium’s (WPC) Vice President
of Market Development. “They’ve been
faster than other infrastructure fields like
hotels and restaurants.”
Wireless charging has been around for
years, but only recently has the technol-
ogy started gaining acceptance. Two
standards are currently seeing use in au-
tomotive applications. The WPC’s Qi has
strong automotive support. Many dual-technology applications include the PMA
standard created by the Power Matters
Alliance, which is now part of the AirFuel
Alliance. Many analysts feel that the
growth curve is pointing upward.
“Despite limited OEM implementation
of wireless charging between 2012 and
2014, Strategy Analytics forecasts
strong growth of 75.3% CAGR between
2014 and 2022, growing to 20.3 million
units by 2022,” said Mark Fitzgerald,
Associate Director for Strategy Analytics’
Faster wireless on-board charging will be enabled
by new electronics such as NXP’s 15W Qi device.
TECHNOLOGYREPORT
when and where,” said Yasuyuki Sando,
Senior Chief Engineer, Honda R&D Co.
“India and China have a very small scale
gasoline infrastructure.”Toyota noted that fueling stations are
a challenge for its fuel cell vehicles.
Birdsall said that a huge infrastructure
is not needed, partially because drivers
can fill vehicles up with hydrogen
pumps designed for homes.
“It’s not essential to have a hydrogen
station on every corner, we only need
about 60 stations in California to sup-
port hydrogen vehicles” she explained.
“However, it’s incredibly challenging to
get the infrastructure ready.”
Ease of use and cost are critical ele-ments for replenishing both battery
packs and hydrogen tanks. Though high
voltage (220-V SAE Level 2) chargers
offer shorter charging times, many us-
ers have not adopted them.
“We expected 80% of customers to
use 220-V home chargers, but we’re
surprised that half the customers
charge with 110-V even today,” Nitz
said. “The key is that it has to be conve-
nient and cost-effective.”
Though panelists were unanimously
bullish about the future for electric pro-pulsion vehicles, they didn’t shy from
addressing their shortcomings. Range
anxiety remains an issue for vehicles
that don’t rely on internal combustion
engines for many conditions.
“Battery electric vehicles have short-
er range and longer recharging time, so
another car will be needed for people
who take longer drives,” Sando said.
“With plug-in hybrid EVs, people can
use them for every day.”
Panelists agreed that the industry
could benefit from standards for ratingmileage and driving range for electri-
fied vehicles, or ranges will vary widely
depending on the test techniques used.
Another marketing problem is that it’s
difficult to compare the mileage ratings
of ICE and hybrids and apply those
measures to pure electric vehicles.
Both Layden and Nitz suggested that
SAE could serve the industry by at-
tempting to set standards that make it
easier to compare performance.
Terry Costlow
Automotive Practice. “Currently, dual-
standard, AirFuel/Qi systems are the
preferred solution.”
Researchers at IHS said consumer
awareness of wireless charging technol-
ogy doubled in 2015, reaching 76% of
consumers in the U.S., U.K. and China.
Mobile phones with wireless power re-
ceivers surpassed 120 M units in 2015.
Some studies have suggested that driv-
ers are more likely to set phones on a
wireless charging platform than to plug
phones in, especially on short trips.Battery life is becoming more of an issue
as drivers use features like near-field com-
munication, Bluetooth and navigation.
Auto industry chipmakers are gearing
up. NXP Semiconductor recently re-
leased the industry’s first 15W multi-
standard wireless charging solution. It
supports the new 15W version of Qi,
which will shorten charging times com-
pared to the existing 5W technology, as
well as the 5W PMA standard. Though
no phones currently offer the 15W tech-
nology, it’s expected to see implementa-tion during vehicle lifetimes.
“By the time this goes into produc-
tion in cars, there will be a proliferation
of 15W devices in the field,” said Denis
Cabrol, NXP’s Marketing and Systems
Director. “This gives automakers staying
power for the long term.”
Standards battle and EMIchallengesWhile there’s optimism surrounding
wireless charging, there are also
Wireless capability simplifies charging,
eliminates cables.
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AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING May 2016 11
hurdles. Some cell phone providers
have dropped the technology after us-
ing it, raising questions about its role.
The standards battle between Qi andPMA, which are primarily inductive
technologies, is exacerbated by a reso-
nant charging standard also managed
by the AirFuel Alliance.
“Multiple standards slow down prog-
ress,” said Geoff Gordon, Co-chair of the
AirFuel Alliance Marketing Committee.
“That’s why we merged [with the
Alliance for Wireless Power] and brought
the Rezence resonant charging technol-
ogy in. We’re very open to a grand alli-
ance merger to bring all the wireless
standards together.”He noted that there aren’t any formal
discussions to merge the two standards
organizations. That means developers will
have to work with two technologies,
which impacts price and complexity.
“Due to the difference in the techni-
cal specification and compliance re-
quirement, it is difficult to support mul-
tiple wireless power standards with one
solution.” said Pearl Cao, Systems
Engineer at Texas Instruments. “It also
may not be as cost-effective, efficient,
and size-optimized compared to a sin-gle standard solution.”
