VIEWPOINT | AUTOMATED DRIVING TECHNOLOGY AT TRW AUTOMOTIVE

TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. is best known as an automotive safety company. The company's technologies such as automatic emergency braking, emergency steering assist and active restraints are designed to operate immediately before and during an emergency.

But these features also are key enablers and prerequisites for automated driving, in which the same capabilities become part of "normal" driving, notes Peter Lake, TRW's vice president of sales and business development. He describes the company's capabilities and how the market for self-driving vehicles is likely to develop.

How will automated driving technologies enter the marketplace?

Consumer concern about turning over control of their vehicles to automatic systems is understandable. The transition from today's "hands on the wheel, eyes on the road" driving to automated systems that enable the driver to do other things under certain situations will occur through evolution, not revolution. Systems that enable self-driving vehicles will initially be available in very specific conditions, such as bumper-to-bumper traffic. Their range of capability will then expand as sensors and software are developed to help them address the many situations that are part of the driving experience.

Fully automated driving is still many years away. In the meantime the industry must address consumer concerns about reliability and safety. TRW is at this year's Consumer Electronics Show not only to showcase our technologies, but also to reiterate our commitment to quality and safety in everything we do. Automated driving is no exception. Today, our active and passive safety systems portfolio is the most comprehensive in the industry.

When will consumers become comfortable with self-driving features?

Today about 15% of vehicles worldwide are equipped with some level of driver-assist and partially automated functions. Industry analysts expect this ratio to triple by 2020 as consumers experience and become comfortable with the convenience and enhanced safety provided by such capabilities.

Consumers also will look to legislative and insurance bodies for an endorsement that automated vehicles are safe. Several U.S. states have passed laws that allow automated driving on public roads, but laws that address responsibility and ramifications for self-driving cars have a long way to go.

How is TRW involved?

TRW's passive and active safety systems, which include steering and braking control, are the building blocks for automotive safety. When enabled by sensors (radar/camera) and electronic controls, these same systems become automated to varying degrees.

TRW has developed all these products, and we have been offering such driver-assist functions as adaptive cruise control since 2002 and lane keeping assist since 2007. We will continue to expand our offerings with more hands- and feet-free operations. Two examples are traffic jam and highway driving assist, which will become commercially available by 2016. TRW's long-range product development road map includes fully automated functions such as a "highway chauffeur" system that can automatically accelerate, brake and steer a vehicle on the highway.

How do you integrate these increasingly sophisticated driving systems?

Today's object detection and reaction systems operate within a limited set of scenarios. Their response time is fast (measured in hundreds of milliseconds), but their field of view tends to be narrowly focused on the road ahead. Technology and software improvements will expand the system's view to 360 and enhance its ability to anticipate and react. TRW is right in the middle of this work. We've been writing software and integrating the safety building blocks for decades.

What are the challenges of bringing self-driving technologies to emerging markets?

Adopting new technologies in emerging markets presents a multi-faceted challenge. First, the technology must be affordable for both vehicle manufacturer and consumer. There must be "critical mass" so the cost and price economics work. If you have a product that suits the high-end vehicle segment, it can sometimes take much longer for that same technology to become affordable for the lower economy segments.

Consumer pull also plays a role. Once people are familiar with a technology, they can demand it, and automated driving is very appealing in terms of both safety and convenience. But there is a special challenge in emerging markets to find the most successful intersection of technology and cost. We anticipate government regulation and consumer safety ratings will be the strongest factors in the widespread adoption of automated driving features.

Emerging markets typically follow behind more developed markets by at least one regulatory cycle. But this can accelerate as the benefits of active and passive safety and those of automated driving develop and become recognized as compelling factors in helping to reduce accidents and fatalities, and providing the comfort and convenience of "automation."