VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY ENGINEER
Made in Australia
Australia could look forward to a rebirth of its car industry
Australians Engineering New Auto Careers: VinFast & GM take stock Australia’s New Auto Industry: SAE-A vision for Australian car manufacturing Auto Innovation Centre: New equipment offers more engineering options Intent Aware Motion Planning: Model predictive control in highway merge scenarios
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July 2020 Issue 24 Representing mobility engineers since 1927 www.saea.com.au
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VTE | Contents
Contents July 2020
SEA trucks now heading to production in the Latrobe Valley
10
Australians engineering a new career in automotive
16
Let’s welcome a new modern Australian car industry
18
Engineering services expanding at the Auto Innovation Centre
22
Technical Feature
26
Special Features 16
Australians Engineering a New Career – VinFast and GM
18
Welcome to Your New Australian Car – SAE-A’s vision
22
Auto Innovation Centre – expands its engineering facilities
VTE News 7
Automotive News
9
Bus News
10
Truck News
12
Defence & Aero News
13
General News
14
Overseas News
Society News 4
Notes from the Chair - Welcome from Adrian Feeney
5
SAE-A News
Technical Feature 26
Intent Aware Motion Planning – Predicting other vehicles
Australian Designed & Built A new beginning for auto making in Australia
About the SAE-A SAE-A was founded in 1927 to address the need for further education for all facets surrounding Automotive Engineering, and now encompasses all mobility engineering industries in the Australasian region. The SAE-A is a non-profit organisation that works to serve the needs of its members and to promote the relevance of mobility related technologies to governments, industry and the community in general.
The editor, publisher, printer, the Society of Automotive Engineers – Australasia (SAE-A) and their employees, directors, servants, agents and associated or related entities (Publishing Entities) are not responsible for the accuracy or correctness of the text, pictures or other material comprising the contributions and advertisements contained in this publication or for the consequences of any use made of the products, services and other information referred to in this publication. The Publishing Entities expressly disclaim all liability of whatsoever nature for any consequences arising from the use or reliance on material contained in this publication whether caused to a reader of this publication or otherwise. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the Publishing Entities. The responsibility for the accuracy or correctness of information and other material is that of the individual contributors and the Publishing Entities do not accept responsibility for the accuracy or correctness of information or other material supplied by others. To the extent permissible by law, the Publishing Entities exclude all liability pursuant to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) or other applicable laws arising from statute or common law. Readers should make their own inquiries prior to the use of, or reliance on, any information or other material contained in this publication, and where necessary seek professional advice. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without the written permission of SAE-A is strictly prohibited.
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Introduction | Secretary, CEO and Chairman Society of Automotive Engineers
VTE Published By: Society of Automotive Engineers - Australasia ABN: 95 004 248 604 Address: PO Box 103, Werribee Vic 3030 Phone: 0403 267 166 Email: info@sae-a.com.au Web: www.saea.com.au
Adrian Feeney
Board of Directors:
Secretary, Chair and CEO Society of Automotive Engineers – Australasia
Chairman CEO & Secretary Adrian Feeney Board:
Kin Cheong Greg Shoemark Kate Cousins
Michael Waghorne Peter Dale Noelle Parlier
Membership & Subscriptions Rose De Amicis Email: rose@sae-a.com.au Events Nadine Lawrence Email: events@sae-a.com.au
Magazine Production: Editor Mandy Parry-Jones Trading Terms Media Email: mandypj@optusnet.com.au Mobile: 0409 806 986 Design Brigid Fraser Email: fraseram@optusnet.com.au Mobile: 0413 009 122 Advertising Jill Johnson Jill Johnson Media Email: jj@jilljohnsonmedia.com.au Mobile: 0409 217 624
Dear member, Under the current circumstances we cannot issue a publication without mentioning COVID-19, so let me start by saying that although we are affected by such a disruptive issue, we are doing okay, all things considered. The office and board meetings continue to function via the internet as are many of our activities, including the upcoming Crash Investigation course scheduled to commence Tuesday 14 July. A special thanks to the course convener Dr Shane Richardson for rejigging the course so it will be 100% online over five weeks rather than the usual one week face-to-face. Then we have our biggest challenge, Formula SAE-A. We have taken the only course possible and cancelled the regular event in December but are now proposing an exciting alternative; online static events and a modified track event so that university students are not denied the amazing benefits derived from this highly relevant and critical part of university learnings. We expect to return to normal in 2021, but at least this way we can continue to contribute to students’ educational journey.