There are a few design concerns in
automotive applications. Qi and PMA
both operate around 100-200 MHz, so
care must be taken to avoid interfer-
ence with AM radio. Electromagnetic
interference is a key factor in designs.
“A tightly-coupled system, like the
Qi magnetic induction, does not radi-
ate much overall, as the magnetic flux
is contained between the transmit and
receiver coils and a ferrite screen is
placed behind them,” said PaoloBattezzato, Applications Engineering
Manager at STMicroelectonics.
“However, as all systems based on
switching regulators, proper design
and layout are key to keep EMI below
the limits.”
Charging platforms housed in center
consoles also will have to account for
objects that move about. If metal ob-
jects like coins or keys are on the
charging station, systems could over-
heat, making foreign-object detection a
TECHNOLOGYREPORT
requirement. Thermal issues will also
be an important factor.
“The intrinsic losses in the transmit
and receive coils can be minimized upto a point,” said Max Cortiana,
STMicroelectronics Product Marketing
Manager. “Therefore, it is critical to re-
duce losses in the IC and other electron-
ic components and use proper layout
techniques, to minimize power wasteand assure proper heat dissipation.”
Terry Costlow
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AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING 12 May 2016
H
onda’s new 10-speed automatic has not yet entered produc-
tion, but it is already among the technologies that competi-
tors are clamoring to benchmark when it enters the market.
Designed and built in house, the new planetary transmissionfor front-drive vehicles, equipped with a torque converter, is as com-
pact as Honda’s incumbent 6-speed transaxle and is claimed to shift
30% faster and deliver a 14% improvement in acceleration.
It’s an impressive piece of engineering, but the new 10-speed’s
greatest attribute may be that it exists at all.
“It wondrously escaped the corporate maze,” noted Yoshiyuki
Matsumoto, who last month officially became President of Honda
R&D, the automaker’s integrated research and product development
organization. A 35-year Honda engineering veteran, he candidly
agrees with critics and even some Honda fans who say the company
that once dazzled the world with 22,000-rpm Grand Prix-winning
engines, beat everyone to U.S. Clean Air Act compliance, and set the
pace in innovative, efficient mobility for generations, had lost itsedge in recent years.
“Business plans and strategy had prevailed, discouraging those
who challenged,” Matsumoto told Automotive Engineering in an ex-
clusive interview (his first with media) at Honda’s Tokyo headquar-
ters. He explained that often during this lackluster period, technolo-
gies that were novel and untried were often disregarded as “prohibi-
tive in cost for implementation.”
The straight-talking Matsumoto aims to reverse that approach. He
and his R&D team are charged with invigorating their company’s
product groups, with the kind of boldness that put the “motor”—a
term that now includes electric and chemical, as well as internal com-
bustion—into Honda Motor Co.
President Yoshiyuki Matsumoto aims to
invigorate Honda’s technology and product-
development organization with “full soul.”by Jack Yamaguchi
Focus on trucks, Acura
Backed by a new organizational structure that is re-
storing the engineering-sales balance, Matsumotoaims to strengthen Honda’s product side on all
fronts—from hydrogen fuel cells and hybrid pow-
ertrains to next-generation ICEs that are targeting in-
dustry-leading 50% brake-thermal-efficiency rates, to
lightweighting solutions such as those learned from
the new NSX supercar, that can be transferred into
more mass-efficient mainstream-vehicles.
There’s a new, separate business entity in
Automotive Operations that Matsumoto said will
“broadly embrace” connectivity, artificial intelligence,
automated driving, as well as drive further develop-
ment and commercialization of energy generation so-
lutions. Among the most promising is the SolarHydrogen Station, which enables users to refill their
fuel-cell vehicle (FCV) overnight without the require-
ment of hydrogen storage.
The Solar Hydrogen Station reduces CO2 emissions
by using less expensive off-peak electrical power—and
exporting renewable electricity from the vehicle’s fuel
cell stack to the grid during daytime peak-power times.
Matsumoto also indicates that Honda is prepared to
penetrate well beyond the latest Pilot, Acura MDX, and
Ridgeline to win a greater share of the highly profit-
able North American truck market. He challenges
those who speculate that Honda won’t venture into
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Yoshiyuki Matsumoto:
“We will no longer limit ourselves to
building and marketing automotive and
related products, but expand to yonder.”
New dawn
at Honda
R&D
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AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING May 2016 13
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT FEATURE
the true full-size truck segment.
“Never say never!” he replied. “China wants bigger
SUVs. They are cash cows for our Detroit competitors,
and we are acutely aware of demands.”On the luxury-vehicle side, reinforcing and re-focus-
ing Acura’s portfolio is a Matsumoto priority.
“Especially Acura sedan,” he acknowledged, “where
we had wandered left and right in product concept
and execution for a couple times in the past.”
And with the HondaJet now entering service with
customers, even the sky is not a boundary: “We will no
longer limit ourselves to building and marketing auto-
motive and related products, but expand to yonder,”
he said.
