Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - June 2020 - 12

This requires design teams to remain nimble in order to complete projects that often evolve as the program moves forward. In the current state of prototype
development for autonomous commercial vehicles,
designing in state-of-the art technology is a big challenge. Embedded system suppliers like Kontron are
more used to creating low-volume systems than most
automotive companies.
"Once a company makes a decision to start a project, things reach end of life before they get close to
completion. Some specialized ASICs are only on the
market for a year; you can't get a board designed and
into production in a vehicle in a year," Littlefield said.
"That's a challenge for us, and we're used to that. For
Tier 1s who are used to building hundreds of thousands of units, it has to be very confusing. We have to
Kontron is leveraging its expertise
work with suppliers to create a solution that works."
in high-end embedded systems to
Kontron's military and avionics programs have simiexpand its position in commercial vehicles.
lar problems since it can take years for defense industry planners to go from initial concept to production
for fairly low volumes of end vehicles. Meeting this
All participants in these partnerships can broaden their skill sets.
demand requires a lot of work with a range of compoKontron brings experience in small, lightweight systems that don't connent suppliers. That meshes well with the requiresume much power. Scinteie noted that Kontron engineers are gaining
ments for centralized controllers in autonomous veknowledge in areas like ISO26262 and automotive-grade technologies.
hicles. The synergies between ruggedized embedded
Artificial intelligence (AI) is another area where everyone's learncomputers and the controls used in autonomous veing. Here again, a close synergy between military products and vehicles create an open marketplace for suppliers from
hicle systems is found. In drones and some ground vehicles, systems
various embedded-system environments.
are collecting information from a range of sensors, fusing this data
"We're plowing along in the marketplace, trying to
into a holistic view of the vehicle's surroundings.
help many players throughout the
AI is becoming a popular tool for analyzing senvalue chain," Scinteie said. "We're
sor inputs, determining what objects are, and demaking a lot of white label computciding whether actions need to be taken. Deep
ers that mix devices from Intel,
learning is the primary branch of AI used in autonoNvidia and other microcontroller
mous vehicles, Scinteie noted. From the hardware
suppliers. They're not branded as
side, processing power is a primary requirement for
Kontron products; they're produced
system managers, followed closely by cost as OEMs
by first-tier suppliers and OEMs."
consider volume production.
Many of those products can be found
"They're looking at adding GPUs and acceleraon test vehicles that are now on roads
tors," Scinteie said. "The focus needs to be on low
and test tracks. Kontron is working in
cost, making them more affordable. FPGAs work,
automotive fields including with
but their biggest problem is cost. FPGAs are an
Mark Littlefield, vertical product
Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) providers,
expensive solution."
manager, Kontron America.
gaining knowledge that can be brought
to bear on commercial vehicles.
Keeping apace of rapid advances
Littlefield noted that the opposite
is also true. Military systems will be
Pricing is not always a primary concern given the
able to utilize technologies created by
current stage of autonomous programs; many are
the many commercial firms pouring
still years away from production volumes. Instead of
money into cars, trucks and other
worrying about component prices, one of the major
vehicles. While many military systems
challenges for engineering teams is staying abreast
use complex technologies to meet
of the rapid advances in AI and software. AI techspecialized needs, many military denologies are advancing at a breakneck pace, chalsigns use a number of technologies
lenging even companies like Kontron that focus on
created for gaming, transportation
developing high-performance boards and systems in
and other areas, he said.
fields that demand a lot of customization.

"Some specialized
ASICs are only
on the market
for a year; you
can't get a board
designed and into
production in a
vehicle in a year."

12 June 2020

TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING

BOTH IMAGES: KONTRON

EXECUTIVE VIEWPOINTS

Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - June 2020