The biggest news to report on is how SAE-A has been actively promoting the prospect of automotive manufacturing returning to Australia. A number of press releases has been issued by us on this subject and picked up by some significant media outlets, particularly in the print media. The purpose of this initiative is to encourage Industry and governments to pay heed to what we see as a once in a lifetime opportunity for our industry. We all regret the loss of that part of our lives and by taking this position we sincerely hope the right people make the right decisions this time around. Our proposal is to focus on a small to medium volume vehicle, all electric, partly autonomous and using modern processes and materials, we have the knowledge, we have the skills, all we need is the will. We will continue to press for this to be given the attention it deserves. A special thanks to our board member, Greg Shoemark, a corporate affairs expert of many years’ experience who has led this initiative and by doing so made SAE-A a serious media player.
VTE Industry Partner: Excellerate Australia
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SAE | News
Updates on professional engineers’ registrations As a direct response to feedback in the SAE-A’s Voice of the Customer survey, we are pleased to advise that the past few months have been a busy period in preparing for implementation of Victoria’s Professional Engineers Registration Scheme – but much of the work has been behind the scenes because of the pandemic.
With COVID-19 well and truly established all over the world the SAE-A has joined the whole working community worldwide in revising how events are held. Our events manager Nadine Lawrence has quickly risen to the task and organised a number of online events.
The scheme is still due to come into effect on 1 July 2021, but meetings of the Stakeholder Reference Group (on which SAE-A has a member) have been cancelled and replaced with email communications coordinated by Consumer Affairs Victoria. As SAE-A is also a foundation signatory to the new FISITA initiative to develop a FISITA International Engineers Certificate and an International FISITA Register, we are well placed to ensure these two schemes co-exist harmoniously. It will likely be up to two years after the launch date before the scheme covers automotive engineers, as Consumer Affairs Victoria is planning to roll out the scheme in at least three separate cohorts. The main source of background information from Consumer Affairs is the Engage Victoria website, which has key documents including the presentation slides from the engineers’ information sessions held in December. Before the pandemic, there were plans for consultation forums in the first half of 2020 for the engineering sector and Victorian public to engage directly with Consumer Affairs. Although these plans have been disrupted, public consultation will eventually lead to a Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) to assess the costs and benefits of the regulations. Consumer Affairs will advise on the revised consultation dates after life returns to normal. The Victorian Parliament passed the Professional Engineers Registration Bill in August 2019. The Professional Engineers Registration Act 2019 will require engineers who provide professional services, or who export professional engineering services from Victoria, to be registered. The Victorian Professional Engineers Registration Scheme will begin by registering the following categories of engineers: civil, structural, fire, safety, electrical and mechanical. The scheme has been designed to be extended over time to include other areas of engineering, potentially automotive engineers. The co-regulator model of registration will include assessment entities approved by the Business Licensing Authority (BLA). Consumer Affairs Victoria and the Victorian www.saea.com.au
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Online events are part of our repertoire now
These webinars listed below were available as part of the SAE-A’s affiliation with FISITA, SAE-International and Motorsports Australia, and were free to view. Building Authority will support the BLA. How to stay updated. Visit: https://engage.vic. gov.au/engineers-registration To stay updated on the reforms’ progress, information is also available at Engage Victoria. This will be updated regularly and provide more details on the dates of the consultations. You can also subscribe to receive Professional Engineers Registration Scheme updates.
SAE International is the global leader in technical learning for the mobility industry, supporting the professional growth of thousands of engineers and technical or business professionals worldwide. Through our affiliation with SAE International, you have access to hundreds of online webinars and on-demand online courses for individuals or as private offerings for groups within companies.
NSW passes registration requirements for engineers On 3 June 2020, the NSW Parliament passed the Design and Building Practitioners Bill. The new Act introduces a requirement for professional engineers to be registered to practice without supervision. As per the changes to Victoria’s legislation regarding engineer registrations, the NSW version will cover the same five areas of practice: civil, structural, mechanical, electrical and fire and safety. More areas may be added at a later date.
These webinars were held in May and June:
Although the registration requirements are contained within a law for ‘building practitioners’, they will apply to engineers working in any sector.
• Intelligent Vehicle Dynamics and Controls webinar - 20 May
New South Wales has around 60,000 engineers.
• Adsorbed Natural Gas and Its Automotive Benefits - 21 May
Both Victoria and Queensland already have similar legislation in place. The new laws, set to commence on 1 July 2021, will apply to anyone wishing to provide professional engineering services, unless under the direct supervision of a registered engineer, or if only applying a prescriptive design. And while five areas of engineering practice are initially covered by the Bill, additional areas of engineering might later be added via regulation. For more information about registration contact the SAE-A.