Restoring engineers’ cloutMatsumoto shares the joy and inherent agony of con-
ceiving, developing, and producing new automobiles
with his boss, Honda Motor Co. President Takahiro
Hachigo, who was Large Project Leader (LPL, or more
commonly chief engineer), of the 1999 North
American Odyssey and 2002 second-generation CR-V.
Matsumoto during the same period led the team of
designers and engineers to create the first-generation
Fit, considered a triumph of packaging which estab-
lished the company’s new global small car platform
that subsequently produced many iterations.
While the two executives were immersed in vehicle
development, Honda was pursuing a corporate strategy called ‘SED,’
short for Sales, Engineering (manufacturing), and Development. SED
had worked admirably and harmoniously during the company’s ear-
lier growth period, but then the balance among the three disciplinesstarted tipping toward the ‘S,’ or more generally the marketing con-
tingent located at corporate headquarters in central Tokyo.
Matsumoto observed, “There used to be super LPLs—extraordi-
narily imaginative, creative and resourceful engineers—presenting
their ideas of distinctive and innovative products and of advanced
technologies. We also had RAD, short for Representative of
Automobile Development, mostly veteran R&D managers who were
responsible for groups of products. The RADs at the parent Honda
Motor Co. provided powerful support to those super LPLs to get their
proposals through the corporate maze.”
But the proven and effective RAD system had fallen out of favor
and was eventually suspended. As a result, new product and technol-
ogy ideas from the engineers increasingly received more rejectionsthan approvals when presented to the sales and marketing group.
“More often, they started tending inwards,” Matsumoto recalled.
Matsumoto also brings a deep plant-floor understanding of manu-
facturing, having served as General Manager of the huge Suzuka
“mother” factory. And like Hachigo, he spent time on the sales side, as
President and CEO of Honda Motor Co. of India, a steadily growing
and potential mega market. He returned to Japan in April 2015 to take
charge of Honda automobile operations. A year later, he brought that
function into Honda R&D Co. prior to his becoming President.
“Transfer of power? No,” he reflected. Rather, the new organization
is a return “to the original, noble concept of SED from whence we in
Honda R&D are taking the initiative to move the three organizations
Honda-designed fuel cell
stack in the 2017 Clarity
FCV. The Honda-GM fuel cell
development partnership has
entered its second phase.Honda R&D will apply aero and materials learnings from the 2017
NSX’s 9-year development to mainstream vehicle programs.
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AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING 14 May 2016
together and forward, fully understanding sales and engineering’s
requirements,” Matsumoto asserted. “I am certain we are moving in
the right direction.”
“Time to correct” regional R&D
Honda’s trajectory includes pursuit of its “Six Region Structural
Strategy,” based on development and use of “global” and “local”
models. The former are represented by such mainstream, high-vol-
ume nameplates as Fit, Civic, Accord, and CR-V that are underpinned
by common global architectures. The strategy hasn’t been without itschallenges. According to CEO Achigo, “Processes that had grown
increasingly complex raised some issues such as an increase in man-
hours and workload” during vehicle development and production,
hence the recent major change in corporate organization.
Matsumoto sees the “globalization” of vehicles as essentially local-
ization, or perhaps at most regionalization. Honda had earlier antici-
pated that the developing markets’ demands would grow hugely—
and accordingly, the company would produce specific models for
those countries. But among those markets, there are
major differences in customer needs and desires.
Matsumoto cited India where “more rural customers
want what the rest of the world gets.
“Global models may very well meet their [develop-
ing market] demands. Certainly some isolated areas
might have to have specific local models,” he contin-
ued, “but then that would be terribly inefficient. That
pitfall we have come to avoid.”
Honda has established and is currently operating
satellite R&D facilities in line with the Six-RegionStrategy. Matsumoto is now seeing their limitations,
drawing human resources from the main R&D opera-
tions in Japan for their regional and local products.
“Time to correct,” he said emphatically, “except the
fully proficient American R&D operations, that pro-
duced the new Acura NSX and the new Honda Civic—
the fruits that epitomize their tremendous endeavors
and achievements of those several years.”
R&D project: Recharge-on-the-fly EV with twin-lever steering
The Clarity FCV’s information cluster hints at the future of
Honda’s connected-car and autonomous vehicle HMIs.
Might Honda make the jump beyond midsized
trucks like the 2017 Ridgeline (shown) and into
the true full-size segment? Matsumoto says
“Never say never!”
Another unique Honda R&D experiment that
miraculously has remained funded and activeis made up of two inventions in one sleek,
two-seat EV. The vehicle combines a dynamic
charging system achieving unlimited cruising
range in EV mode (SAE Tech Paper 2015-01-
16860) and a next-generation steering (SAE
2010-01-0-0993 and 2011-01-0557).
