Hitachi Sets Sights on Autonomous Driving with New Techs

The autonomous driving market is poised for growth by 2020, no wonder there is now a tight competition in the automotive world when it comes to the development of cutting-edge autonomous driving technologies. One of these companies is Hitachi Automotive Systems, which seeks to handle everything from around car-sensing to automatic parking.

The systems, premiered at the Japanese supplier’s proving ground in northern Japan last month, also comprise advanced long-range radar for spotting other cars, traffic-sign recognition sensors, automatic steering functions, and an all-new “sailing stop” fuel-saving technology that turns the engine off to let the car coast whenever possible.

Hitachi aims to reposition itself as a key supplier of automotive electronics, which it believes as the underpinning of upcoming safety systems. Its parent, electronics giant Hitachi Ltd., claims it can cover everything from batteries to sensors and offer one-size-fits-all, system-based packages for automotive manufacturers.

To date, the company is turning its focus to autonomous driving technologies as automakers set plans to roll out cars with autonomous capabilities five years from now.

Atsushi Kawabata, Hitachi Automotive’s vice president for R&D, forecasted that the global market for self-driving technologies would escalate to around ¥1 trillion in 2020 from the approximately ¥300 billion in the fiscal year ending March 31. He revealed that Hitachi is aiming at least a 10 percent share of that demand.

“It’s not only inside the car but also in connecting to the cloud system. I don’t think there are many Tier 1 suppliers who have that.” The vice president named Bosch, Continental and Denso as Hitachi Automotive’s key competitors on the global scale.

The new systems bundle several products for improved functionality. Hitachi desires to incorporate its products into systems automotive manufacturers can accept as “fusion” packages. However, the company did not give concrete time frames for delivering self-driving technologies.

A demonstration car fitted with Hitachi’s integrated system featured an array of sensors, including a stereo camera for forward sensing, three millimeter-wave radars and four surround-view cameras. The system also has vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication devices, precision mapping software and actuators to autonomously control the braking, steering and engine. All together, they enable autonomous driving on the highway.

Hitachi also displayed a self-parking system that it will bring to market in 2018. It employs cameras that the firm believes will attain better image recognition for more accurate parking.