近日，采埃孚天合集團（ZF TRW）的全新全球技術中心在密歇根州法明頓希爾斯市正式成立。新技術中心內專門設置的“卓越攝像頭實驗室”凸顯了視覺系統技術在ZF TRW的重要地位，也反映了這種技術在自動駕駛系統中扮演的關鍵角色。
主/被動安全技術部、高級駕駛員協助系統（ADAS）業務高級副總裁Brian Loh表示，“隨著我們高級駕駛員輔助系統業務的不斷增長，我們需要進行更大量的開發與測試。在新中心的幫助下，我們現在可以更好地完成這項工作。”
近日，在這所全球電子技術中心的開幕儀式上，Loh與其他幾位技術人員接受了《汽車工程》的采訪。
據了解，這座全球電子技術中心耗資300萬美元打造，占地15,886平方米，擁有超過600名工程師和支持人員。該中心內擁有3,252平方米的實驗空間，可進行射頻、主動安全及被動安全等多種技術產品的研究與測試，其中就包括公司的單鏡與多鏡版S-Cam系列攝像頭。
“目前，該中心正在研發一款適用于TriCam系統的三焦距鏡頭。”Loh說，“這種鏡頭支持近焦、中焦和廣角3個焦距模式，傳感范圍比傳統的單晶攝像頭寬很多。”據了解，TriCam將于2018年中期將進入生產，屆時將登陸一些支持自動駕駛功能的車輛。
ZF TRW光學工程部高級技術專家Mike Babala表示，新中心擁有集團內部唯一一間光學目標實驗室，這可幫助技術專家尋找并校準攝像頭的焦點。
Babala解釋道，“我們核心光學團隊的工作是確保鏡頭前方的一切事物均能在鏡頭后方，也就是圖像中得到準確體現，我們也采用了基于對象的鏡頭。”
該中心內的光學目標室處于一個嚴格控制的環境中，這與公司之前用車庫改建的操作間完全不同。“過去，我們在進行實驗時必須特別小心，不能讓光從門縫或墻壁中滲過來，從而防止眩光的產生，保證實驗的順利進行。”Babala補充說，“新的實驗室對光的控制非常嚴格，不會出現滲光的問題。”
ADAS工程總監Raad Konja表示，我們必須依賴可重復性測試，才能開發真正穩健可靠的攝像系統。他說，“一切都是標準化的，因此我們每次的測試均處于一個變量可控的環境中。光學攝像頭系統主要分為三個部分，鏡頭、成像器以及圖像電子轉化設備，因此我們在進行優化時，只需要對這幾種組件進行調整，然后觀察改變后的組件會給整個系統帶來什么影響。”
在系統開發的過程中，ZF TRW的工程師選擇了四輛歐寶Insignia轎車協助測試，這些測試車均配備了ZF的自動制動與轉向系統。Loh表示，“我們為測試車輛配置了多個長距和短距雷達，以及一個前向攝像頭，這些系統均將遵循公司內部開發的算法相互配合、協同工作。”
按照SAE International國際自動機工程師學會的定義，2級自動駕駛車輛功能應能夠在公路駕駛環境下支持駕駛員的“脫手”操作，也就是說駕駛員不用親自控制方向盤和油門剎車，而且還可以在有需要時啟動自動變道功能。
據了解，ZF TRW的工程師計劃提升這些測試車輛的自動功能，使其滿足SAE對3級或4級自動駕駛技術的定義。Loh說，“我們開始使用更多的復雜傳感器。此外，我們還在Ibeo汽車系統公司持股40%，正在嘗試為車輛搭配固態激光雷達系統。”
在這所新技術中心的揭幕儀式上，在場媒體有幸與ZF TRW產品規劃與汽車系統戰略部總監Andrew Whydell一起進行試駕。據了解，Whydell所在的部門也負責公司自動駕駛方面的活動。
Whydell對車上的媒體表示，“我們展示的技術已經接近量產水平，預計大約將在2018年進入美國的乘用車市場。”此時，Whydell“駕駛”的車輛正在SAE2級自動模式下，行駛在底特律的公路之上。
With its newest work space designated a center of excellence for cameras, ZF TRWunderscores the critical role that vision-systems technology plays in automated driving.
