Safety-related automotive technology traditionally ranks high in J.D. Power and Associates U.S. Automotive Emerging Technology Study, but safety features began to slip last year and their slide relative to non-safety features accelerated in the 2008 study, just released.

J.D. Power surveyed more than 19,000 U.S. consumers in April to gauge their level of interest in 20 emerging automotive technologies before and after specifying average market prices.

Premium sound and heated/cooled front seats proved more popular than collision mitigation, enhanced adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning systems. Premium sound and heated/cooled seats ranked sixth and seventh before their respective $500 and $700 prices were revealed. They slipped to eighth and twelfth place respectively after their prices were known. Collision mitigation, with an average price of $1,500, dropped from #11 to #17; enhanced adaptive cruise control, priced at $800, held steady in thirteenth place, and lane departure warning, at $500, stepped up from #18 to #14.

J.D. Power defined collision mitigation as an automated safety system that monitors external conditions around the vehicle and uses visual, physical and audible cues to warn the driver of a potential collision before automatically applying the braking system, tightening seat belts and moving the driver’s seat into the optimal crash position. The firm described an enhanced adaptive cruise control system as one able to bring the vehicle to a stop if necessary to avoid a collision.

Satellite and HD radio both gained consumer interest when their prices ($12.95 per-month and $200 respectively) were known. Satellite radio climbed from #14 to #7, while HD jumped from #15 to #6.

Prior to revealing the average market price, consumers said they are either “definitely” or “probably” interested in features as follows:

Blind spot detection 76%, backup assist 74%, navigation system 73%, active cornering headlight system 73%, hybrid-electric capability 72%, premium surround sound 67%, heated/cooled front seats 67%, central control unit 67%, personal assistance safety devices 65%, portable navigation device 65%, collision mitigation system 62%,

remote vehicle diagnostics 61%, enhanced adaptive cruise control 60%, satellite radio 58%, HD radio 57%, wireless connectivity system 57%, in-vehicle Internet 54%, lane departure warning system 46%, rear-seat entertainment system 43%, and clean diesel engine 37%.

The rank order after prices were known was backup assist; active cornering headlight system; wireless connectivity system; blind spot detection; remote vehicle diagnostics; HD radio; satellite radio; a three-way tie among central control unit, premium surround sound and hybrid electric capability; personal assistance safety services; heated/cooled front seats; enhanced adaptive cruise control; a tie among portable navigation device, lane departure warning system, and clean diesel engine; collision mitigation system; navigation system; in-vehicle Internet, and rear-seat entertainment.

Mike Marshall, the firm’s director of automotive emerging technologies, noted that hybrid-electric powertrain technology in vehicles garners high interest among consumers both before and after the average market price ($5,000) is revealed. Consumer interest of 72% before the price is known is considerably higher than 58% reported in the 2005 study. Interest remains high at 46% in the current study after the price is revealed.

“High consumer interest in hybrid-electric powertrain technology may be reflective of not only rising gas prices but also a heightened effort among consumers to be more environmentally conscious,” said Marshall.

“Clean diesel technology, however, garners relatively low interest in comparison. One explanation for this may derive from a lack of education with the technology. Many consumers cannot differentiate between clean diesel and traditional diesel fuel—which in the past had a negative connotation with unpleasant vehicle emissions. As consumers become more educated in the benefits of clean diesel through increased product offers launching later this year, interest in the technology may increase.”

“Wireless connectivity, in particular, makes a considerable jump in the rankings after the average price point of $200 is revealed,” Marshall added. “Consumer interest is likely heightened by the fact that more states may prohibit the use of cell phones while driving. Wireless connectivity will potentially become a necessity rather than a luxury as time goes on.”

Marshall said the rapid acceleration of interest in non-safety features was the biggest surprise in this year’s survey. He attributed relatively low consumer interest in clean diesel technology to lack of awareness and latent misconceptions about diesel technology currently available. He suggested that OEMs planning to launch diesel vehicles would do well to educate potential buyers.

