Paid Program: Powering the Future of Transportation

DRIVING THE FUTURE

POWERING THE FUTURE OF TRANSPORTATION

Today’s innovations are paving the road for tomorrow’s autonomous electric vehicles.

It’s easy to imagine the future of transportation: a world where commuters are shuttled to work by self-driving cars, the trucking industry runs exclusively on electric vehicles (EVs) and flying taxis—yes, flying taxis!—are just a tap away in your favorite ride-sharing app.

While the groundwork for that future is already being laid, automakers and parts manufacturers still face substantial challenges ranging from the high cost of electric batteries to the still-experimental nature of fully autonomous cars. So what does it take to make the future of transportation a reality? The answer depends not only on getting buy-in from consumers, policymakers and utilities. It also depends on forging the right partnerships, making the right investments and never taking your eyes off the road.

LEADING THE CHARGE

There’s a palpable feeling of excitement around the potential of electric vehicles, particularly with regard to the environmental impact. More businesses are making sustainability a priority, and studies are beginning to demonstrate that eco-conscious practices may translate to increased sales. The EV space is no different, and in 2018 global electric car sales nearly doubled over the previous year, exceeding 5.1 million, up 2 million from 2017.

Still, the electric vehicle industry has a power problem. While the cost of batteries is projected to decline in the years leading up to 2030, it remains one of the major barriers to price parity with gasoline-powered vehicles, accounting for more than a third of the cost of an electric vehicle. One potential solution is employing smarter battery management systems (BMS), which could help automakers and parts manufacturers bridge the gap between today’s high-cost batteries and tomorrow’s more affordable ones.

“WE CHOSE TO GO AFTER THAT PROBLEM BY MAKING EXTREMELY EFFICIENT AND ACCURATE SYSTEMS THAT ENABLE THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE TO GET THE MOST USABLE ENERGY OUT OF ANY GIVEN BATTERY PACK.”

Patrick Morgan

Vice President of Automotive Electrification and Infotainment | Analog Devices

A BETTER BATTERY

Autonomous vehicles are typically thought of as years removed from present-day reality. But in some respects, the technology that will pave the way for full autonomy is already being utilized—and changing the way we think about transportation. Improving electric battery range and performance is crucial to increasing autonomy, particularly with the array of sensor equipment needed to pilot a self-driving vehicle. Already, smarter, more accurate battery management systems are helping automakers and parts manufacturers get more mileage out of electric batteries.

That efficiency is even more critical for industries like trucking, which are beginning to invest heavily in electrification. According to a McKinsey study, up to 20% of medium-duty trucks could be EVs by 2030—if batteries can keep up with demand. “EVs may require additional downtime for charging that can adversely impact business performance, because the vehicles are placed in a nonrevenue status longer than gas-powered vehicles,” says Susan Shaheen, co-director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Recent innovations could be a game-changer in both commercial and consumer contexts. Analog Devices’ lithium-ion battery management system for electric vehicles, Morgan explains, constantly measures the voltage of each cell, benefitting both battery range and performance while guaranteeing maximum safety. The more accurately the state of charge can be measured, the closer automakers and parts manufacturers can get to maximizing output without jeopardizing safety. “The system enables fast, safe charging and discharging of the battery to the fullest extent, which allows for the maximum vehicle range per charge,” he says. The broader adoption of EVs could have a substantial environmental impact. According to Analog Devices, vehicles equipped with the company’s BMS technology save approximately 60 million tons of carbon dioxide per year—the equivalent of 70 million acres of forest—by virtue of operating without the need for an internal-combustion engine while leveraging ultra-precise battery performance measurement. In developing that technology, Analog Devices relied on decades of experience building functionality now used in both EVs and conventional internal-combustion vehicles. The company’s expertise in the sector began close to 20 years ago, when it first introduced precision power and other measurement solutions to the automotive market.

Analog Devices’ work enhancing vehicular radar and lidar marks important waypoints on the road to full autonomy, enabling many of today’s aspects of automated driver assistance. These technologies build on the company’s signal-processing technology—developed and honed in the high-performance industrial space—to help the car sense (and effectively “see”) its surroundings, with present-day use cases in features like collision avoidance and parking assistance. As vehicles move toward the next stages of autonomy, radar and lidar will be at the core of the advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), which will allow for faster object detection and classification and enable the vehicle to distinguish between a tree, a motorcycle and a child, for example.

“THE ELECTRIFICATION OF THE CAR UNDERPINS MANY OF THE NEEDS OF AUTONOMY. THESE CARS ARE COMPLETELY RE-ARCHITECHED FROM THE GROUND UP, MOVING FROM INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES TO ELECTRIC DRIVES.”

