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As transportation becomes more interconnected, Siemens Mobility is making the connection between technologies. Instead of seeing technologies as standalone modules, we view them as parts of greater intermodal solutions. Our ITS team of experienced professionals is developing solutions that span the needs of cities, drivers, commuters, and pedestrians. We connect people with our connected mobility technologies, laying the groundwork for a seamless transportation system. And our work with cities across the country is making sure that important infrastructure components are ready for an ACES-enabled world.
Data plays an important role in the future of mobility. Our Intelligent Traffic Systems (ITS) group has been at the forefront of turning data into solutions since our pioneering work with roadside units (RSUs). Today, ITS is a major stakeholder in U.S. Department of Transportation-funded connected vehicle (CV) projects across the country and our big-data solutions are reshaping the mobility operating system. Offering advanced traffic management systems and traffic controllers, we help to balance an efficient road network, integrated fleet management, and end-user-centric multimodal transportation. Our solutions are making transportation infrastructure more intelligent – capable of predicting and self-correcting mobility challenges in real time.
Real-time adaptive traffic control with predictive capabilities using machine learning to analyze all travel modes to optimize people throughput
Provides a common basis for all applications, allowing the coordinated operation of the function modules for traffic management, traffic control, parking guidance, traffic planning and connection to third-party systems.
Siemens Mobility supplies all elements required for the effective control of urban traffic from a single source. With our hardware and software solutions you benefit from measurably improved traffic flow, reduced traffic emissions and enhanced road safety.
Cooperative systems using vehicles to infrastructure communication to move beyond traffic.
Integration of information, route planning, booking, reservation, ticketing, and payment across different means of transportation
Dynamic express lane management, enforcement solutions for bus lane and speed enforcement
Software & integration to provide priority on the roadway to bikes and transit vehicles
With digitization, Siemens Mobility is enabling mobility operators worldwide to make infrastructure intelligent, increase value sustainably over the entire lifecycle, enhance passenger experience and guarantee availability.
Integration of high-resolution controller data to identify intersection “hot spots” through data analytics.
Stay tune for more information to come Fall 2020!
Performance contracting and energy efficient street lighting solutions
The ITS group is a leader in preparing the country’s infrastructure for a system that will be truly Autonomous, Connected, Electric, and Shared (ACES).
Machine-corrective and machine-assisted technologies have moved beyond lane correction, collision detection, and automated parking and toward real autonomous vehicles (AVs). To support development of these technologies, ITS is turning big data into useful information for self-driving vehicles. Our digital twin technology creates a replicated driver’s view for AV computers that provides high-definition maps of lane geometry and traffic signal countdown and road-sign assistance, supplementing the AV technology already onboard.
CV technology is the first step in preparing mobility infrastructure for the safe and efficient integration of AVs onto our roadways. As a leader in CV technology, ITS has worked on the standardization and interoperability that will make large-scale deployment possible. The next level of connectedness – vehicle to everything (V2X) – is just around the corner with our solutions ready to help it succeed.
As a supplier of the industry’s most flexible and versatile charging solution – the VersiCharge line – Siemens Mobility knows what it takes to keep electric vehicles (EVs) running. Through our ITS Digital Lab, we’ve developed a prediction system for drivers looking to recharge, delivering them information on when and where they can reserve charging bays in advance. The ability to plan when they’ll be able to charge their EVs relieves a major anxiety for drivers and another barrier to widespread EV adoption.
We’re helping shared mobility continue its evolution. It has grown from ride hailing to planning a complete commute that includes moving commuters through the critical first and last miles. Our ongoing research and development of new technologies is designed to help cities integrate all modes of transportation services so they can be managed under one umbrella. We’re helping build a future where a city’s diverse fleet of publicly and privately owned buses, trains, car sharing, bike sharing, and ride-hailing services function together for a seamless commute.
In the automotive industry, several dilemmas are created as advanced vehicle technologies are introduced to realize the trends of tomorrow in automotive: autonomy, connectivity, electrification, and shared mobility (ACES) (figure 1). These trends are not progressing in isolation; they are interconnected, but drive different challenges and aspects of product development.