• Electronic Component Sourcing & COVID-19: Important New Research 19 May • The Journey - (a mental wellbeing and support webinar) - 18 & 20 May
• Automotive Electronics: Space Saving Micro Fastening Technology - 20 May
• The Role of Analytics in the Digital Twin 26 May • Producing Optimal High-Speed Images for Automotive and Industrial Engineers - 24 June Furthermore, the Introduction to Crash Investigation and Reconstruction course will be delivered online and was being conducted as this publication went to press. Please contact Nadine Lawrence at events@sae-a.com.au for further information about events or webinars, or to suggest an event of interest to members. VTE | 5
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News | SAE
Online private engineering community opens to members only Another response to member feedback has hit the web. In the recent Voice of the Customer survey, members told us that you wanted “to feel part of an engineering community and be identified within it” and you wanted “networking opportunities with other professionals”, and “updates on important industry trends, legislative rulings and advances in technology” – all of that regardless of geographical location. So, SAE-A has introduced a new online member forum, a space where you can connect and communicate with SAE-A and other society members anytime, anywhere. The SAE-A has been planning this online forum to connect our members across the region, but with the current COVID19 situation, continuing isolation and distancing, it’s even more poignant that we can bring the engineering community together online, when we cannot be together in person. This is a private group, only open to SAE-A members where they can network, discuss topical issues, weigh in on conversations, share knowledge, ask questions and get answers from experts in their fields, post and
SAE-A New Members The SAE-A would like to welcome the following new members: Andrej Bucko Christopher Chappell David Hope Revathi Krishnamoorthy Swapnil Kumar Cham Pan Li Faisal Magableh Richard Oxley Pradeep Kumar Reddy Eric Soriano Mario Turcarelli Lyle Whitfield IEDM (corporate) The SAE-A is where members enjoy many benefits and become a part of the advancement of the mobility and engineering profession across Australasia through the transfer of technical knowledge and skills, and an increased industry network. Individual and corporate memberships are available. More information at http://www.saea.com.au/ membership
seek jobs, plus much more; all that in a safe, secure and supportive environment. This is a platform for your voice to be heard; as such we hope that you enjoy this new initiative and get behind it to bring us all closer together and make us a stronger professional community. All we ask is to please remember it is a professional business forum, so let’s be respectful of each other and demonstrate the behaviour one would expect in such an environment. Become a member, log on via www.facebook. com/groups/SAEAMemberCommunity and follow the prompts. Formula SAE-A Facebook Alongside the private SAE-A engineers’ forum is another SAE-A initiative the online Facebook forum for the Formula SAE-A event. It is particularly important that this forum is open as this year the FSAE-A has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic which has unfortunately closed down the event scheduled for December 2020 at Winton Raceway in Benalla. As you will have read in Adrian Feeney’s
editorial the event for 2020 has been changed to an online static one and a modified track event with more details to follow. One way to stay right up to date is to regularly check the FSAE-A Facebook page which is open to anyone to follow not only to make it simple to access but so that it can be easily read by overseas engineers, students and interested parties. The links to SAE-A pages are: SAE-A open page for all to view is at: www.facebook.com/SAEAustralasia SAE-A engineers’ member community only page is at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ SAEAMemberCommunity Formula SAE-A is at: https://www.facebook.com/ groups/FSAEA
F1 in Schools is virtually existing F1 in Schools is going Virtual for 2020 so there is nothing holding back students from participating in a most exciting STEM challenge designed specifically to build employability skills. Students form teams and follow the Design, Analyse, Make, Test, Race and Review process, the same steps followed in real F1 organisations, as they create their miniature F1 race car. It’s an iterative journey involving research, concept development, then manufacture and test, giving them the skills to help rebuild Australia’s manufacturing sector. F1 in Schools is an open-ended STEM challenge that facilitates crosscurricular learning, builds employability skills and has no upper limit. Students can achieve at a level that fits with their abilities and desires, allowing them the opportunity to go on to compete on a world stage. By utilising the best available industry technology, F1 in Schools facilitates a Life-Long STEM learning journey that leads through from primary to tertiary education and transitioning directly into careers. A range of documents to explain the
process is available from the REA website, there are also documents to explain the concepts underlying STEM education, how to get started with F1 in Schools and the educational outcomes being achieved in schools every day. REA has YouTube and Podcast channels that showcase stories of student success and the perspectives of teachers and industry toward STEM education, and the importance of developing the STEM skills that industry is seeking. For more information visit www.rea.org.au or email contact@rea.org.au
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Auto | News
Hyundai FCEVs for ACT government Hyundai Motor Company Australia (HMCA) has landed the first 20 zero-emissions NEXO Hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) in Australia. They will be deployed by the ACT Government fleet from the third quarter of this year.
