Earlier this year, the world media were skeptical about how far we were from commercially available fully autonomous Grade 5 cars. For example, Volkswagen's (VW) director of autonomous mobility development, Alex Hitzinger, told The Drive magazine in January that "this may never happen". Elon Musk also softened his previous claims in this regard in the case of Tesla cars. Other tests have shown software errors evaluating video and insufficient datasets.
According to Tomáš Haniš from the Smart Driving Solutions center, it is time to take a different path. "If we want to build a car with a reliable autopilot, it is important to first provide a supporting architecture, such as drive by wire control - a system proven in aviation,forgotten by carmakers ," says researcher and developer who started working at FEE CTU in 2018. after previous experience from Porsche Engineering Services and Rolls-Royce (aerospace division).
Scientists from FEE CTU have been trying to explain the idea, misunderstood even in professional circles, and are now trying to explain it in a new animated video. Drive by wire, or a system where the car's dynamics are completely taken care of by an electronic control unit, is described by the scientists in the video as a forgotten revolution in the automotive industry. "Unlike airplanes, why did cars get stuck in the 19th century state? People are used to cars breaking down, "he said in a comment. The video then explains the importance of drive by wire technology for the safe development of autonomous cars by comparing it: "If you don't have the chassis dynamics under control first, it's as if you want to fit a superbrain on an old tricycle."
Researchers from the Smart Driving Solutions center in Prague also show that the term drive by wire does not mean what Saab, Infiniti or Tesla have tried in the past. None of the commercial vehicles mentioned so far has achieved the concept in the form of 100% control over the dynamics of the car (Full time full authority control layer) so that the driver only determines the direction or speed, and the rest of the tasks, such as independent rotation of all four wheels are given to electronics. The introduction of this technology, although already tested in aviation, would require a real revolution. "Promoting this idea, we often come across rampant car marketing - the very name drive by wire is often just a business sticker, just like anything 'smart' or 'intelligent' in today's cars. However, we are talking about a systematically different approach to driving a car, "says Tomáš Haniš.
The center is located in the building of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Charles Square and consists of an international group of 13 scientists who deal with modeling and simulation, control system design and, last but not least, experimental validation and verification of results. Last year, they established cooperation with leading manufacturers in the field and built 1:10 and 1: 5 scale models at the university. This year, Tomáš Haniš's team set itself the goal of building a functional prototype of a life-size drive by wire. Given the difficulty of explaining the subject, such a car can really benefit in promoting a revolutionary idea.
The new video is available on YouTube here.