National Post (National Edition)
Magna unveils self-driving platform
As automotive suppliers race to develop safe selfdriving technology, Magna
International Inc. is hoping to jump in front by developing a new autonomous driving platform that can be integrated with any vehicle.
The Aurora, Ont.-based company unveiled its Max4 platform in Germany on Thursday, an integrated and scalable autonomous platform that uses a combination of camera, RADAR, LiDAR, and ultrasonic sensors that it says can be paired with any vehicle, without a monstrous roof sensor and a cargo full of technology.
“At the heart of this development is a desire to show the market Magna’s breadth of capabilities and an autonomous driving enabling platform with subsystems that do not compromise the interior and exterior of a vehicle,” Swamy Kotagiri, Magna’s chief technology officer, said in a statement.
“Our focus is on developing production-ready solutions that offer flexibility to integrate and the framework to enable Level 4 technology for when the market is ready.”
Magna says the platform is formed by Level 4 autonomous driving capabilities which, according to the Society of Automotive Engineers, is a high level of automation where the system performs all functions of driving, except for inputting a destination.
One of the innovations of Magna’s Max4 system includes a cruise-control like button that allows drivers to engage the autonomous capabilities, and an option to disengage using the break pedal or an emergency button.
Mohamed Atia, an associate professor at Carleton University’s department of ethics, said the development is a significant step towards standardization of self-driving platforms.
“Every party has specific approaches to develop the self-driving car platform... and we see a lot of difficulties in compatibility, in consistency and many other aspects,” Atia said. “To have this platform standardized is a very big step.”
Magna also said the platform is scalable for highvolume production. The enabler subsystems that make up the platform — including the RADAR, LiDAR, and various cameras — are either fully or nearly production ready.
However, Atia said that while the platform does not include the bulky sensors often seen atop self-driving cars, companies developing such platforms still have a long way to go in terms of making it smaller.
“We’re still far away from having reasonably compact platform hardware,” he said. “We still see the bulky sensors, we still see the highperformance computer devices inside the car which take up a lot of space.”
While Magna provides the self-driving platform, OEMs will be responsible for delivering complete autonomous systems.
Magna said it will demonstrate the technology at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt in September.
The company’s stock jumped 2.18 per cent Thursday, closing at $60.09.
Magna’s announcement comes just a few days after it announced it would expand its existing investment with Innoviz Technologies Ltd., a company that specializes in LiDAR technology which can provide high-definition, real-time images of a vehicle’s surroundings, regardless of lighting weather conditions.
“Magna has proven itself as a pioneer in the field of autonomous driving, and we are honoured to work with the Magna team to help bring smarter and safer LiDAR technology to market,” said Innoviz chief executive Omer Keilaf in a statement.
In July, Magna took another step in its push in the development of self-driving vehicles, teaming up with several partners to test automated driving technology on a 480-kilometre journey from Michigan that crossed the Detroit-Windsor border. Magna tested its Level 3 technology, which the company said was used for 92 per cent of the journey.