“OEMs also need to start looking at vehicle interiors and infotainment as an extension of a consumer’s lifestyle,” he said. “They need to ask themselves what consumers do – how they are informed and entertained, and how they communicate – and then enable consumers to do those same things when they are in their vehicles while maintaining a safe environment.

“The automotive industry is facing incredible challenges in this regard,” Marshall continued, “and if anything, those challenges are going to get worse due to the speed at which consumer technology is changing. Developers have to move away from a focus on specific devices and look at the functions – information, entertainment and communication – and how to accommodate them.”

Vendors are jockeying for position in a potentially huge market for in-vehicle TV technology. At the National Associated of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas, Qualcomm’s MediaFLO Technologies unit broadcast live streaming television to an SUV, just to prove they could. The MediaFLO platform employs a dedicated mobile broadcast network that, unlike satellite-based TV transmissions, does not require direct line-of-sight, so video quality and signal strength shouldn’t be compromised in crowded metropolitan areas. As its name implies, the platform is based on FLO air interface technology standardized by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA).

Meanwhile, ICO Global Communications’ launched its ICO G1 geosynchronous satellite to cover North America. IMS Research analyst Helena Perslow calls it the first deployment of the DVB-SH (digital video broadcast – satellite service to handhelds) mobile video standard in the U.S.

“DVB-SH is expected to be one of the dominant mobile TV standards, and the one showing the most rapid growth over the next few years,” Perslow said. “In a large and spread-out country such as the U.S., satellite broadcasting may be the key to such mobile video applications as in-car TV.”

ICO expects to start its alpha trials later this year and to launch commercially in 2009. According to Perslow’s report, although in-car broadcast TV till now has not been a significant market in the U.S., such new mobile digital video applications as ICO’s will stimulate tremendous growth in the coming years. “Beginning in 2009, sales of in-car satellite TV receivers will almost double in one year and treble over two years.”

The MathWorks says automotive engineers can now verify compliance with IEC-61508 (safety systems) and The MathWorks Automotive Advisory Board (MAAB) modeling standards within Simulink. At SAE 2008 in Detroit, the company also announced version 2.0 of the MAAB’s Control Algorithm Modeling Guidelines for MATLAB, Simulink and Stateflow, and earlier it noted that the R2008a releases of Simulink and Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder include support for import and export of AUTOSAR Software component descriptions and generation of AUTOSAR compliant production code.

Simulink Verification and Validation software (www.mathworks.com/products/simverification/) version 2.3 automatically evaluates and verifies system models for compliance with those standards as well as with DO-178B. New model-checking features also extend the existing support available within Simulink Verification and Validation for customer-developed modeling guidelines.

Engineering organizations use modeling guidelines as a best practice to improve readability, increase maintainability, and encourage reuse, while guarding against modeling errors. Typically, modeling guidelines are verified through visual inspection of models and related documentation during design reviews. According to The MathWorks, organizations can reduce or eliminate time-consuming and error-prone manual verification by using Simulink Verification and Validation to capture their internal guidelines and automatically check their models.

The Model Advisor also checks for other attributes, such as model consistency and code-generation compatibility. Engineers can use the customization API in Simulink Verification and Validation to develop their own modeling checks, using MATLAB scripts, and register them with Model Advisor for automatic execution.

“Modeling-standards compliance is crucial to the overall development process,” said Jon Friedman, aerospace, defense, and automotive marketing manager at The MathWorks. “Many users already employ Simulink Verification and Validation to check their designs against their own modeling guidelines as a core part of their development process. Now, engineers can use the same tools to ensure that their models meet the DO-178B, IEC-61508, and MAAB standards for data types, diagnostics, code generation, and safety, without having to spend critical staff-hours on repetitive manual review work.”

Information on version 2.0 of the MAAB’s Control Algorithm Modeling Guidelines for MATLAB, Simulink and Stateflow is available at www.mathworks.com/industries/auto/maab.html/. “By leveraging these guidelines and extending them with company- or project-specific rules, automotive engineering teams can build and manage models for specification exchange, simulation, automatic code generation, documentation, and test definition,´Friedman explained. “Teams can generate designs that are reusable, easy to integrate, and consistent with proprietary or industry-standard guidelines.”