Chris Jacobs

Vice President of Autonomous Transportation and Automotive Safety | Analog Devices

People killed by distracted driving in 2016

Driver distraction and fatigue are among the top causes of accidents. In-cabin sensing solutions can provide a safer experience by monitoring factors like stress and drowsiness—signals that tell the vehicle when the computer should take over.

THE NEXT STEP IN SAFETY

Deaths caused by driver fatigue-related crashes in 2017

fully autonomous vehicles

THE ROAD TO AUTONOMY

“If the first 50 years of ADI were dominated by hardware, the next 50 will be increasingly dominated by the software required to perceive the world in ever-smaller degrees of granularity.”

Vincent Roche

President and Chief Executive Officer | Analog Devices

Substantially reduced latency comes with its own set of challenges, requiring an upgraded optical network (which uses light signals instead of electronic ones to transfer information). As these systems accommodate increasingly high data rates, precise control is required to manage the complex sequence of lasers, modulators and detectors. Here, Analog Devices’ precision measurement solutions could play a central role in making ultra-low latencies a reality, potentially enabling optical networks to reach a terabyte in capacity. For example, the company has developed highly precise circuit blocks that can measure current from a miniscule three nanoamps and up to three milliamps, an immense range in output.

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PEDAL TO THE METAL

Analog Devices is paving the way for the future of transportation.

FIND OUT MORE

MILEAGE INCREASE IN EV BATTERIES

100

150

200

250

Mileage

2011

2014

2017

2019

177

220

Source: “US BEV Battery Range Increases an Average 17% Per Year and 38 Miles Each Model Update,” EVAdoption, October 2018.

Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) also allow a vehicle to maintain location accuracy when driving. IMUs are able to accurately measure the vehicle dynamics, trajectory and orientation to compensate when features such as radar, lidar and GPS can’t be relied upon (like when a car enters a tunnel).

Sophisticated cameras and sensor technology give vehicles the ability to “see” their surroundings, helping drivers avoid potentially dangerous situations. Already common in many vehicles, these innovations will play a central role on the road to autonomy.

SMART SENSORS

High-performance radar sensors use radio waves to provide visibility around the vehicle and can measure factors like speed and distance. Today, these sensors are an integral aspect of features like automatic emergency braking and adaptive cruise control.

Radar

SMART SENSORS

Radar

Short for “light detection and ranging,” lidar technology uses laser light pulses (instead of radio waves) to detect the environment around the vehicle. These pulses form a 360-degree “cloud” of sensory input that can be interpreted by intelligent algorithms and used to assist navigation.

Lidar

In real time, advanced driver assistance systems (or ADAS) process the inputs supplied by technologies such as radar and lidar, as well as other camera and sensor equipment on the vehicle. This supports aspects of present-day autonomy like blind-spot monitoring and lane-change assist.

Central ADAS Fusion Controller

For Analog Devices, the connection between increased automation and safety is a familiar one. Thirty years ago, the company’s ADXL50 accelerometers helped pave the way for reliable, cost-effective airbag systems. Today, those innovations have expanded to include solutions for improving stability, security and suspension, each built on high-performance sensors to deliver the level of safety and intelligence that will spur further adoption of autonomous technology. Analog Devices’ work enabling autonomy also extends well beyond the automotive arena. Applications in construction equipment, drones and even agriculture are all built on the same foundational technology, with innovations in one industry easily lending themselves to implementation in another. In a factory setting, for example, the same lidar solutions used in autonomous vehicles allow industrial robots to more fully sense their surroundings, improving safety for a plant’s human workers.

In-cabin sensing is already a standard feature in some vehicles and will likely become more common in the years ahead. For example, technology developed by Analog Devices captures an EKG signal when the driver places his or her hands on the wheel.

Sources: “Distracted Driving,” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; “Drowsy Driving,” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Making that future a reality means investing in technologies that bridge the gap between physical phenomena and digital signal—solutions that will be at the core of every artificial intelligence-driven aspect of automation in the years ahead. As with Analog Devices’ work in the EV space, they provide a natural segue to the next step in transportation. “For the last hundred years, car companies differentiated themselves by how well they produced combustion engines for efficiency, performance and power,” Roche says. “Now, they have to differentiate themselves in areas that make the driving experience safer, healthier and more enjoyable. Rather than the combustion engine and performance, the conversation is going to center around the user, or driver. I think that’s where we’re going to see the most change in the future.”

