ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International
  • News
    • A-L
      • ADAS
      • AI & Sensor Fusion
      • Business
      • Connectivity
      • Cybersecurity
      • Expo
      • HMI
      • Last-mile delivery
      • Legislation & Standards
      • Localization/GNSS
    • M-Z
      • Mapping
      • Off-Highway
      • Robo-Taxis
      • Sensors
      • Shared Mobility
      • Safety
      • Simulation
      • Testing
      • Trucks
      • V2X
  • Features
  • Online Magazines
    • January 2025
    • September 2024
    • April 2024
    • January 2024
    • Subscribe
  • Opinion
  • Videos
  • Supplier Spotlight
  • Events
LinkedIn Facebook Twitter
  • Automotive Interiors
  • Automotive Testing
  • Automotive Powertrain
  • Professional Motorsport
  • Tire Technology
  • Media Pack
LinkedIn Facebook
Subscribe
ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International
  • News
      • ADAS
      • AI & Sensor Fusion
      • Business
      • Connectivity
      • Cybersecurity
      • Expo
      • HMI
      • Last-mile delivery
      • Legislation & Standards
      • Localization/GNSS
      • Mapping
      • Off-Highway
      • Robo-Taxis
      • Sensors
      • Shared Mobility
      • Safety
      • Simulation
      • Testing
      • Trucks
      • V2X
  • Features
  • Online Magazines
    1. April 2025
    2. January 2025
    3. September 2024
    4. April 2024
    5. January 2024
    6. Subscribe
    Featured
    April 15, 2025

    In this Issue – April 2025

    Online Magazines By Web Team
    Recent

    In this Issue – April 2025

    April 15, 2025

    In this Issue – January 2025

    November 29, 2024

    In this Issue – September 2024

    July 23, 2024
  • Opinion
  • Videos
  • Supplier Spotlight
  • Events
  • Awards
    • About
    • Shortlist
    • Judges
LinkedIn Facebook
Subscribe
ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International
Opinion

How big data is driving change in smart vehicle architecture 

James BillingtonBy James BillingtonNovember 2, 20185 Mins Read
How big data is driving change in smart vehicle architecture
Share
LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Email

Driverless vehicles are constantly collecting valuable data. Whether that’s data about the width of the road, other surrounding vehicles or pedestrians crossing the street, or information on how the car is handling the road surface – it’s taking it all in and it doesn’t stop. Autonomous vehicles are information rich and are increasingly defined by software that is generating vast amounts of data to train its artificially intelligent (AI) algorithms – all fundamental ingredients needed for cars to drive themselves safely without any human assistance.

With autonomous driving, vehicles are becoming the largest source of data in the world. In the time it takes to blink (around a tenth of a second), connected vehicles exchange 15,000 pieces of data. By 2020, this figure is expected to rise to 200,000 pieces of data each second. With data flooding in at an exponential rate, the big challenge for the automotive industry will be how they handle all of it as data begins driving the era of autonomous mobility.

How big data is driving change in smart vehicle architecture  A new era
Remember the cars of the 1950s? The second-generation Chevrolet Bel Air, that was a thing of beauty, with its Ferrari-inspired grille and chrome headliner bands. Not only was this a vision on the outside, but a paragon of simplicity on the inside—at least when it comes to its electrical system. No data was being collected, and its sole purpose was to get you from A to B (in style). Fast forward almost 70 years to 2018, and autonomous cars are becoming data-harvesting supercomputers, with vehicle electrical systems therefore more complex than they have ever been. This deluge of data is forcing a change.

The architecture of a vehicle defines the relationship between its software, hardware and computing power. It’s all well and good collecting data to advance autonomous driving systems, but without the right infrastructure in place to process the data, it can’t be analyzed in real time to improve the driver’s experience and safety. It’s clear that traditional approaches to vehicle architecture are no longer viable options as autonomous cars have become a reality, and data is becoming the new oil.

In existing passenger cars today, the electrical and electronic architecture is already the third heaviest system after the chassis and powertrain. It has grown significantly over the years – firstly as comfort, safety and environmental features increased, which led to more and more sensors, actuators and electronic control units, and then in the 1990s multiplexed networks were introduced to handle the increasing amount of data. But in the autonomous driving era we need a revolution.