The zero emission NEXO SUV is the first hydrogen-powered vehicle to meet Australian Design Rule (ADR) certification and the 20-strong NEXO fleet in the nation’s capital will represent the first use of hydrogen vehicles by any Government in Australia. The SUVs will be deployed in a variety of roles across several ACT Government departments. Canberra’s first 700-bar hydrogen refueling station will provide filling capability for the
fleet and will open in the third quarter of this year, in conjunction with NEXO’s official launch in Australia. It will become the first publicly available hydrogen refuelling station in the country and the only permanent facility of its kind. Hydrogen refuellers in Brisbane and Melbourne are expected to be completed by the end of 2020, with stations also planned for NSW, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.
VW gears up for increased tech training Two thousand apprentice technicians, sales staff and managers will be trained annually at Volkswagen’s new purpose-built facility at Essendon Fields, 18km from Melbourne’s central business district.
The Maben Group has begun work on the 2500 square metre site that will double as Volkswagen and Audi’s regional office with a mezzanine floor to accommodate Volkswagen Financial Services Australia. Built in conjunction with Porsche, the Essendon Fields facility is key to both auto importers’ preparation for e-mobility. Practical completion is scheduled for late October with operational commencement in January 2021. “While there is national concern around the impending skills shortage and the drastic www.saea.com.au
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reduction in apprentice jobs since the advent of COVID- 19, Volkswagen Group Australia remains a key trainer and its network a committed employer of young Australians,” Volkswagen Australia Director of Customer Experience and Marketing Jason Bradshaw said. “Volkswagen Group has long been at the forefront of automotive training. Our technicians are an elite, the most sought after in this industry. That demand will increase as Volkswagen Group begins introducing electric vehicles at every price point. These brands will be at the forefront of EVs.”
Briefs: Mitsubishi Motors Australia (MMAL) has broken ground on its new Australian headquarters in the Adelaide Airport business precinct. Project completion and staff relocation is expected in early 2021. MMAL will this year celebrate its 40th anniversary in Australia and an enduring connection with South Australia, as it has evolved from a manufacturer to importer of vehicles.
Standards Australia has reviewed Australian Standard AS364.1:1988 for automotive repairs terminology: Part 1: Automatic transmission Interested members can purchase a copy of the standard at www.standards.org.au The automotive sector is facing its biggest existential crisis since the 2007-2009 financial crisis with 97% of light vehicle (LV) manufacturing plants in Europe and North America temporarily shut down, according to GlobalData. In Europe and North America estimates show that some 2.5 million light vehicles have been removed from production schedules at a cost of US$77.7bn in lost potential revenue. Of the 173 LV manufacturing plants in Europe and North America 168 called a halt during March and into April. Global LV sales fell 33.8% in May to 4.9 million from 7.5 million a year ago it was boosted by improvements in China’s sales which were 8.1% ahead at 1.94 million. The worst performing regions were South America, down 70% to just over 114,000 units and Europe down 54% to just under 850,000 units.
Eylean has introduced the first software compliant with the International Automotive Task Force (IATF) standards, which serves as guidelines for automotive manufacturers worldwide. The product will introduce KPI tracking, automated auditing, log revision and other tools designed to simplify process management in the automotive industry. Eylean’s new tool is specifically designed to evaluate how the product fulfils the IATF requirements throughout the three development stages: Product Development, Product and Process Validation, and Product and Series Trial. VTE | 7
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News | Auto
Brabham Automotive celebrates two Repairs of years in South Australia advanced Brabham Automotive was introduced to the world on 2 May 2018, with the launch of the components Brabham BT62 at Australia House, London. program for BMW Australia BMW Australia is embarking on a rapid expansion of its accredited national vehicle repair program with a new globally certified training program for BMW technicians in repair work including carbon-fibre and the sophisticated, space-age structural elements involved in the construction of electric vehicles. The training program includes aviationstandard methodologies to ensure the vehicle performs to its highest standard and carries a superior finish. The training program is designed to future proof the work of local professionals in providing knowledge and education in the new generation of automotive design, engineering and construction techniques.
As the company marked its second birthday in the midst of the global COVID-19 crisis, it can reflect on having established a landmark production facility in South Australia. Brabham Automotive is currently Australia’s only OEM.
