DECO: Say Goodbye to the steering wheel, and Say Hello to the SBW
Recently, BAIDU is challenging TESLA and wants to defeat Musk by using ‘vehicles with no steering wheels’, which has made a big splash within the automotive industry.
Apollo RT6
As Baidu’s first mass-produced autonomous driving vehicle, Apollo RT6 has 2 most eye-catching modes: “with and without steering wheel”. According to different travel scenarios, desks, game consoles, etc. can be configured in the cabin to fulfill all the fantasy to future vehicles.
To replace steering wheels’ is more like a technical revolution of mobile lifestyles, adding more possibilities for the autonomous driving moving forward. Actually, in terms of the autonomous driving technology, it is the steering system that can decide whether the steering wheel is needed or not.
Steer-By-Wire System
According to the SAE levels of driving automation, the steering wheel needs to be ready to take over at any time below L3. It means that at this stage, it is still impossible to get rid of the driver's control of the steering wheel. The steering actuator EPS cannot be designed freely when we take the following factors into consideration, such as the installation space, mechanical transfer property, angular transfer characteristics, etc.
When it comes to L4-L5 high-level driving automation, with high-precision control and faster response speed, the Steer-By-Wire (SBW) system that can realize "human-vehicle decoupling" has become a must-option for autonomous driving.
Steer-By-Wire technology transmits driving instructions to the steering system entirely through electric signals, thereby eliminating the direct intervention of the driver and the mechanical structure, bringing us higher steering sensitivity and more convenient installation size.
Key components such as hardware, sensors and motors are all designed with full redundancy. The control signal and working condition information will be verified by dual systems, and data will be interacted periodically. Once the operating system is abnormal, the back-up system will operate within 100ms, realizing the ultimate safety of autonomous driving.
In addition to safety, the cost is another determinant factor to realize commercialization of autonomous driving vehicles.
RT6 dares to say that "the cost of the whole vehicle is only one-tenth of the industry price". The confidence behind it is the mature technical support and complete supply chain of the autonomous driving industry.
As a key component of the fully redundant vehicle system, DECO brought localized solutions of the Steer-By-Wire system in the AutoTech2022 International Automotive technology show.
In the field of Steer-By-Wire system, the market is still dominated by foreign Tier 1 such as Bosch and ZF at this stage, while domestic enterprises can rarely be seen.
Booth of DECO in AutoTech2022
Benefiting from the product portfolio of " All vehicle series, Full scenarios and Full redundancy", DECO occupies a place for domestic brands in the rapidly exploding autonomous driving track with its cutting-edge Steer-By-Wire technology.
Demonstration of L4 Steer-By-Wire system
Currently, DECO has realized both the R&D and mass production of fully redundant intelligent steering system, which can be applied to L2-L4 autonomous driving vehicles.
This steering system adopts six-phase PMSM as the actuator, while the power & communication module, MCU, sensor and MOS drive module are all designed with redundancy.
It can realize high-precision intelligent control and its angle sensing accuracy can reach a leading-edge data of ±0.5 in the industry. At the same time, the two steering modes of autonomous driving and manual intervention can be switched freely, which provides a solid technical guarantee for the safety and comfort of the SBW system.
At present, most domestic steering enterprises focus on the market of C-EPS and P/DP-EPS, while the R-EPS, with largest output force in the world, is rarely involved.
It is disclosed that DECO, as the first domestic steering enterprise for realizing the mass production of R-EPS, has been recognized by a major vehicle manufacturer in the North American market.
DECO’s Vision: “Apply the safe X-By-Wire technology to every vehicle.”
As a founding team from Tianjin University, it is more about the persistence and determination of a group of scientific researchers to technology than chasing the trend of autonomous driving.
Dr. Wang Hao, the CEO of DECO, once said in the live broadcast, "The entrepreneurial process can be summed up in 3 words: hardship, pain and happiness. It is a very happy thing to have a dream in my heart. But the distance between dream and reality requires not only the right time ,place and the people, but also long-term persistence.”
Many people fell in the darkness before dawn, but DECO has been moving forward solidly step by step towards a better and brighter tomorrow.
In 2001, DECO started the R&D of ECU and became the leading domestic enterprise in the field of EPS
In 2011, DECO started the research on the steering system of autonomous driving and provided steering solutions of autonomous driving for many universities and vehicle manufacturers
In 2014, DECO became the NO.1 EPS supplier in the export market
In 2017, DECO focused on the R&D of advanced EPS. L2-L4 products were applied to multiple intelligent transportation service providers
In 2020, DECO became the leading supplier of SBW system of autonomous driving, serving Top 3 e-commerce & takeout Brands in China.
In 2021, R-EPS products were used by multiple leading automobile manufacturers in commercial vehicle field. And EPS with full redundancy were introduced for autonomous driving vehicles, which meets ASIL-D safety standards.
DECO is one of few enterprises who owns the R&D capabilities of the whole industry chain of steering systems, which is the result of the development of technology and scale after the accumulating experience of 20 years.
DECO not only independently develops six-phase PMSM, TAS sensor, redundant control system and mechanical reduction device for the intelligent steering system, but also owns the redundant algorithm for L4 intelligent driving SBW system, as well as the hardware platform for L2-L4 intelligent driving steering system, striving to build the underlying core competitiveness of enterprises with science and technology.
As Li Shufu, chairman of GEELY said, "Only by possessing independent innovation capabilities and fully mastering core technologies can China's auto industry make greater contributions to the world's auto industry and gain the respect of its peers and users around the world."
The arrival of Apollo RT6 is bound to tilt the balance for the competition in the field of autonomous driving between China and the United States.
DECO enhances its own competitive power for the localization of autonomous driving supply chain, showing the world the vision and sense of responsibility of a Chinese enterprise, as well as the rise of a Chinese brand and the strength of the Chinese nation.
