“In the current era of automobiles, hardware homogenization is becoming increasingly serious, so under the trend of ‘software defined cars’, we need to rely on software to build some differentiation.” Recently, at the Magna “Black Technology Comes to Tech Lab” series sharing meeting, Magna powertrain software engineering manager He Song said so.
In fact, the trend of “software defined cars” has continuously refreshed the logic of car manufacturing. By decoupling the functions and controls of vehicles from hardware, software can endow cars with higher flexibility and upgradability.
In He Song’s view, in the future, cars will rely more on software to achieve intelligent cockpit, autonomous driving, vehicle networking, vehicle intelligent control, and entertainment functions, bringing drivers a safer, smarter, and more comfortable driving experience.
Improving the driving performance of the entire vehicle, the software is starting to show off its skills
Image source: Magna (same below)
According to McKinsey’s prediction, the overall value of software in D-class cars (or large passenger cars) is steadily increasing, and it is expected to account for 30% by 2030. He Song believes, “We are facing a new era of automobiles that fully relies on software.”
From the perspective of vehicle powertrain, this trend is becoming increasingly evident in terms of vehicle power and body control.
According to He Song, the field now faces numerous functional and hardware requirements, including active suspension, electric drive systems, aerodynamic systems, etc. However, with so many functions and system requirements, relying solely on heap controllers to implement new functions is no longer applicable. This approach not only leads to the complexity and complexity of wiring harnesses, but also increases the additional requirements for hardware and software.
Therefore, the new electronic/electrical architecture urgently requires higher-level vehicle functions, which can be managed and controlled uniformly through cross domain control. This can greatly reduce dependence on hardware and achieve more standardization.
Improving the driving performance of the entire vehicle, the software is starting to show off its skills
In this process, software plays a crucial role.
To accelerate the speed of software installation and expand the scope of software application, Magna proposed the concept of Software as a Product (SaaP), which fully decouples software and hardware to achieve rapid deployment and application of software.
“Magna has always been committed to decoupling software systems from powertrain structures, and even from controllers, so that our software scope can become wider and achieve rapid deployment,” He Song said.
It is reported that with the support of “SaaP”, the software functions provided by Magna no longer rely on fixed forms of powertrain structures and can adapt to various forms of powertrain architectures, such as hybrid, electric, dual motor, or triple motor. Meanwhile, the software itself is no longer dependent on specific controller hardware, but can be compatible with most existing vehicle hardware, achieving software hardware decoupling.
Improving the driving performance of the entire vehicle, the software is starting to show off its skills
More importantly, based on this concept, Magna’s energy and motion control software can achieve efficient energy management and precise vehicle motion control through advanced data acquisition and software strategies, optimizing the travel experience.
For example, in dangerous conditions such as snow on roads and highways, traffic accidents caused by vehicle loss of control are not uncommon. How to improve the safety of driving on ice and snow roads through precise control of vehicles is increasingly valued. Based on this requirement, the software makes it possible for vehicles to travel quickly, safely, and even continuously drift on icy and snowy roads.
It is reported that the software supports more precise torque vector distribution function. During vehicle operation, the torque of the wheels is constantly dynamically adjusted. When the vehicle needs to turn, different wheels are assigned different positive and negative torques. In certain operating conditions, even at speeds as high as 60 kilometers per hour, the vehicle can still maintain stability. When the vehicle needs to turn, the driver presses the accelerator, and the software can redistribute the driving torque to ensure smooth power connection.
In addition, the software also has an active sideslip angle limitation control function, which relies on algorithms to achieve real-time and accurate calculation and even prediction of the vehicle’s attitude and key information, significantly enhancing the vehicle’s performance without any hardware addition. Even ordinary drivers can achieve professional driving performance with the help of this feature. For example, in certain drifting conditions, the driver does not need to turn the steering wheel back, but the system controls the drifting steering target in real-time based on the angle of the steering wheel.
In addition, the software fully considers safety and dynamic two wheel drive/four-wheel drive switching strategies. It is said to be able to calculate the wheel end torque limit required for safe driving in real time, and combine it with torque distribution based on efficiency considerations to achieve intelligent mode switching.
Improving the driving performance of the entire vehicle, the software is starting to show off its skills
Overall, Magna’s software products include 5 dimensions, covering vehicle inputs, vehicle physical models, vehicle motion control strategies, intelligent execution mechanisms, and actual vehicle performance.
Among them, vehicle input mainly refers to the vehicle information obtained by sensors or buses, such as wheel speed, throttle, and brake information.
Then, it will apply the basic data inputted earlier to an advanced and accurate physical model of the entire vehicle, running in real time and simulating the driving status of the vehicle, especially key information that cannot be directly observed or calculated, such as wheel and body slip angle, road friction coefficient, etc.
Next, the vehicle motion control strategy allocates the torque vector at the wheel end based on vehicle information, driver operation information, and the calculated vehicle attitude information from the physical model, and sends the torque demand value to the executing mechanism, such as the front and rear axle electric drive system, torque distribution system, power disconnect decoupling device, etc. Ultimately achieving excellent performance on the actual vehicle.
He Song stated that in these five dimensions, the vehicle physical model and vehicle motion control strategy play an important role in the entire control system. The combination of these two lays the foundation for the overall handling, safety, and driving performance of the vehicle.
It is reported that Magna can provide a very flexible cooperation model based on the needs of vehicle manufacturers, from single dimensional software applications to complete software solutions.
As for the requirements of relevant applications for vehicle architecture, Feng Yongsheng, a senior expert in Magna powertrain product line management, said that from a system perspective, it can be divided into two situations:
In the first scenario, if the customer’s current vehicle’s hardware system has such capabilities, but this feature has not been developed, then the feature can be directly added to the customer’s vehicle. The main work is in the later stage, which is the calibration and verification of the vehicle software.
Another situation is that if the current hardware system of the entire vehicle does not have such capabilities, it may need to be upgraded and iterated, which requires intervention from the source of the entire vehicle development, equivalent to participating in the design of the powertrain architecture, working together with the customer to develop and jointly develop.
“There are also considerations in terms of electronic and electrical architecture. For example, if we use a traditional distributed architecture, considering the functions of communication, including coordination, we hope to get involved in the early stages of development. This way, we can plan in advance for both the layout of the wiring harness and the coordination of functions. However, if we are developing towards a future architecture, we can intervene later, even in the mass production stage.” He Song added.