AUTOSAR enhancements in the R2008a releases of Simulink and Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder eliminate the need for engineers to introduce new blocksets or tools in order to support AUTOSAR. Software Component descriptions generated by AUTOSAR authoring tools, such as DaVinci Tool Suite from Vector Informatik, can be automatically imported into Simulink to design and implement the functionality of the component. No structural changes to the model are needed. As a result, a single Simulink model can be used as a golden reference throughout the development process for simulation, rapid prototyping, and production code generation in both AUTOSAR and non-AUTOSAR environments.

After the component is modeled and designed, AUTOSAR compliant code can be automatically generated using the newest release of Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder. To validate the generated code and test it against the reference model behavior, software-in-the-loop testing is supported by automatically configuring and generating an interface to the code that routes the simulation data using the AUTOSAR Runtime Environment API calls.

Friedman said that in addition to the component, an updated AUTOSAR Software Component description is automatically generated, enabling the component to be integrated with the AUTOSAR Runtime Environment (RTE) and AUTOSAR Basic Software.

As the number of electronic functions in a vehicle increase, so do the number of electronic control units (ECUs) required. That’s unavoidable in some cases, but in others, it’s possible and beneficial to reduce the total number of ECUs by controlling multiple functions from a single location. To that end, Robert Bosch LLC is developing what it calls a domain control unit (DCU). Kay Stepper, marketing manager for Bosch’s Chassis Systems Control Division, says the DCU is based on a 32-bit, 130nm multi-core microcontroller that’s optimized for advanced safety applications. In its current iteration the DCU will scale to 180MHz and come with up to 4MB of flash with error correction code. It will include a floating point unit, implement AUTOSAR, and include a FlexRay interface as well as CAN and LIN interfaces.

Omron is poised to enter the active safety market with a system that demonstrates sensor fusion. It combines LIDAR-based adaptive cruise control system with camera-based lane departure warning. The firm has configured a demo vehicle – a Mercedes C320 – with a black and white camera and a dashboard display. The CMOS camera displays the road ahead, highlighting the lane markers in red. The dashboard displays two broken lines converging, plus an icon representing a vehicle ahead, when one is present. The Omron system, which operates on a CAN bus, links up with the Mercedes cruise control system, the speed of which can be set in one mile per-hour increments, so a driver can set a comfortable trailing distance. What’s especially cool about the system, however, is the way it nudges a driver with a clear but gentle tug on the wheel in the proper direction – toward the center of the lane – when the vehicle drifts over a lane marker. The haptic signal may not be firm enough to awaken a truly drowsy driver, but Omron also has an internal camera in development.

It’s axiomatic that the sooner a design error is discovered the cheaper it is to fix it, so it makes sense to verify, validate and test early and often.

Jon Friedman, automotive industry marketing manager at The MathWorks, says that many errors originate somewhere between requirements and specifications in the design process, so it follows that verification tools should link requirements documents to specifications and verify that the specification meets the requirements. That’s one of the fundamental principles that underlie The MathWorks new Simulink Design Verifier. Another is the importance of formal – mathematically provable – verification to complement simulation and functional verification in assuring that the requirements on which a model is based are met.

Based on a formal methods engine – Prover Technology’s Prover Plug-in – the Simulink Design Verifier automates test generation and property proving for Simulink and Stateflow models. It generates test cases and counterexamples automatically and performs proofs by using automated mathematical reasoning to explore model execution paths.

Friedman says the Simulink Design Verifier removes the monotony and the heavy lifting from the process of creating test cases to cover all possible usage scenarios and workflows, after which production code can be generated from the verified model using Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder.

For applications like human machine interface and body electronics, the problem facing test engineers is the sheer number of potential inputs and values. There may be a smaller number of variables in safety and powertrain applications, but the margin for error is also less.

What’s been your experience with testing and verification?

STMicroelectronics and Freescale say that since announcing their joint design effort last year they’ve accelerated automotive design activity in the areas of IP development, flash technology alignment and new product definition. They’re applying Power Architecture technology for powertrain, chassis, motor control and body systems and they’ve produced test chips in 90nm embedded flash technology.

