Veoneer (incl SEE)13 Jan 2020 18:41
Veoneer: Tackling Automation Anxiety
by Roger Lanctot | Jan 12, 2020
Veoneer’s booth at CES 2020 may have been located in a parking lot at the far end of South Hall but attendees that made the journey to the mini-Smart City in the Platinum Lot were rewarded with one of the most compelling concepts for automated driving. Judging from the fully booked schedule of demos, it appears that many did, indeed, make the journey.
The demonstration space included descriptions of work on applications focused on driver behavior and emotional state in the context of automated driving. It was here that I saw the most compelling concept out of all the conversations and demonstrations I had at CES.
First of all, to understand Veoneer it is important to appreciate that the company was a spinoff of airbag market leader Autoliv. Autoliv's passive safety DNA is reflected in Veoneer' s emphasis on active safety technology. Autoliv will help you survive a crash. Veoneer will help you avoid a crash. At the same time, Veoneer is helping its customers evolve toward automated driving.
Veoneer was touting its third generation learning intelligent vehicle (LIV) at CES. The focus of LIV is to increase collaboration and trust between the driver and the vehicle.
The company is clearly targeting the widely reported consumer anxiety and trepidation associated with autonomous vehicles. To achieve its goals, Veoneer is collaborating itself with suppliers including Seeing Machines, Affectiva, Ericsson, Verizon, Zenuity, and others to better understand driving behavior and decision making. The company set up a private 5G network for its Smart City demonstrations.
A year earlier, at CES 2019, companies such as Ambarella and Affectiva introduced the concept of assessing the emotional state of drivers. Veoneer showed how it is analyzing driver behavior before, during, and after driving to better understand how that emotional state evolves within each moment and over time – and how driving conditions or even time of day or day of week can effect the driver’s emotional state.
The goal, again, is to set the stage for collaboration between the driver and increasingly automated driving systems. Three sample applications demonstrated by Veoneer included night driving – assisted by thermal sensors; a 5G-enabled control tower function – to aid in navigating around unexpected obstacles; and a valet parking application capable of avoiding obstacles on the way to a parking space.
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