The former features recharge-on-the-go
capability. It receives electricity from a 400-m
(1312-ft) long roadside grid that Honda has
installed on a decommissioned oval speedway
course. A trolley-car-like pole-roller extends
from the car’s side sill, receiving electric en-
ergy during acceleration up to the 160 km/h
(100 mph) target; the slower the speed, the
more energy the car receives.The experimental car also features a novel
pull-push twin lever steering (TLS). Designed
and built by a former Honda Formula 1 engi-
neer and a small team of young engineers,
TLS was to be the steering system of Honda’s
previous-generation F-1 car, its safety require-
ments approved by the sanctioning organiza-
tion. The racecar thus equipped was tested
and evaluated at the Suzuka race circuit by
the works and development drivers, who
directly compared it with a same-type car
with conventional steering.Jack Yamaguchi
New dawnat Honda
R&D
Twin-lever steering in test car was originally
fitted to a Honda F-1 car.
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AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING May 2016 15
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT FEATURE
When asked about the protracted (nearly 9 years)
development cycle of the all-new NSX, which included
some major systems re-engineering including a new
engine design, Matsumoto responded bluntly. “NSXs
do not happen often,” he said. “Our concern and ef-
forts are in cultivating and improving the brand in the
country where a larger demand exists.” North Americaalso has spawned the latest Civic, developed by the
Ohio-based R&D team of which Matsumoto is proud.
Fuel cells moving to “next stage”
What awaits Honda R&D’s growing North American
operation now that the 2016 Civic and 2017 NSX are
launched? “Light trucks are their own, with very little
meddling from Japan,” grinned Matsumoto. “In the
North American market, our product ratios between
cars and light trucks are 50/50, so there is plenty of
work for them [the development teams]. And most of
Acura passenger cars as well.”Acura’s Chief Engineer Yosuke Sekino, with whom
Matsumoto worked on the original Fit, has been making
high-speed pilgrimages to the U.S. and China, his mis-
sion being “to straighten our course, energizing both
Honda and Acura sedan lines.” A point of pride is the
Acura ‘Precision Concept’ unveiled at the 2016 Detroit
show, which Matsumoto said hints at the design and
technology paths future Acura sedans will take.
CEO Hachigo pledged that two-thirds of new
Honda vehicles will be electrified by 2030, and
Matsumoto adds that they are aiming at the general
acceptance of fuel cell vehicles—what he calls “a
different ballgame altogether”—in the 2025-30 timeframe. Honda
and its fuel cell partner GM are now developing vehicle applications
for their shared stack, which he said is based on Honda’s latest de-
sign. “Soon we and GM are moving onto the next stage of develop-
ment,” he noted.
While Honda has not defined its position on battery EVs, it will be
putting more emphasis on plug-in vehicles overall. Honda engineersare not optimistic about the prospects for a significant leap in EV
battery capability, Matsumoto explained. Should that leap occur, the
ICE would be relegated to a range-extender function. He conceded
that Honda’s progress in hybrid and PHV development was ham-
pered by “auxiliary complications bringing about irrational solutions,”
without providing details. The next generation of electrified products,
he said, will feature fundamental vehicle re-designs and new platform
concepts, rather than just a new powertrain in an existing platform.
In the near-term, the next-generation Accord Hybrid is adopting
the 2-motor i-MMD system from the latest Japan-market Odyssey.
Noteworthy is its Atkinson-cycle 2.0-L i-VTEC port-injected ICE, com-
bined with an electric motor rated at 135 kW (181 hp) and generous
315 N·m (232 lb·ft) at 0-to-2000 rpm. The e-motor is Honda’s owndesign and manufacture, and 23% lighter than the previous Accord
Hybrid motor by employing unique wire winding. Honda traditionally
has manufactured its own electric motors; whether or not that prac-
tice continues “is open to question, depending on technological
progress as well as on serious study as a business case,” Matsumoto
said. “We may be exposed to competition from industries that we
have had scant dealing or insight.”
While such disruption is increasingly common in the industry, the
newly energized Honda R&D will itself be playing more of a disrup-
tor’s role, its designers, engineers, and scientists characterized by
their boss with a Japanese four-character idiom that means, in base-
ball style: “Each pitch thrown with full soul.”
Honda R&D’s combustion science includes Atkinson cycle and
HCCI work that aims to yield 50% brake thermal efficiency rates.
Recharging pole on the recharge-on-the-fly
EV prototype extends out of the car’s side sill.
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AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING 16 May 2016
Editor’s note: This article is based on a longer technical paper (2016-
01-7000) by the authors and published by SAE International i n April. It
can be accessed here: http://papers.sae.org/2016-01-7000/.
NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind recently spoke on the
prospects for reaching zero deaths on America’s roads.
“Conceptually, the challenge is extremely straightforward.If we keep doing what we are doing, we are never going to
get there,” he said. “We’ve got to keep doing what we’ve been do-
ing—it’s been successful—but we’ve got to do more.”
Dr. Rosekind and others can talk about zero road deaths because
the automotive industry has developed, without any legal requirement
to do so, automated systems that compensate for driver error.
However, these systems cannot be effectively regulated under the cur-
rent U.S. safety regime. In fact, NHTSA and the FMVSS (Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standards) were established precisely because the tech-
nology to avoid accidents did not exist in the 1960s and 1970s.
In order for NHTSA to “do more,” however, Congress will need to
enable NHTSA to “do differently.”