Freescale VP Mike McCourt says the pair plan to deliver four new products early next year, and in the next couple of years they expect a “comprehensive roadmap” of scalable MCU designs. Mike reports that customers are interested in the MCU designs that are coming, as well as in the combined product and process capabilities and the dual-sourcing potential. The companies have set up four design centers employing a total of 130 design engineers.

ST VP Marco Maria Monti says that the common MCU architectural platform design facilitates the simultaneous design of multiple products with peripheral sets optimized for specific target applications, translating to faster time-to-market.

As Dr. Phil might ask, how is all of that working for you? Are you using Power Architecture technology and are you among the automotive customers anticipating delivery of samples in Q1? What’s your take on the collaboration?

Like every other product development organization, BMW Group (www.bmwgroup.com) wants to squeeze excess time out of its process and lower its manufacturing costs. As part of that effort, it’s decided to standardize on MSC Software’s (www.mscsoftware.com) MD Nastran, which is multi-discipline (hence the MD) enterprise software for simulation and engineering analysis, including computational fluid dynamics/fluid structure interaction, strength and durability, shock and vibration, and thermal behavior (convection and conduction).

The software, which integrates MSC Nastran, Marc, Dytran and LS-Dyna, is intended to help BMW reduce the number of simulation tools it has to manage as well as to reduce its need for physical prototypes. MD Nastran shares a common data model among various environments – fluid, thermal, structural, etc. – so no time is lost in translation from one to the next. The tighter coupling of simulation environments should also reveal design flaws earlier.

Electronic stability control (ESC) may cost an OEM $300 or more per-vehicle, so how much should the OEM charge the customer for the feature? Nothing, says John Krafcik, vice president of product development and strategic planning at Hyundai Motor America. Hoping to seize the ESC high ground, Hyundai has decided to make the feature standard on models that account for about 70% of its sales in the ’07 model year – upwards of 350,000 vehicles.

Citing research conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Krafcik noted that ESC can reduce the risk of fatal single-vehicle crashes by 56% and fatal multi-vehicle crashes by 32%. According to IIHS, as many as 10,000 fatal accidents could be avoided each year if all vehicles were equipped with ESC. Susan Ferguson, IIHS senior vice president for research, says the Institute’s findings “indicate that ESC should be standard on all vehicles,” and adds, “Very few safety technologies show this kind of large effect in reducing crash deaths.” A researcher at the University of Michigan concurs, suggesting that ESC systems “appear to be the most significant safety advance since seat belts.”

Hyundai is by no means alone in making ESC a standard feature. According to the IIHS, ESC is standard on 40 percent of 2006 passenger vehicle models, including every vehicle from Audi, BMW, Infiniti, Mercedes, and Porsche; however, nine automakers make the technology available on no more than 25% of their models.

ESC technology is available from a handful of suppliers, and there’s not much differentiation among them, according to Krafcik. OEMs must decide where to set the threshold, and whether or not to provide an ESC on/off switch (Hyundai will), or include a buzzer or warning light when the system activates (Hyundai won’t). “The reason that ESC works so well is that it helps a driver do what the driver would do intuitively in an ESC situation,” Krafcik says.

Hyundai’s decision to make ESC technology standard gives the company great economies of scale, according to Krafcik. “If we’d made ESC an option, we’d double our build complexity, yet few dealers would order it because few customers are likely to ask for it,” he says. With ESC a standard feature, however, suppliers can anticipate high volume and price accordingly. Krafcik adds that ESC gives Hyundai’s design engineers more freedom, since they can achieve good limit handling performance without having to compromise for non-ESC models.

Krafcik says that with ESC as a standard feature on its midsize Sonata sedan, he can claim safety leadership positioning against its primary competitors – Toyota Camry and Honda Accord – and still undercut them in price. “Anyone can do what we’re doing, but since they’re not, we see (ESC) as an opportunity for us to lead.” It’s an opportunity he thinks can only last another couple of years by which time stability control is likely to be standard on every vehicle.