2024-01-21 18:53:00
Mobileye Global Inc. (Intel) is an Israeli company owned by Intel that makes chips and systems for advanced driver assistance technology in cars.
India has not been a priority market in the last 25 years. But for the Jerusalem-based auto equipment major, Israel’s most valuable publicly traded company by market capitalization, demand for its next-generation systems chip and sensing and mapping software from India over the past 12 months has seen an unexpected surge. Or order inflows from India have risen almost four times the company’s initial forecast.
The latest is an order from Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd to supply advanced driver assistance technology and plans to jointly work on a fully autonomous driving system for India, Mobileye announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. As automakers in the world’s third-largest car market push advanced driver-assistance technology now as standard on mid-segment sedans and high-trim variants of SUVs, orders from other auto majors from India are also piling up. India ranks as a priority market alongside China in Asia.
Mobileye CEO Amnon Shashua, who announced the company’s new operating system called ‘DXP’ at the recent Last Vegas tech show, pointed out that with the growing interest from India for its latest ADAS features, there is an even more unexpected trend. Demand for Mobileye’s SuperVision suite – its latest generation of driver-assistance, uses surround vision using an array of 11 cameras to provide ‘hands-free’ autonomous capabilities to human-driven vehicles.
Asked whether the response to its premium gear was limited to Mahindra & Mahindra orders, the company said the company’s response in India, considered one of the world’s most challenging driving environments, was more broad-based.
The response we have seen to the demand for ADAS systems in India is generally, not just one customer. We are in the early stages of exploring SuperVision systems for India.
So we still don’t know what the exact need is – but we see huge potential for both security and convenience enhancement,” Justin Hyde, director of communications at Mobileye, told The Indian Express.
ADAS request
India has traditionally not been considered a priority market for ADAS systems considering its notoriously dangerous roads and congested traffic patterns. According to the World Bank, accidents kill and maim 800,000 people annually.
This demand for such systems comes at a time of progressive democratization of autonomous driving tools, with car manufacturers now starting to offer advanced driver assistance systems as standard bells and whistles in their mid-range vehicles.
According to Mahindra & Mahindra, a relatively high percentage of its XUV7OO owners have opted for this system, which includes Lane Keep Assist, Forward Collision Warning, Smart Pilot Assist, Automatic Emergency Braking, Adaptive Cruise Control and Traffic Sign Recognition.
The new Verna, an upgrade over its flagship sedan, has front and rear radars, sensors and a front-facing camera that will allow for ‘Level 2 ADAS’ functionality, meaning it will not only detect obstacles on the road or problems. A warning, but initiate corrective action if the car departs abnormally from the designated lane. The new Kia Sonnet, an entry-level premium SUV, now offers ADAS as part of its feature list on higher variants.
The ADAS package offered by most carmakers includes features such as automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning, blind spot collision warning, blind spot collision-avoidance assist, lane-keeping assist, driver attention alert and adaptive cruise control. and driving comfort.
Honda Cars India also now offers these ADAS features in high-spec variants of its mid-segment sedan City, while Tata Motors offers it in top-spec variants of Harrier and Safari. The kits are traditionally offered with cars with a significantly higher price sticker, including Hyundai’s premium SUV Tucson and sedans and utility vehicles sold by German luxury carmakers such as Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen Group’s Audi.
This progressive trend towards price reduction is being driven by several factors, including increasing demand for safer vehicles among Indian consumers and the government’s drive to increase road safety. Car manufacturers claim that adopting ADAS technology will help improve the overall safety of Indian roads and reduce the number of accidents and fatalities. But ADAS Level 2 is the highest self-driving goal of most carmakers until now, despite lofty promises over the years.
Autopilot modes
There are basically five stages in the evolution of autonomous driving: each stage describes how much responsibility is taken from the driver and two describe how the interface works. Thus, levels range from 0 to 5, and their relative degree of gradualness defines automation. Level 0, “no automation”, is where the car is controlled without any support from a driver assistance system – which is the case for most cars on the road today.
Level 1 driver assistance systems such as Adaptive Lane Assist or Parking Assist are already offered in many top-end cars.
Level 2 is more advanced and includes things like Tesla’s ‘Autopilot’ or BMW’s ‘Personal Copilot’, available only in some models from premium carmakers, such as steering and lane-keeping assist and remote-controlled parking.
Hyundai now offers this with its new Verna and Honda with the new City and Mahindra with the XUV7OO.
Level 3 is where carmakers start getting tough
Level 4 refers to fully automated driving, where the driver can take their hands off the steering wheel for most of the drive. Level 5 is full automation
A car can drive without any human input. Difficulties moving from level 2 to level 5 range from cars running red lights and not recognizing pedestrians to situational problems such as recognizing a bicyclist briefly hiding behind a stopped vehicle.
Read in English : Autonomous driving: How India, an unlikely market, now packs a surprise for ADAS gear makers
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