There’s a palpable feeling of excitement around the potential of electric vehicles, particularly with regard to their environmental impact. More businesses are making sustainability a priority, and studies are beginning to demonstrate that eco-conscious practices may translate to increased sales. The EV space is no different, and in 2018 global electric car sales nearly doubled over the previous years. Still, the electric vehicle industry has a power problem. While the cost of batteries is projected to decline in the years leading up to 2030, it remains one of the major barriers to price parity with gasoline-powered vehicles, accounting for more than a third of the cost of an electric vehicle.

President and Cheif Executive Officer

Vincent Roche

“If the first 50 years of ADI were dominated by hardware, the next 50 will be increasingly dominated by the software required to perceive the world in ever-smaller degrees of granularity...”

That efficiency is even more critical for industries like trucking, which are beginning to invest heavily in electrification. According to a recent McKinsey study, up to 20% of medium-duty trucks could be EVs by 2030—if batteries can keep up with demand. “EVs may require additional downtime for charging that can adversely impact business performance, because the vehicles are placed in a nonrevenue status longer than gas-powered vehicles,” says Susan Shaheen, co-director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Centerat the University of California, Berkeley. Recent innovations could be a game-changer in both commercial and consumer contexts. Analog Devices’ lithium-ion battery management system (BMS) for electric vehicles, Morgan explains, constantly measures the voltage of each cell, benefitting both battery range and performance while guaranteeing maximum safety. The more accurately the state of charge can be measured, the closer automakers and parts manufacturers can get to maximizing output without jeopardizing safety. “The system enables fast and safe charging and discharging of the battery to the fullest extent, which allows for the maximum vehicle range per charge,” he says. In developing its BMS technology, Analog Devices relied on decades of experience building functionality now used in both EVs and conventional internal-combustion vehicles. The company’s expertise in the sector began close to 20 years ago, when it first introduced precision power and other measurement solutions to the automotive market.“ If the first 50 years of ADI were dominated by hardware, the next 50 will be increasingly dominated by the software required to perceive the world in ever-smaller degrees of granularity,” says Vincent Roche, CEO of Analog Devices. “We’re combining our silicon solutions with an increasingly sophisticated mathematics to be able to make sense of the real world, including battery systems where the energy density is increasing by orders of magnitude every few years.”

Improving electric battery range and performance areis crucial to increasing autonomy, particularly with the array of sensor equipment needed to pilot a self-driving vehicle. Already, smarter, more accurate battery-management systems are helping automakers and parts manufacturers get more mileage out of electric batteries. As battery-management systems continue to maximize performance, electric batteries will be better able to support both extended EV driving ranges and autonomous vehicles’ sensors.

A BETTER BATTERY

Vice President of Automotive Electrification and Infotainment

Chris Jacobs

“WE CHOSE TO GO AFTER THAT PROBLEM BY MAKING EXTREMELY EFFICIENT AND ACCURATE SYSTEMS THAT ENABLE THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE TO GET THE MOST USABLE ENERGY OUT OF ANY GIVEN BATTERY PACK”

Deaths caused by driver fatigue-related crashes in 2017

People killed by distracted driving in 2016

While these advances point the direction toward a more sustainable future, they also serve as prerequisites for another industry turning point: autonomous vehicles. “The electrification of the car underpins many of the needs of autonomy,” says Chris Jacobs, vice president of autonomous transportation and automotive safety at Analog Devices. “These cars are completely re-architected from the ground up, moving from internal combustion engines to electric drives. A similar re-architecture is being considered for the sensing networks in the car. We provide the ideal platform to build fully autonomous vehicles, because that EV architecture work supports moving forward with more sensors in the automobile, which can sit upon the electrified platform in the powertrain.” Full autonomy won’t exist tomorrow, although research is already well underway. Instead, most automakers and equipment manufacturers are adopting an incremental approach, introducing elements of autonomy as they become reliable and cost-effective. Analog’s work enhancing vehicular radar and lidar has enabled some of the autonomous-sensing solutions available today. These technologies build on the company’s signal-processing technology to help the car sense (and effectively “see”) its surroundings, with present-day use cases in features like collision avoidance and parking assistance. As vehicles move toward the next stages of autonomy, radar and lidar will be at the core of the advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), which will allow for faster object detection and classification and enable the vehicle to distinguish between a tree, a motorcycle and a child, for example. Meanwhile, dynamic sensors called inertial measurement units (or IMUs) calculate the vehicle’s position and orientation in motion, assisting with features like lane-keeping.

The broader adoption of EVs could have a substantial environmental impact. Already, vehicles equipped with Analog Devices’ BMS technology save approximately 60 million tons of carbon dioxide per year—the equivalent of 70 million acres of forest—by virtue of operating without the need for an internal-combustion engine while leveraging ultra-precise battery performance measurement.

