In the lead up to Auto China 2020, the Beijing Motor Show, Mobileye revealed that a new Lynk & Co vehicle based on its Concept EV (electric vehicle) will feature robust driver-assistance features by way of the supplier’s newly christened SuperVision scalable advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS).
The EV, from the premium brand of China-based automaker Geely Auto Group, will feature the premium brand’s CoPilot solution powered by the Mobileye SuperVision surround-view ADAS with over-the-air (OTA) update capabilities. The production-ready system, using Mobileye’s EyeQ5 system-on-chip (SoC), will deliver a new suite of advanced driver-assist features beginning in Fall 2021.
The premium Geely brand was created in 2016 with the goal of “providing a new, premium experience for global consumers,” said An Conghui, Geely Auto Group CEO. To date, the brand has delivered over 300,000 units to customers.
“Our collaboration with Geely is a game-changer for the global automotive industry as it brings our industry-leading surround-vision technology to market in one of the most advanced driver-assistance systems,” said Amnon Shashua, Senior Vice President at Intel and President and CEO of Mobileye, an Intel company. He added that the system will offer high-level driver aids and safety features such as point-to-point highway pilot and traffic-jam assist from the surround-view driver-assistance system kept current with OTA updates.
The collaboration between Geely and Mobileye comes amid growing demand for electric vehicles in China, and the future production-ready Zero Concept EV will present a “new, groundbreaking option” for consumers as China’s EV market rapidly expands.
The SuperVision system enables faster production for OEMs, said Shashua. In a related blog post, he said it is critical to first get the technology right before bringing it to production to enable rapid scaling, and the deal “pays off that philosophy.”
For the SAE Level 2+ EV based on the Zero Concept, he said that Geely will use the supplier’s full-stack, 360-degree camera solution. The system, launching as Mobileye SuperVision, is a direct derivative of the supplier’s autonomous driving program and uses the camera-only portion of its “redundant” sensing suite being developed for Level 4 autonomous vehicles (AVs).
Delivery of such a complex solution in about a year, “just one-third the usual design time, is unprecedented in the automotive industry, said Shashua. He credits meeting such a tight schedule to “the time and effort spent refining and testing our camera-only, self-driving system for our AVs. Because we have remained heads-down in perfecting this technology and are not distracted by various go-to-market schemes.”
The Geely win marks the first time Mobileye will be responsible for the full solution stack—including hardware and software, driving policy, and control. Due to project complexity, the supplier will also provide the multidomain controller. It also marks the first time that an OEM has publicly noted Mobileye’s plan to provide OTA updates to the system after deployment for the car’s lifetime.
The SuperVision solution is based on two Mobileye EyeQ5 SoCs, with seven long-range and four close-range cameras, for a 360-degree surround view. It enables a scalable feature bundle supporting highway hands-free, navigation-based highway-to-highway, arterial, and up to urban hands-free driving. The company is also providing its RSS (responsibility sensitive safety) based driving policy, which helps the vehicle operate safely where lane markings may not be visible and other road users might pose a hazard.
In addition to the Zero Concept EV deal, the two companies announced a high-volume ADAS agreement to equip other Geely Auto Group makes and models with Mobileye vision-sensing technology for features such as automatic emergency braking and lane-keeping assist.