Electrification and autonomy are driving OEMs and EV startups to develop clean-sheet vehicles and E/E architectures to maximize the profitability of the EVs they sell (McKinsey & Co., 2019). However, this approach comes with challenges at the architecture and vehicle levels (figure 2):
When we look at the more detailed design and implementation requirements of the E/E system for an electric vehicle, three key areas need to be considered. First is the integration of the E/E system with the vehicle body and mechanical components. The mechanical and structural design of the vehicle must account for physical constraints of the E/E system such as wiring bundle diameters, minimum bend radii, and, of course, the battery.
Second are the designed-in safety assurances for the E/E system implementation. To enhance the E/E system safety, electrical engineers investigate signal routing and ensure proper separation between signals that may cause interference. Critical systems also require redundancies to prevent failures from becoming catastrophic. The third key area is the use of simulation to verify the E/E system implementation early and often. Electrical load analysis solutions can help engineers to test the system under various simulated road conditions, such as rapidly alternating battery charging and discharging to simulate stop-and-go traffic.
Finally, the content and complexity of E/E systems is experiencing another step change due to the arrival of automated driving technologies. An autonomous vehicle will need thirty or more additional sensors to perceive its driving environment, and significant new processing power to interpret all of the new sensed data. This will add a significant amount of E/E content, and thus weight and complexity, relative to a non-automated vehicle. For instance, GM found that a self-driving version of the Cruze compact car had forty percent more hardware than a human-driven counterpart.
How are companies responding to these transitions?
As we work with companies across the world grappling with these challenges from electrification and autonomy, we see a number of trends in how the most forward-looking are adapting their approach, processes, and tools for vehicle development. These companies are at the point where today meets tomorrow for E/E systems engineering. Companies on the forefront of this transition share some key characteristics: they have integrated E/E engineering disciplines, accelerated their adoption of automation tools, began virtual verification at the concept stage, and established a cross-domain model-based systems engineering product development approach.
Integrating E/E engineering disciplines early in the design process minimizes late design changes that can delay development, simultaneously incurring cost. These changes commonly surface when integrating systems for the first time in development vehicles. Companies often find that different groups of engineers developing systems in parallel do not always make the same assumptions about system interfaces, data exchange formats, signal scaling, offsets in CAN messages, and more. This is especially common when engineering teams are under-resourced and under significant pressure to deliver hardware for management milestones and to meet imminent start of production (SOP) timescales.
Next, successful companies are automating processes wherever and whenever they can. New entrants into the automotive industry, especially those whose background is in software development, are often the most progressive in this regard. Engineers at these companies possess a cultural expectation to automate everything possible, and thus have experience with implementing such automation in a variety of contexts. Companies used to operating in the safety-driven environment of automotive or aerospace have approached automation with more reservation, but established OEMs are responding to this trend.
Virtual verification at the conceptual stage allows engineers to proceed through the design process knowing that accurate models undergird their actions (figure 3). With accurate models, engineers can make better design decisions and optimize systems more quickly while still achieving the original design intent. Tight integrations between mechanical and electrical designs at this early stage are vital to ensuring systems perform as expected when they are realized in physical vehicles.
Finally, successful organizations are implementing model-based systems-engineering practices to manage the exploding complexity of the many interdependent systems in their vehicles. Already complex systems, such as braking systems, are rapidly becoming more difficult to integrate. Digitally tracing requirements and their realization in electrical system designs is the only way to develop systems of this complexity. As a result, designs have to be driven and managed from the system-level, not just at the start of programmes, but all the way through the programme. Moving forward, this management will need to continue after SOP, as service-oriented architectures enable over-the-air updates to vehicle functionality.
These leading companies, however, still face challenges in the implementation of the advanced engineering methods that will be required to develop next-generation vehicles. In part 2, we will discuss how an integrated and digitalized suite of E/E systems engineering software will be a crucial foundation for these companies to pursue today as they prepare for the vehicles of tomorrow.
