Continental has developed a computing platform that it says is capable of processing the huge amount of sensor and other data required for automated driving. The Assisted & Automated Driving Control Unit was developed by Continental in collaboration with Xilinx, with the Open Computing Language (OpenCL) framework as its basis.
Heterogeneous computing options include a central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), digital signal processor (DSP) and a customisable hardware acceleration solution. Continental says this enables developers to optimise software for the appropriate processing engine or to create their own hardware accelerators with Xilinx’s all-programmable technology.
“We embrace the spirit of a hardware platform that invites collaboration, rather than tying companies to a proprietary architecture,” said Willard Tu, senior director for the automotive market at Xilinx.
“Our Assisted & Automated Driving Control Unit will enable automotive engineers to create their own differentiated solutions for machine learning and sensor fusion,” said Karl Haupt, head of Continental’s Advanced Driver Assistance Systems business unit. “Xilinx’s All Programmable Technology was chosen as it offers flexibility and scalability to address the ever-changing and new requirements along the way to fully automated self-driving cars. For Continental, the Assisted & Automated Driving Control Unit is a central element for implementing the required functional safety architecture and, at the same time, a host for the comprehensive environment model and driving functions needed for automated driving.”
Continental says the unit offers a scalable product family, fulfilling ASIL D safety requirements by 2019. The first product will be a cost-optimised ADAS module connecting sensors and actuators. It will be followed by a control unit for automated driving, with new digital structures for comprehensive environment modelling, ASIL D and real-time performance, offering an OpenCL path into every chip.