NHTSA and the next 50 years
The challenges and opportunities on the road to “zero deaths” demand a newlevel of federal automotive safety technical standards, and a new safety-defect
reporting and recall system. NHTSA and the U.S. Congress must act boldly and
quickly to make it happen.by Daniel P. Malone and John F. Creamer
Recall system rooted in 1960s
Fifty years ago, Congress set up the U.S. regulatory sys-
tem to force automakers to design safety measures into
their vehicles, in large part because car buyers at the
time broadly rejected the added cost of seat belts, inte-
rior padding, and other safety features. Because this ap-proach is fundamentally coercive, the courts, Congress,
and the Executive Branch have placed constraints on
NHTSA rulemaking such that any change in requirements
can take a decade of painstaking research to justify.
But NHTSA no longer has the luxury of time, given
the rapid development of new automated-driving tech-
nologies and safety systems. Unable to go through its
rigid, step-by-step administrative process, NHTSA has
resorted to going around it. During the past six months,
NHTSA has pursued voluntary agreements with auto-
makers on automatic emergency braking, cybersecurity,
recall system improvements, and an upgrade of the
AUTOMATED DRIVING MEETS REGULATION
Automated-driving
systems will prevent
millions of accidents and
injuries and save thousands
of lives—but they will not
be perfect from the outset.
http://papers.sae.org/2016-01-7000/http://papers.sae.org/2016-01-7000/http://papers.sae.org/2016-01-7000/
8/16/2019 Sae Automotive May
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AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING May 2016 17
consumer-oriented New Car Assessment Program
(NCAP). There’s also a $4 billion budget request to pro-
mote automated vehicles, including a promise to de-
velop “guidance” on the safe deployment of these tech-
nologies in cooperation with industry.Congress also set up the safety-defect reporting and
recall system based upon 1960s-era notions of consumer
protection. NHTSA receives roughly 330 calls per day
from vehicle owners, but these calls rarely provide the
technical detail necessary to isolate a potential problem
(as noted in the Inspector General’s June 2015 report on
NHTSA’s Office of Defect Investigations). Research at the
University of Iowa and consumer surveys have found that
most drivers are unsure about how advanced vehicle sys-
tems work or why their vehicles behave the way they do.
Faced with the inadequacy of this “consumer-com-
plaints bureau” approach, Congress has increasingly
placed the burden on automakers to report any suspi-cions of a defect, with severe penalties for non-compli-
ance. As a result, NHTSA receives some 6000 quarterly
early-warning reports from manufacturers each year
while the number of recalls has risen to levels that defy
public understanding. That’s even after excluding the
high-profile cases that have sent recall volumes in ex-
cess of 50 million vehicles for two years running.
Despite all these efforts—or arguably because of them—
this system requires years of reporting and accident data
to isolate a potential problem. It takes several years more
(if ever) to find a root cause, and then fails consistently to
see defective vehicles repaired. According to the consum-
er website Carfax, more than 47 million cars are runningon American roads with an unfixed recall issue.
Standards-based rulemaking needed
Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx declared that
automated vehicles will become widespread within 10
years. However, their complex electronic, software-driven
systems are open to risks and technical faults that electri-
cal and mechanical systems are not. Beyond well-known
concerns over malicious hacking, computer platforms are
routinely and rapidly personalized by their owners
through choices of features to activate, downloads of
third-party applications, updates (or the failure to up-date), system upgrades (which can be incompatible with
older hardware), and other decisions. Motor-vehicle soft-
ware will increasingly be serviced through over-the-air
(OTA) updates, raising both opportunities and risks.
In effect, we can expect that vehicles in the future
will be subject to in-use safety failures resulting from
circumstances unique to each vehicle where identify-
ing root causes may be impossible.
NHTSA has a critical role to play in facilitating the
smooth and safe deployment of the new safety
technologies. The agency’s leadership can guide the
development of uniform, clear, and legally enforceable
nationwide standards. NHTSA leadership can guide reform of the safe-
ty-defects system to better protect the public welfare. But only
Congress can enable NHTSA to fulfill its mission.
The challenges and opportunities on the road to “zero deaths” de-
mand a coherent, national (and even international) response.
Solutions must be found quickly, but not hastily, through greater
transparency and collaboration among stakeholders. We are enteringwhat is arguably the final frontier in road safety, one in which traffic
and vehicle safety merge. The U.S. regulatory system needs to move
with it and Congress needs to make this happen.
Rulemaking in this new era needs to more closely resemble stan-
dards-setting within SAE International. Rather than focusing on man-
datory vehicle performance, a new level of federal automotive safety
technical standard should focus on ensuring that systems installed on
vehicles are safe in the hands of the average driver. These standards
should set uniform minimum requirements for safety, privacy, secu-
rity and other aspects in the public interest.
Unlike the FMVSS, however, these technical standards would not man-
date vehicle performance. Rather, they would set performance require-
ments for automated systems. A vehicle would be required to meet theserequirements only if fitted with the given system; the FMVSS still could be
used to mandate their use, but these federal automotive safety technical
standards would leave use of the systems up to each automaker.