Fundamentally, architectures need to get smarter to support the growth in data and complexity of these systems. The additional number of sensors and actuators and the redundancy needed to fulfil the requirements of functional safety cannot be integrated with traditional models, which don’t have the capacity or computing power required to run the vehicle’s complex software algorithms, and whose legacy networking infrastructure cannot support the data transfer speeds of the future. The system would simply be too expensive, too heavy and impossible to package in the existing space. This is holding back time spent educating AI in autonomous cars and innovations that will help develop the next era of connected cars.

The vehicle architecture as we know it needs to evolve to take advantage of cloud connectivity and defined by software to reduce the weight of vehicles and support these new complexities for a more failsafe design.

Data: The brain food for autonomous cars
Smart vehicle architectures need to prioritize data and communication protocols. Big data is vital for developing safer, more intuitive, driverless transport systems that will transform our lives. Before any driverless car can safely navigate on the road, engineers must first train the artificial intelligence algorithms that enable the car to drive itself. Currently, this data is gathered from a variety of sensors around the car, GPS receivers and short-range wireless network interfaces, to monitor its surroundings. These sensors gather data to teach the vehicle different driving scenarios. All data is valuable to help the AI recognize hazardous objects on the road, when to notify the driver of imminent mechanical issues and how to interact with other cars on the road, for example.

The AI enabling autonomous vehicles must be trained on the incredible diversity of situations the vehicle could experience – this is crucial, so they get a human-like view of the world. This requires potentially millions or even billions of hours of driving data to ensure the AI can recognize everything from emergency vehicles, pedestrians and animals running across the road, to construction sites and traffic light systems.

The rule with autonomous mobility is the bigger big data is, the greater the opportunities for autonomous technology to get better to revolutionize driving as we know it today. It’s important to note that these components go hand in hand and cannot be isolated.

The shift to autonomy
As the automotive industry takes a leading position within the Internet of Things, the data generated, compute needs and related challenges (and opportunities) are only going to continue growing. In the time it’s taken you to read this article alone, an autonomous car of today has already gathered at least 45 million pieces of data to feed its AI algorithms.

It’s no doubt that the future of autonomous mobility hinges on a complete overhaul and re-architecture of the nervous system of a vehicle. The future smart vehicle architecture will be one that will deliver a fast, safe and reliable distribution of data and power. The automotive players that achieve this successfully will be the ones that win the race to develop the world’s safest, fully autonomous vehicles.

How big data is driving change in smart vehicle architecture

By Christian Schäfer, director of electrical and electronic Systems, Aptiv

Share. Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Email
Previous ArticleUK government invests US$3.4m in AI-powered VR simulator for autonomous vehicle testing
Next Article Cohda Wireless demonstrates V2X technology in Adelaide’s ‘urban canyon’

Related Posts

Opinion

Deep learning for perception: how deep learning in perception can lead to more robust and accurate ADAS and AV systems

November 5, 202410 Mins Read
Opinion

TNO considers whether self-driving cars are truly ready for the road

October 7, 20244 Mins Read
Opinion

OPINION: Enterprise fleets need to start planning for automated vehicles

September 23, 20244 Mins Read
Latest News

Elektrobit and Metoak partner on SDV safety ecosystem development

May 12, 2025

Hyundai Motor and Plus unveil autonomous hydrogen freight ecosystem concept

May 12, 2025

EXPO NEWS: Opens next week!

May 12, 2025
FREE WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER

Receive breaking stories and features in your inbox each week, for free


Enter your email address:


Our Social Channels
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
Getting in Touch
  • Free Weekly E-Newsletters
  • Meet the Editors
  • Contact Us
  • Media Pack
RELATED UKI TOPICS
  • Automotive Interiors
  • Automotive Testing
  • Automotive Powertrain
  • Professional Motorsport
  • Tire Technology
  • Media Pack
© 2025 UKi Media & Events a division of UKIP Media & Events Ltd
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Notice & Takedown Policy
  • Site FAQs

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.

CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Functional

Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.

Performance

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

Analytics

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

Advertisement

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.

Others

Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.

SAVE & ACCEPT