Promoted content: Connectivity drives reliability in autonomous cars

Abhay Samant, Section Manager, RF and Wireless Communications, National Instruments

Introduction

Emerging wireless and cellular 5G technologies are bringing a new level of connectivity to cars and enabling many applications to support safety, efficiency, and Internet access. Connectivity is a natural complement to other kinds of automotive sensors that are also being integrated in vehicles. Communication allows vehicles to exchange what they see and allows vehicles to expand their sensing range thus making better automated decisions. While state-of-the-art radar and communication technology is quickly making its way to the validation and production test floors, engineers and scientists are actively working on innovative ideas to better understand how automated cars will better interact with non-automated objects on the road, drive synergy between vehicular radar and communications, and design wide bandwidth radars capable of resolving very short distances. To bring these technologies to market, the automotive industry needs to leverage a software-centric platform-based approach that helps accelerate the design, characterization, and test phases.