As such, NHTSA should be enabled to establish the standards more
quickly, without the extensive cost-benefit justifications required of
FMVSS. For this to happen, NHTSA needs to collaborate with stake-
holders in road safety and NHTSA is absolutely correct to be reaching
out to automakers for support in developing standards. However, with-
in a regulatory context, collaboration needs to go beyond agreements
REGULATIONS | STANDARDS FEATURE
Standards first: Setting the stage
for automated-vehicle safetyThe authors call on NHTSA leadership, enabled
by Congress, to:
• Set performance requirements for automated-
vehicle systems and to guide reform of the vehicle safety-defects system.
• Set uniform minimum requirements for safety, privacy, security and other
aspects of automated/connected car driving that are in the public interest.
• Base the new standards upon consensus among OEMs, suppliers (in-
cluding aftermarket), the service and repair industry, and state traffic
authorities.
• Include industry standards-setting bodies such as SAE International,
research institutions, and independent testing groups.
• Require robust on-board diagnostics (OBD) and data recorders.
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AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING 18 May 2016
with specific companies.
NHTSA standards should be transpar-
ently based upon consensus among auto-
makers, the supplier industry (including
independent aftermarket manufacturers),the vehicle service and repair industry,
and state traffic authorities. Participation
independent testing groups such as the
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
(IIHS). In order for standards-setting to be
credible, all stakeholders, including safety
advocates, need to be part of the process.
Robust OBD required
The credibility of these standards be-
comes especially important given the
nature of automated driving systems.
Unlike most safety technologies, auto-
mated driving systems interact with the
driver and with other vehicles and road
users. Automation fundamentally chang-
es transportation and such change is
never without risk. While these systems
will prevent millions of accidents andinjuries and save thousands of lives, they
will not be perfect from the outset.
Even with standards such as SAE’s
ASIL (Automotive Safety Integrity Level,
a risk-classification protocol), it is a vir-
tual certainty that automated systems
will, at some point, encounter complex
conditions and fail to perform as desired.
In such cases, the NHTSA technical stan-
dards should enable differentiation be-
tween unanticipated outcomes and li-
ability under recognized legal theories.
The standards can play an importantrole in promoting both high levels of
performance and greater legal certainty
to facilitate the safety transformation.
Given the technical complexity of au-
tomated systems, the safety-defects
system cannot rely mainly upon accident
reporting, consumer complaints, and
other sources that do not provide con-
sistent technical information on vehicle
behavior, especially prior to death or
injury. Automated systems will require
robust on-board diagnostics (OBD) and
data recorders. These technologies openavenues for monitoring vehicle behavior
toward identifying anomalies or unfore-
seen effects on traffic patterns or driver
behavior that can be used to continu-
ously improve the system standards.
At the same time, car owners are fun-
damentally responsible for ensuring the
proper maintenance of their vehicles. In
a future of connected and interdepen-
dent vehicles, the public cannot afford
to have millions of cars with malfunc-
tioning systems on the roads. Congress
NHTSA and the next 50 years
should be open to industry standards-
setting bodies such as SAE International
and research institutions such as the
University of Michigan Transportation
Research Institute (UMTRI), the Center forAutomotive Research, and the Virginia
Tech Transportation Institute, as well as
Roads can be a dangerous place —for drivers, passengersand pedestrians. Control of the car’s ability to stop is a
fundamental necessity for safe passage. As cars become
more autonomous, ZF TRW’s camera, radar and braking
technologies are enhancing stopping ability in the event
of driver lapse.
COGNITIVE SAFETY SYSTEMS
TRUST IS UNYIELDING
http://www.trw.com/
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AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING May 2016 19
REGULATIONS | STANDARDS FEATURE
For the promise of automated driving as depicted here to become reality, the
challenges cannot be met under a system designed in the 1960s, based on
assumptions from the 1950s and technologies from the 1970s, the authors argue.
should enable NHTSA to work with state authorities
and the automotive manufacturing and service indus-
tries to devise a uniform national system for ensuring
that critical vehicle systems remain in proper working
order—and any problems remedied before they evolveinto dangerous malfunctions.
All of this presupposes an unprecedented level of
cooperation among stakeholders, but this collaboration
is the future. A world of connected vehicles requires a
community of connected stakeholders to ensure safety.
Since 1946, U.S. traffic fatalities have never fallen to
less than 30,000 per year. This sad reality can change
because automated driving technologies address the
root cause of 94% of all accidents. At the same time,
unlike any safety system previously introduced into
motor vehicles, automated technologies fundamen-
tally change the nature of driving.
We cannot meet the challenge under a system de-signed in the 1960s based on assumptions from the
1950s and technologies from the 1970s. As it did 50 years
ago, Congress must act boldly to refocus road safety in
America for the next 50 years. The new safety era re-
quires a new approach if the nation is to realize the po-
tential of these advanced technologies and ensure U.S.
leadership in this economic and social transformation.
Daniel P. Malone, an attorney with Butzel Long, specializes in automotiveproduct safety-related litigation and regulatory matters. He publishes
articles and presents on legal and automotive-related issues frequently. Mr.
Malone can be reached at [email protected].