“As our Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) business grows, we need to do a higher volume of development and testing. With this new facility, we’re now much better suited to do that work,” said Brian Loh, Senior Vice President of ADAS in the Active & Passive Safety Technology Division.
Loh and other ZF TRW technologists spoke with Automotive Engineering at the opening of the company’s newly opened $30 million Global Electronics Technical Center in Farmington Hills, MI.
The 171,000 ft2 (15,886 m2) center, staffed by more than 600 engineers and support staff, contains 35,000 ft2 (3252ft 2) of lab space for radio frequency, passive and active safety products, including the company’s S-Cam family of cameras in single- and multiple-lens versions.
“This facility is where the technology is being developed for our TriCam, a tri-focal lens camera with near-, mid-, and fisheye views," Loh said. "With the combination of all three of these lenses, the sensing envelope is much broader than a traditional single lens camera.” The TriCam is slated to enter production in mid-2018 for application on vehicles with automated driving capability.
As the only R&D lab of its kind within ZF TRW, the electronics tech center’s optics-target room enables technical specialists to access a camera’s focus and alignment, according to Mike Babala, Senior Technical Specialist for Optics Engineering.
“Our job in the core optics group is to make sure everything in front of the lens, which is object-based, gets accurately represented behind the lens, which is image space,” Babala explained.
The optics target room is a highly controlled environment, unlike the supplier’s former work space in a converted garage bay. “In the past we had to take special care to be sure that stray light didn’t enter the room from underneath the doors or walls and cause glare on the optic wall targets during measurements,” Babala said, adding, “There’s no stray light in this light-tight lab.”
Raad Konja, Director of ADAS Engineering, said developing a robust and reliable camera system relies on repeatable measurements. “Everything is standardized, so there’s no drift from test to test. The only thing that needs to change are the improvements that we drive into our optical path, which is comprised of a lens, an imager, and the technology that converts the images into electronics,” Konja said.
For the purpose of systems development, the engineers are using four Opel Insignia vehicles equipped with ZF TRW braking and steering. "We’ve added long- and short-range radars and a forward-looking camera with everything cooperatively operating on internally developed algorithms,” Loh said. The cars' SAE Level 2 technologies permit hands-free steering and foot-off pedal control at highway speeds, including lane changes prompted by the driver using the turn indicator.
The roadmap for ZF TRW engineers is to take these R&D cars to SAE Levels 3 and 4 capability. “We’re adding more sophisticated sensors, and now with our 40% stake in Ibeo Automotive Systems GmbH we’re working to add solid-state LiDAR,” Loh said.
Media who attended the new facility's opening were given the opportunity to ride with Andrew Whydell, the company's Director of Product Planning and Strategy for Vehicle Systems, which includes the company’s automated driving activities.
“We’re demonstrating technologies that are close to production, and I would say around 2018 you’ll start to see these technologies in the U.S. on passenger vehicles,” Whydell said while the Insignia was traveling at highway speeds on a metro Detroit expressway in its SAE Level 2 automated mode.
Author: Kami Buchholz
Source: SAE Automotive Engineering Magazine
最近，在ZF TRW舉行的一次技術演示試駕中，公司高級負責人Andrew Whydell正在介紹公司的SAE 2級自動技術。此時，Whydell的手并未握著方向盤，腳也沒有踩在油門剎車上。他說，自動公路駕駛功能“不僅可以免除駕駛員進行長時間駕駛時的疲勞，而且還能通過保持車道和車距，提高車輛的安全性。” 
在ZF TRW全新電子技術中心的專用實驗室中，技術員Mike Babala演示了汽車攝像頭的校準過程，校準的目的是保證鏡頭有效并且準確地聚焦。
在ZF TRW的新電子技術中心中，技術員Matt Warmuth在完成環境測試后，正在檢查一支鏡頭的質量和性能特征。