The technology company highlighted many of its innovations under the tagline of “Mobility is the Heartbeat of Life.”
While Continental AG is renowned as among the largest global tyre manufacturers, the technology company is also a leading automotive supplier for tyre and brake technology, vehicle dynamic control, as well as electronic and sensor systems.
CUbE driverless shuttle
Continental is using the CUbE driverless shuttle to test technologies used in in robo-taxis such as ABS, radar, and redundant brake system.
Trial runs of the CUbE have been conducted in global locations like Arvidsjaur in Sweden, Frankfurt in Germany, Auburn Hills in the United States, Shizuoka in Japan, Shanghai in China, and Singapore.
The CUbE (Continental Urban Mobility Experience) is based on a platform used by French driverless vehicle manufacturer EasyMile’s EZ10 autonomous shuttle.
Continental’s radar sensor, which will be used in the EZ10 autonomous shuttle from EasyMile later this year, detects the vehicle’s environment within a radius of up to 200 meters.
This allows the location to be precisely determined and, at the same time, early detection of obstacles and potentially critical situations.
“Driverless vehicles are a revolution, and this revolution will and must take place in evolutionary steps,” said Andree Hohm, director of driverless mobility at Continental.
In Hanover, participants at the Continental TechShow got to sit in the CUbE and experience driverless mobility at the ADAC training track, as the autonomous shuttle moved on a pre-set route, monitored its surroundings for obstructions and braked itself to a standstill.
The CUbE uses sensors such as cameras, radar, and lasers to detect its surroundings, and can generate a 360-degree image of its environment.
Also, Continental has a production-ready MK C1 HAD brake system for highly automated driving and driverless mobility applications.
In autonomous vehicles, the MK C1 one-box brake system has been in series production since 2016 and combines ABS, ESC, and a brake booster as well as a Hydraulic Brake Extension for guaranteed full braking functionality.
Driverless robo-taxis like the CUbE will become an important part of mobility in urban centers, helping to reduce traffic congestion and increase efficiency.
Radar for Right-Turn Assist
Continental also unveiled a new short-range radar using 77 Gigahertz (GHz) technology, which can detect other road users and obstacles much more precisely compared with the 24 GHz range previously used.
Radar systems such as this are used for advanced driver assistance systems such as monitoring the blind spots to the left and right of the vehicle in a horizontal direction, detecting the vehicle surroundings for the Lane Change Assist, monitoring cross-traffic and intersections for the Intersection and Emergency Brake Assist systems.
This prevents, for example, the doors from being opened when another vehicle or a cyclist is approaching from behind.
These radar also works for the Right-Turn Assist system for passenger cars, where it can detect a cyclist approaching from behind the vehicle on the right-hand side.
If the radar sensors detect a cyclist in such a situation, the car brakes automatically and stops before a collision.
This safety function also protects pedestrians and scooter riders.
With this assistance system, Continental offers a technology that will contribute to the realisation of Vision Zero, i.e. zero-accident road traffic.
Meanwhile, cornering assistance systems in trucks will be mandatory across the EU from 2020 onwards.
In Germany alone, 36 percent of all accidents in which a cyclist is killed could be prevented by installing Right-Turn Assist systems in trucks.
Also, Continental’s new 77 GHz short-range radar can be used for Emergency Steer Assist where in a sudden avoidance manoeuvre, the vehicle can be steered automatically away from the collision risk area.
Based on the vehicle surroundings as detected by the system, Emergency Steer Assist knows exactly which other road users are in the vicinity, including their trajectories and speeds, and can adjust the steering accordingly.