John F. Creamer is Managing Director of GlobalAutoRegs.com, an advisory
service on international automotive regulations. He is also a partner in The
Potomac Alliance, a global consortium of regulatory affairs experts. Mr.
Creamer can be reached at [email protected].
http://www.cruden.com/http://www.cruden.com/http://www.cruden.com/
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AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING 20 May 2016
Auto industry legend Lee Iacocca once famously said,
“Safety doesn’t sell.” Later, he was big enough to modifyhis stance and candidly admitted in an advertisement ex-
tolling the benefits of airbags, “Who says you can’t teach
an old dog new tricks?”
Safety has become a “given” in vehicle design and technology, and
not least because it is structured within the crash-proof confines of
comprehensive legislation. Buyers assume new cars will be safe and
getting safer, as OEMs design their products to meet the coveted
5-star rating. But with the prospect of comprehensive autonomous
technology gaining acceptance, and major European OEMs and sup-
pliers including Audi, Bosch, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo investing
heavily in it, automotive safety is taking on a whole new dimension.
Andrew Miller, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of
Euro NCAP, told Automotive Engineering: “With the continuous advanc-es in crash protection and the increasing number of active safety tech-
nologies available, such as autonomous emergency braking (AEB; also
called automated emergency braking), today’s cars are, by any measur-
able standard, the safest ever, with improvements at every price point.”
Five-star crash-test performance ratings such as those established
by Euro NCAP are essential in securing consumer confidence in a
new model’s safety capability. But the rating seldom makes the head-
lines when a manufacturer announces a new model, even though the
safety message is increasingly about sophisticated collision avoid-
ance capability in addition to passive protection.
And manufacturers continue to work toward achieving an “acci-
dent-free” environment.
Hands off, eyes off, brain off
Euro NCAP’S president warns that without coherent policies, the growing
availability of automated technologies may result in piecemeal technology
development—and unintentional consequences.by Stuart Birch
AEB makes an impact
Miller’s Euro NCAP role fits neatly with his parallel job
as Chief Technical Officer of Thatcham Research,
which achieves a strategic and tactical view of all as-
pects of safety. The U.K.-based company supplies the
data that allows insurers to define the risk grouping
for any new vehicle in the U.K. Miller stated that third-
party injury claims against vehicles with AEB are up to
45% lower than for a control group of equivalent ve-
hicles without the technology.
“Active safety technologies allow us to reduce the
impact speeds of severe collisions and avoid many
altogether,” he asserted.
In the U.K. alone, the effect of AEB is likely to reducefuture compensation claims for whiplash injuries by over
£0.5B ($706.2M) by 2025 and, over the same period, lead
to an 18% reduction in the number of vehicles written-off
as uneconomic to repair due to airbag deployment.
“This means there is a growing alignment between
the priorities of vehicle manufacturers, insurers and con-
sumers; they all benefit from safer vehicles,” said Miller.
Euro NCAP figures show a 38% overall reduction in
real-world, rear-end crashes for vehicles fitted with
AEB compared to a sample of equivalent vehicles
without it. However, there remain many challenges,
including the safe operation of autonomous vehicles in
What happens when
vehicle autonomous
safety systems
are deliberately
switched off. This
was a managed
test collision by
Thatcham Research
during development
of a new 3D soft
target structure.
AUTONOMOUS DRIVING MEETS REGULATION
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AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING May 2016 21
SAFETY FEATURE
the company of those under manual control.
“Human operation introduces a wider range of pos-
sible scenarios for the autonomous control system to
respond to, such as aggressive or illegal driving, and
sudden or unexpected maneuvers,” warned Miller.
“There are also reported instances of drivers misusing
autonomous systems in potentially hazardous ways;
either out of curiosity or for amusement.”He said it is essential to look more deeply into cause
and effect, and cited a study by the University of
Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI)
of a small number of crashes, none major, involving
autonomous vehicles in California.
“In each case, the collision has been at low speed
and the autonomous vehicle was not at fault,” Miller
explained. “The issue appears to be driver inattention,
or aggression, in the manually controlled vehicle lead-
ing to ‘rear-ending’ of the autonomous vehicle in front,
particularly at intersections. This has implications for
autonomous vehicles joining a moving traffic flow be-
cause the theoretically safest strategy, based on ad-herence to traffic laws and speed limits, can lead to
delays and frustration for other drivers.”
Keeping secrets
Such a complex traffic landscape requires clear leader-
ship and coherent policies if the growing availability of
automated technologies is not to result in piecemeal
development and unintentional consequences, he said:
“Legislators tend to lag behind the technology, espe-
cially at the rate of progress common with electronics
and software, while individual vehicle manufacturers are
often wary of sharing too much core information with competitors.”
Thatcham Research has taken a significant role in steering the in-
dustry toward the standard fitment of AEB and ESC (electronic sta-
bility control). Through its contribution of research data to Euro
NCAP and its development of robust testing protocols, it is now also
strongly supporting the adoption of lateral control technologies.
Both Thatcham Research and Euro NCAP are clear that autonomous
vehicles will evolve in incremental stages as consumer and regulatorconfidence levels grow, and they become proven and cost effective.
