Vehicle Motion Control System - The technology for autonomous driving

Innovation and modern technologies are changing the way we work and live – and creating new jobs. AI, autonomous driving, and robotics are no longer dreams of the future. They are part of the everyday lives of our engineers and developers. For our #DigiJobs series, we talked to the digital brains at thyssenkrupp and asked them how digitization affects their work.

András Csaba is Functional Project Leader in Research and Advanced Development at the Steering business unit of thyssenkrupp in Hungary. He is responsible for advancing Vehicle Motion Control Systems – digitizing cars and making automated driving a reality.

What is Vehicle Motion Control?

One thing is clear, our cars today are already more intelligent than we may guess - and very different from their predecessors 130 years ago. However, András Csaba and his team take it to yet another level. In highly automated driving, the driver passes a great deal of control to the vehicle. “Intelligent systems handle steering, breaking and acceleration as well as assess environmental factors,” Csaba explains. To ensure driving comfort and safety the systems have to interact perfectly. “We have developed a key interface, which brings together and harmonizes all chassis functions,” the expert continues. It is called the Vehicle Motion Control by thyssenkrupp.

null — Highly automated or autonomous vehicles need many eyes. Laser, radar, GPS and a lot of sensors and cameras take over this task and record all environmental factors. This information is currently being processed at various interfaces in the car, which tell each subsystem - such as brake, damping, steering or drive train - what it has to do. This is where our software experts come in and develop an integrated motion control unit which controls centrally the actuators of the individual components. The results are significantly improved driving dynamics, new safety concepts and the individualization of the whole driving experience.

A must for automated driving

For Csaba, this level of intelligent interaction of components is the basis for automated driving. “Basically, Vehicle Motion Control (VMC) is the ‘central brain’ of a car, which has full control of all chassis actuators”, the automotive expert explains. “But not only does it harmonize and control the individual components, it also establishes redundancies which can cover in the event of an actuator failure.”

Just imagine the car's electric steering suddenly fails. With VMC, brakes could take over and keep the car safely on track. Since all actuators controlled by the VMC can step in if needed, a controlled and safe drive is always ensured, explains Csaba. For car manufacturers and other customers, this optimized redundancy concept, which can balance out failures without losing control, is one of the first advances of the VMC. “But this is just the beginning, as this new concept opens up possibilities which were not realistic before. For example enhancing the skill of the driver, new active safety features as emergency collision avoidance, ESP with much better performance and, of course, full automated driving are all on the list”, Csaba sums up.

Thanks to the Vehicle Motion Control System thyssenkrupp takes another step towards autonomous driving.

Automated driving in the digital age

Why did András Csaba make it his mission to turn automated driving into reality? The automotive expert is convinced: there is no way around New Mobility concepts going forward. “Our cities are overflowing with cars. Traffic jams, pollution and accidents are increasing,” he elaborates. “I think it is just a matter of time when automated driving as well as e-Mobility will outlive the conventional combustion engine.”

In his eyes, the idea of every single person having their car is outdated and not sustainable in light of the growing world population – especially in urban hotspots. “Luckily, many young people already have a different mindset when it comes to mobility. They are becoming much more open to shared mobility concepts and automated public transport”, says Csaba.

The world around us is changing. New technologies disrupt the way we live and work, but at the same time, offer new and more sustainable solutions to many of our issues. For András Csaba, advanced technology is the tool to rethink outdated concepts and make the mobility of tomorrow a reality today. With their knowledge and digital expertise, he and his team are paving the way into a new era – with fewer traffic jams and more safety on our roads.

Find out more on how thyssenkrupp Automotive Technologies shapes the mobility of tomorrow here.