Koenigsegg, Lotus, Mercedes AMG, Tesla, Volvo, Supercars and the Virgin Formula E racing team.
Brabham Automotive’s recently completed production facility encompasses the engineering, design, manufacture and assembly of parts and vehicles.
The BT62 was launched in 2018 with a 700hp 5.4 litre Brabham naturally aspirated V8, 6-speed racing transmission, extreme lightweight bodywork with 1600kg of downforce wrapped around a chromoly safety cell.
This space also houses Fusion Composites, a lightweight composite division of Fusion Capital that supplies Brabham Automotive with carbonfibre components.
The journey continued with the arrival of the BT62 ‘Competition’ in November 2019. The BT62 Competition is a stripped back, racing version of the, BT62
The Brabham team is growing with experienced team members from McLaren, Aston Martin, Ferrari, General Motors, Jaguar,
The next step on the journey will be the launch of the BT62R, a fully road-compliant version of the BT62.
EV heat pumps out more Facilities available in BMW bodyshops include model-specific computerised body alignment benches to check alignment of vehicle body points, the Kinematic Diagnostic System (KDS) to return suspension geometry to factory tolerances and the Diagnostic Information System (DIS), which can determine in precise detail the extent of vehicle damage before the commencement of work. If you want a bit more BMW, there is a “How I Designed” Youtube series by Frank Stephenson with an instalment of how the BMW X5 was designed you can see it at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=1Uucr8eC9uk Mr Stephenson was also a designer of the BMW Mini, the Ferrari F430i, the Fiat 500 and many other vehicles.
Hyundai and Kia have revealed new details of their heat pump system deployed in Hyundai and Kia’s global electric vehicle (EV) line-up to maximise the all-electric driving range in low temperatures The heat pump maximises the distance the EVs can travel on a single charge, scavenging waste heat to warm the cabin. The technology was first introduced in 2014 on the first-generation Kia Soul EV. Comprising a compressor, evaporator and condenser. The heat pump system has been developed further and the new system scavenges waste heat from an increased number of sources. It now harvests significantly more energy by recycling additional waste heat not only from power electrics (PE) modules (such as drive motors, on-board chargers, and inverters), but
also from the battery pack and slow charger. The system uses the heat generated by these components to vaporise refrigerant from liquid to gas form. High-pressure gas is discharged from the compressor and forced into a condenser to be converted back into a liquid. This process generates additional heat energy that is recovered by the heat pump and used to warm the cabin.
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Bus | News
Custom Bus Group adds another element
Ebusco MoU with UNSW for research and precision manufacturing
Custom Bus Group Bus is taking the development of Zero Emission Buses in Australia seriously. The recently announced Element Electric Bus is being joined by another model, the Element H2. This next step will see the introduction of Hydrogen Fuel cell technology to the Australian bus market and give the Element H2 a daily range in excess of 500km. The bus will share the Element chassis with the incorporation of the Hydrogen fuel cell reducing the number of batteries required for operation. This reduction in batteries will reduce the bus’ overall weight. Custom Bus Group has partnered with global leaders in this technology, this experience in partnership with Custom Bus will ensure the bus is developed to the unique Australian conditions that the market requires. The move will increase the knowledge and skills base of advanced manufacturing that Custom Bus is working to develop in Western Sydney. It is envisaged that the first bus will be released for trials in November 2020. Element Electric Bus is an Australian designed and produced e-bus, assembled by Custom Denning, in St Marys, Western Sydney. It utilises many components already in use by OEM’s throughout Europe, which are tried and proven technologies and will offer consistency
with standardising chargers and connection points: the Element is also a pioneer in terms of battery and electric motor technology. Utilising solid state batteries that are ahead of their time and designed to operate in harsher climates without the need of cooling systems, the expected running time on a full charge is approximately 16 hours (300km) dependent on operation/application. When fully expended, the complete battery charge cycle is expected to take approximately five hours. The batteries are environmentally friendly and provide an economical end of life solution as they do not contain Nickel, Cobalt or any harmful solvents, and can be easily disposed of or recycled. Manufactured on a light, robust, durably designed stainless steel monocoque chassis, the bus incorporates a ZF undercarriage and driveline, and is built to withstand a 25 year dynamic service life.