“The SAE’s own technology roadmap indicates six steps to autono-
mous control, from a zero level, via today’s intervention or assistance
functions, through sequential stages of feet off the pedals, hands off
the steering, eyes off the road, to finally ‘brain off’ the task of driving
completely,” explained Miller’s colleague Matthew Avery, Director of
Insurance Research at Thatcham.
The two work closely together researching the results of new tech-
nologies being introduced, including the likely effects of integration
of autonomous vehicles into the existing traffic network. Avery noted
that Europe and the U.S. mandated the fitment of ESC to passenger
cars from 2012. Though capable of direct intervention to prevent loss
of control of the vehicle, such systems do not replace the driver orrelieve him or her of any of the tasks inherent in driving, he said.
Yet research data shows that a vehicle equipped with ESC has a
25% lower risk of being involved in the type of serious crash where a
single vehicle leaves the road, Avery explained, “usually at high
speed, and hits an obstacle such as a telegraph pole or tree.”
Current systems for active cruise control (ACC) and AEB are the
first steps in monitoring the surrounding traffic to compensate for
driver inattention or distraction. Higher levels of automation, such as
valet parking with the driver outside the vehicle, are expected to be
available by 2020. But the final step to fully autonomous vehicles is
unlikely to be implemented on public highways before 2025, accord-
ing to the experts.
Euro NCAP President
Andrew Miller says
there is a growing
alignment between
the priorities
of vehicle
manufacturers,
insurers, and
consumers.
A Volvo XC90 configured for Autonomous
Emergency Braking (AEB) testing at
Thatcham Research.
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AUTOMOTIVEENGINEERING 22 May 2016
SAFETY FEATURE
Driver out of the loop
“The big challenge is the step change from ‘hands off’ to ‘eyes off’,” said
Avery. “At that point, the driver is out of the loop even though the official
definition is that he or she must be able to resume control quickly.”
This level of autonomy, for example, is likely to be legal on
European roads as early as 2018, but debate continues regarding the
issues it raises. In the U.S. it may arrive later. He explained that con-
troversy arises because the safeguards required in a system where
the driver is always ready to resume control are lower than for a sys-
tem where the driver never needs to become involved.
“Some industry experts fear that drivers will treat any competent‘eyes off’ system more like a ‘brain off’ system and abdicate all their
driving responsibility to it, even though the manufacturer has not
designed it for such use,” he asserted. “A true ‘brain off’ system re-
quires aircraft levels of systems’ redundancy.”
The combination of autonomous braking and steering intervention,
based on inputs from camera, radar and/or LiDAR systems, heralds
improved safety of road users external to the vehicle.
“Camera technology is an essential element in the protection of
vulnerable road users external to the vehicle, and is already becom-
ing widespread through features initially introduced for driver conve-
nience, such as parking assistance and cruise control,” said Miller.
“The introduction of AEB has accelerated this trend, with 63% of the
cars that scored a 5-stars Euro NCAP safety rating during the lastquarter featuring some level of camera technology.”
Euro NCAP 2025 roadmap
The Euro NCAP roadmap for safety rating to 2020 was published in
2015; from January 2016 cars are being assessed for their ability to
recognize and brake to avoid impact with pedestrians and the
Thatcham team is now developing a test procedure for the avoidance
of cyclists, planned for inclusion in the Euro NCAP test from 2018.
The next roadmap, for the period to 2025, is currently under dis-
cussion. Added Miller: “Without automated braking and lateral con-
trol technologies, it is virtually impossible for a vehicle to achieve a
Euro NCAP 5-star safety rating today. In the yearsahead, the contribution to safety made by autono-
mous systems will become even more indispensable;
we will wonder how we ever managed without them!”
Mercedes-Benz’s new E-Class revealed at the 2016
Detroit auto show, took a significant step toward au-
tonomous operation, offering Active Lane Change
Assist, part of its DRIVE PILOT system.
When the driver activates the turn indicator for
more than two seconds to change lanes, it steers the
car into the adjacent lane. A Mercedes official stated
that the vehicle will only change lanes autonomously if
the sensors do not detect any vehicles in the relevant
safety zone. It is inconsequential whether the carwants to change to the left lane for overtaking or
wants to return to the right-hand lane.
A long-range radar system and a stereo camera
monitor the area in front of the vehicle, while multi-
mode radar sensors permanently check the area to the
rear and sides. Both factor in the speed of detected
vehicles in the vicinity, Mercedes experts said. The
driver only needs to monitor the lane change.
The Federal Motor Vehicle and Transport Authority
in Germany has given provisional approval for Active
Lane Change Assist. Application is being made for
pan-European approval.
Vehicle fitted with steering robot for
Autonomous Emergency Braking test.
The big
challenge of
autonomous
driving, said
Thatcham’s
Matthew Avery,
“is the step-
change from
‘hands off’ to
‘eyes off’.”
Legislators tend to lagbehind the technology, whileOEMs are wary of sharingtoo much core informationwith competitors.
Hands off, eyes off, brain off