THE ROAD TO AUTONOMY

Sophisticated cameras and sensor technology give vehicles the ability to “see” their surroundings, helping drivers avoid potentially dangerous situations. Already common in some vehicles, these innovations will play a central role on the road to autonomy.

Together, these technologies will form a bridge from today’s Level 1 and 2 autonomy (such as driver assistance and partial automation, like maintaining distance between vehicles) to tomorrow’s driverless cars.

“We’re combining our silicon solutions with increasingly sophisticated mathematics to be able to make sense of the real world, including battery systems where the energy density is increasing by orders of magnitude every few years,” Roche says.

Sophisticated cameras and sensor technology give vehicles the ability to “see” their surroundings, helping drivers avoid potentially dangerous situations. Already common in some vehicles, these innovations will play a central role on the road to autonomy.

That efficiency is even more critical for industries like trucking, which are beginning to invest heavily in electrification. According to a recent McKinsey study, up to 20% of medium-duty trucks could be EVs by 2030—if batteries can keep up with demand. “EVs may require additional downtime for charging that can adversely impact business performance, because the vehicles are placed in a nonrevenue status longer than gas-powered vehicles,” says Susan Shaheen, co-director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Recent innovations could be a game-changer in both commercial and consumer contexts. Analog Devices’ lithium-ion battery management system for electric vehicles, Morgan explains, constantly measures the voltage of each cell, benefitting both battery range and performance while guaranteeing maximum safety. The more accurately the state of charge can be measured, the closer automakers and parts manufacturers can get to maximizing output without jeopardizing safety. “The system enables fast and safe charging and discharging of the battery to the fullest extent, which allows for the maximum vehicle range per charge,” he says. The broader adoption of EVs could have a substantial environmental impact. According to Analog Devices, vehicles equipped with the company’s BMS technology save approximately 60 million tons of carbon dioxide per year—the equivalent of 70 million acres of forest—by virtue of operating without the need for an internal-combustion engine while leveraging ultra-precise battery performance measurement. In developing that technology, Analog Devices relied on decades of experience building functionality now used in both EVs and conventional internal-combustion vehicles. The company’s expertise in the sector began close to 20 years ago, when it first introduced precision power and other measurement solutions to the automotive market.

“There are several major issues from a consumer perspective,” says Patrick Morgan, vice president of automotive electrification and infotainment at Analog Devices. “It’s a tricky situation, because larger batteries would enable longer ranges while ensuring fast charging and maximum safety. The problem is that they add cost and weight. We chose to go after that problem by making extremely efficient and accurate systems that enable the electric vehicle to get the most usable energy out of any given battery pack.”

As BMS continues to maximize performance, electric batteries will be better able to support both extended EV driving ranges and autonomous vehicles’ sensors.

THE NEXT STEP IN SAFETY

DRIVING THE FUTURE

These advances serve as prerequisites for another industry turning point: autonomous vehicles. “The electrification of the car underpins many of the needs of autonomy,” says Chris Jacobs, vice president of autonomous transportation and automotive safety at Analog Devices. “These cars are completely re-architected from the ground up, moving from internal-combustion engines to electric drives. A similar re-architecture is being considered for the sensing networks in the car. We provide the ideal platform to build fully autonomous vehicles, because that EV architecture work supports moving forward with more sensors in the automobile, which can sit upon the electrified platform in the powertrain.” Full autonomy won’t exist tomorrow, although research is already well underway. Instead, most automakers and equipment manufacturers are adopting an incremental approach, introducing elements of autonomy as they become reliable and cost-effective. Ultimately, the technology underpinning these features will support far more extensive forms of autonomy, like fleets of self-driving robo-taxis.

These advances serve as prerequisites for another industry turning point: autonomous vehicles. “The electrification of the car underpins many of the needs of autonomy,” says Chris Jacobs, vice president of autonomous transportation and automotive safety at Analog Devices. “These cars are completely re architected from the ground up, moving from internal-combustion engines to electric drives. A similar re-architecture is being considered for the sensing networks in the car. We provide the ideal platform to build fully autonomous vehicles, because that EV architecture work supports moving forward with more sensors in the automobile, which can sit upon the electrified platform in the powertrain.” Full autonomy won’t exist tomorrow, although research is already well underway. Instead, most automakers and equipment manufacturers are adopting an incremental approach, introducing elements of autonomy as they become reliable and cost-effective. Ultimately, the technology underpinning these features will support far more extensive forms of autonomy, like fleets of self-driving robo-taxis.

fully autonomous

efficient and accurate systems

efficient and

Inertial measurement units (IMUs) use precision gyroscopes, accelerometers and other sensors to detect where the vehicle is and where it’s going. They can be used as the primary sensor for navigation in the event other sensors become unreliable.

IMU

Lidar

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