FEV autonomous vehicle makes U.S. debut at CES 2018

FEV will be demonstrating many of its smart vehicle technologies for the first time on the streets of Las Vegas during the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2018. The FEV Smart Vehicle Demonstrator vehicle, which serves as a technology and development platform, will be shuttling customers to and from its hospitality suite in the Bellagio Hotel to the Las Vegas Convention Center for the duration of the show. While capable of autonomous operation, the vehicle will be driven by an FEV representative who will explain and demonstrate the integrated technologies. 

The FEV Smart Vehicle targets SAE Level 5 automated driving, as adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation. FEV has been developing the technologies independently, and has now integrated them into the demonstrator vehicle. Extensive use of sensors and interfaces, including radar, GPS, differential GPS, multiple cameras, and LIDAR, allow the vehicle to travel safely without a driver on a designated roadway, reacting to its environment due to the fusion of sensor information. The interfaces themselves were developed to be standard, and thus, modular, with the ability to be swapped out. 

Vehicle driving commands are managed through FEV-developed algorithms comprising three main parts: perception, planning, and decision/action. The vehicle is equipped with two types of embedded controller hardware, allowing for the testing of varying control algorithms.

Communication between the vehicle and its environment, an essential capability, is enabled through vehicle-to-everything (V2X) connections. The FEV-developed intelligent connection unit (iCU) is based on a microserver architecture able to process data and information from a wide variety of inputs. The architecture will also allow for the integration of 5G standards when available.

As with any autonomous vehicle project, cyber security is a primary objective. FEV has been a leader in the development of cyber security technology, specifically its Cyber Security Gateway (CSG). The CSG is linked to the communications bus to detect and prevent malicious attacks, and can also function as a firewall between the external interfaces such as WiFi, Bluetooth, Cellular, and OBDII port and the vehicle bus, to protect the vehicle from these potential cyber security threat entry points.

Finally, the FEV Smart Vehicle will serve as a benchmarking tool for FEV as it relates to the integrated components. With a long history, and arguably the largest automotive benchmarking database in the world, FEV will be able to assist its customers in making the best decisions regarding autonomous vehicle technology and development.