Ebusco partners with Australian Bus Corporation to engineer buses in Australia Ebusco, a Dutch company working on zero emission electric vehicle technology and smart mobility solutions, has a regional partnership with Australian Bus Corporation, comprising Precision Buses and Bustech, the largest Australian owned bus group in Australasia. “The Australian Bus Corporation and Ebusco initially met at the BIC conference in Canberra, Australia. After an initial discussion between Dan Marks (Director/Owner of Precision Buses and Bustech), Peter Bijvelds (CEO Ebusco) and Michel Maanen (CCO & COO Ebusco)
each party felt that they could offer the other a unique skillset in addressing the needs of the Australasian market,” said Simon Pearce, newly appointed Strategic Director of Asia Pacific. “Ebusco has extensive experience in developing zero emission European quality
UNSW Sydney has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ebusco for research and development of sustainable transport in Australia. Under the terms of the agreement, UNSW students and research experts will have the opportunity to work with Ebusco engineers on diverse subject areas, such as transport planning, energy storage and advanced and precision manufacturing. Students will have access to scholarship programs, industry placements and internships at Ebusco’s operations in the Netherlands, China and Australia. Students and staff will also have opportunities to work directly with Ebusco engineers on the next generation of the company’s electric bus fleets. Professor Ian Gibson, Associate Dean (Industry and Innovation) at UNSW Engineering, said the MoU presents an unsurpassed opportunity to advance UNSW research across multiple engineering disciplines. “This partnership draws on complementary expertise and we hope it will lead to new and more efficient ways of manufacturing electric vehicles in Australia. I am looking forward to seeing the translation of UNSW’s research into commercial outcomes,” Prof Gibson said. buses using European parts, with a F35 inspired carbon fibre design.” Ebusco has delivered over 150 electric buses into Europe with a further 245 electric buses to be delivered in the next 12 months. Australian Bus Corporation, through Precision Buses and Bustech, provides the design, engineering and manufacturing capability and capacity in Australia, supported by a localised supply chain, spare parts warehousing, service, after sales and support. “Our collaboration with Ebusco supports our broader strategy of collaborating with technology partners who wish to expand into Australasia and localise their production to provide economic benefit to the Australian market and create Australian jobs, whilst leveraging territory specific engineering knowhow and capability,” said Christian Reynolds, Group Managing Director of Australian Bus Corporation.
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News | Truck
Nikola’s ambitious plans accelerate Nikola’s merger with VectoIQ will accelerate its plans for vehicle design, breaking ground on a manufacturing plant and kick-starting hydrogen station rollout. Nikola Corp.’s recent merger with VectoIQ is expected to help accelerate the company’s technology and business plans.
before vehicles are ready, or vehicles before infrastructure. So, we’re working on that parallel path.”
“Nikola has ambitious plans,” Elizabeth Fretheim, head of business development said. “We’re focused not only on the vehicles – the Badger, of course we have the semi-trucks, we also have a power sports division but then we’re also trying to resolve that ‘chicken-andegg’ question about putting up infrastructure
The new manufacturing plant is slated to break ground in Coolidge, Arizona on 23 July 2020 according to a June 19 tweet from Nikola founder and executive chairman Trevor Milton. ‘The ceremony will be held there to kick off construction of the plant that will build up to 35,000 zero-emission semi-trucks and create thousands of jobs,” he wrote.
Germany, which has since been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Based on the Iveco S-Way heavy-duty truck, The first units are expected to reach Daimler and the battery-electric Nikola Tre for European customers in 2021. The Tre is the first step was slated to debut in September at toward Nikola’s fuel-cell-electric model, which Volvo to establish markets the IAA 2020 commercial vehicle exhibition in will be available to customers by 2023. joint venture SEA trucks now heading to production for fuel cell in the Latrobe Valley development Daimler Truck and the Volvo Group have signed a preliminary non-binding agreement to establish a new joint venture. The intention is to develop, produce and commercialize fuel cell systems for heavy-duty vehicle applications and other use cases.
SEA electric trucks are now in a consolidation phase according to Joe Di Santo, SEA Electric Sales Director for Australia and New Zealand having moved out of R&D and into production at its Dandenong, Victoria plant.
Daimler will consolidate all its current fuel cell activities in the joint venture. The Volvo Group will acquire 50% in the joint venture for the sum of approximately EUR 0.6 billion on a cash and debt free basis. Volvo Group and Daimler Truck AG will be 50/50 partners in the joint venture, which will operate as an independent and autonomous entity, with Daimler Truck AG and the Volvo Group continuing to be competitors in all other areas of business. Joining forces will decrease development costs for both companies and accelerate the market introduction of fuel cell systems in products used for heavyduty transport and demanding long-haul applications. The common goal is for both companies to offer heavy-duty vehicles with fuel cells for demanding long-haul applications in series production in the second half of the decade. In addition, other automotive and nonautomotive use cases are also part of the new joint venture’s scope. A final agreement is expected by Q3 and closing before year end 2020. All potential transactions are subject to examination and approval by the responsible competition authorities.
The company said that it will be concentrating on streamlining the production process so that its trucks can be built in a three-week timeframe. The company converts diesel trucks to electric power.
notes some minor drift, a matter of couple of months, in the timing as the company continues to work on sourcing and purchasing suitable land and tweaking the agreement.
With around 272 units using the SEA-Drive electric power system built or committed to since the company’s commercial inception in 2017, the company foresees another threefigure year this year and will be looking for four figures by 2022.
Mr Fairweather points out that SEA is “very committed to regional areas” and that the company will run out of space in Dandenong South in early 2021 and the company very much needs to free up assembly space.
SEA-Drives can now be found in a growing list of trucks such as Isuzu, Hino, Iveco, Ford van, Mercedes-Benz and Dennis Eagle vehicles, the latter two for waste-trucks. The company has a presence in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Thailand, South Africa and Israel, and it is also setting up an assembly plant in the Latrobe Valley. SEA Electric president Tony Fairweather
Latrobe Valley Authority (LVA) reports the company has a large back order for vehicles and has employed five staff from Latrobe Valley who are working in their Dandenong facility while the Latrobe Valley operations get up and running. The priority for the company is first to identify and secure a suitable site, and it will be working closely with local council to have this secured by the end of 2019.
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Truck | News
Actros breaking new ground with advanced features Mercedes Benz Actros is breaking new ground with a number of features that are taking it past the realm of motor cars. For a start it is the first truck in Australia to use cameras instead of mirrors – called MirrorCam, which is a new technology that captures vision from cameras mounted on aerodynamic wings and apart from a huge improvement in visibility the cameras also improve fuel efficiency. There are no exterior mirrors on this truck. The camera displays on a 15-inch screen mounted in the cabin on the A-pillars close to where a traditional mirror would be located. Two customisable tablet screens are also located in the cockpit that incorporate soft switches – touch screen switchgear rather than the conventional flick switch. There are 230 different switches available for configuration, all you do is program in the ones you want; you build in what you want to see displayed on the dashboard.
Nikola and Tesla vying for cybertruck sales Nikola Motors announced that they have started to take orders for their Nikola Badger electric cybertruck.
The truck also has Predictive Powertrain Control that uses topographic map data to help anticipate the terrain and select the best shift pattern and engine response. It means the cruise control cuts off just before the top of a hill and allows the truck to coast over the top and then select the right shift to maintain momentum. Another feature is the fifth generation of the Mercedes-Benz Active Brake Assist system which is a radar/camera that can automatically perform emergency braking.
In February, they announced plans for the Nikola Badger with a battery/fuel-cell hybrid powertrain enabling 600 miles of range, 0-60 mph acceleration in 2.9 seconds. Nikola is now taking US$5,000 deposits to reserve the pickup truck, which won’t be unveiled until December. According to Cybertruck Talk, data crowdsourced by more than 18,000 members of the Tesla enthusiast community these are the top 10 countries for Cybertruck orders: 1. United States (76.25%) 2. Canada (10.43%) 3. Australia (3.16%) 4. United Kingdom (1.39%) 5. Norway (1.11%) 6. Germany (1.05%) 7. Sweden (0.83%) 8. Netherlands (0.67%) 9. France (0.44%) 10. Iceland (0.44%)
Hyzon Motors in Australia Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies’ Hyzon Motors is to establish a division in Australia and will set up technical support and management project capabilities for the local and New Zealand markets. It plans to assemble fuel cell trucks in Australia with partner as early as 2022. “We are also considering the options for locating our first fuel cell commercial vehicle integration facility in Australia,” the company said in an online statement.
Emission road-trains with gross weight up to 140 tonnes will be commercialized during 2021 in Australia, surely the ultimate test for fuel cell technology in vehicles.
Tesla hasn’t released pricing for Australia, but expectations are that the entry price may be around A$63,200. The Cybertruck electric ute was revealed in November with variants due to enter production from late 2021. It’s expected to have more than an 800km range, tow about 6300kgs, carry a 1600kg payload and accelerate from 0 to 96km/h in under 2.9 seconds.
Hyzon Motors will be one of the first Hydrogen Fuel Cell heavy vehicle companies in series production, with integration work to start in the USA facility from mid-2020. It will offer trucks from 15 to 40 tonnes in gross vehicle weight, powered by Horizon’s high-performance PEM Fuel Cells. Hyzon will also offer city and coach buses. During 2021, the company plans to bring to market a van platform and light trucks. Zero www.saea.com.au
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News | Defence & Aero
Briefs The Royal Australian Navy has commissioned the final Hobart Class guided missile destroyer, HMAS Sydney. The milestone marks the culmination of the Air Warfare Destroyer program, which sees the complete fleet of Hobart Class Destroyers joining the global Aegis fleet. As the developer of the Aegis system, Lockheed Martin is has continued its legacy as the Combat System Engineering Agent (CSEA) for the US Navy to design, develop, integrate, test and sustain Aegis-equipped ships globally. Researchers have demonstrated a prototype device that uses microwave air plasmas for jet propulsion instead of fossil fuel. The plasma jet was created by compressing air into high pressures and using a microwave to ionize the pressurized air stream. The prototype plasma jet device can lift a 1-kilogram steel ball over a 24-millimeter diameter quartz tube, where the high-pressure air is converted into a plasma jet by passing through a microwave ionization chamber. To scale, the corresponding thrusting pressure is comparable to a commercial airplane jet engine. Lockheed Martin has announced two new key appointments in Australia. Rod Drury is vice president international of Lockheed Martin Space. He will be focusing on delivering growth through the execution of Lockheed Martin Space’s integrated international strategy. Also joining the Space team in Canberra is David Ball, the newly appointed Regional Director Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) for Lockheed Martin Space who will be reporting directly to Mr Drury.
Loyal Wingman presented to RAF A Boeing led Australian industry team has presented the first unmanned Loyal Wingman aircraft to the Royal Australian Air Force, a historic milestone for the company and the Commonwealth.
The aircraft uses artificial intelligence to extend the capabilities of manned and unmanned platforms, and is the first to be designed, engineered and manufactured in Australia in more than 50 years.
System (ATS) being developed for the global defense market.
It is Boeing’s largest investment in an unmanned aircraft outside of the United States.
The aircraft was engineered using a digital twin to model its structures, systems, capabilities and full life-cycle requirements; manufactured with Boeing’s largestever resin-infused single composite piece; and assembled using proven advanced manufacturing processes.
As the first of three prototypes for Australia’s Loyal Wingman Advanced Development Program, the aircraft also serves as the foundation for the Boeing Airpower Teaming
More than 35 members of Australian industry are supporting prototype work across four Australian states.
$270b to go to upgrade Australian defence The Morrison Government will invest $270 billion over the next 10 years to upgrade the capability and potency of the Australian Defence Force. The Australian International Airshow and Aerospace & Defence Exposition (AVALON 2021), originally scheduled for 23-28 February at Avalon, Victoria will be deferred to later in 2021, with timings in November being considered. Dates will be announced at a later time. NASA engineers are developing innovative new materials that can be used to manufacture better parts for aircraft engines and related systems. One of these materials is Silicon Carbide (SiC) FibreReinforced SiC Ceramic Matrix Composites (SiC/ SiC CMCs). This lightweight and reusable fibre material is ideal for high performance machinery, like aircraft engines, operating for extended periods of time in punishing conditions. SiC fibres can withstand up to 2700 degrees Fahrenheit and are strong enough to last months, or even years, between maintenance cycles.
In its 2020 Defence Strategic Update, the Morrison Government signalled a key change in Australia’s defence posture, as it prioritises the Indo-Pacific region. The update provides a new plan to tackle Australia’s defence challenges while increasing investment and personnel across the entire ADF. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Strategic Update would also mean more job opportunities as Australia’s increasingly capable and sovereign defence industry grows. “More broadly, we are ensuring Defence has more durable supply chains, while further strengthening Australia’s sovereign defence industry to create more high-tech Australian jobs and enhance the ADF’s self-reliance,” Prime Minister Morrison said. Australia’s defence industry is growing with
more than 4000 businesses employing approximately 30,000 staff. An additional 11,000 Australian companies directly benefit from Defence investment and, when further downstream suppliers are included, the benefits flow to approximately 70,000 workers. The long-term implications for Defence capability and force structure are outlined in the 2020 Force Structure Plan, which has also been released. The 2020 Defence Strategic Update and 2020 Force Structure Plan are available at https://www.Defence.gov.au/StrategicUpdate-2020/
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General | News
International Women in Engineering Day In June we celebrated International Women in Engineering Day, unfortunately overshadowed by Coronavirus. This global event aims to highlight the amazing work done by women in the profession, and although it was marked for the first time just six years ago, engineering has benefited from the contributions of women for millennia. Even so, the engineering profession continues to be a male-dominated one. In 2018, women made up only 14.6 percent of engineers, and 18 percent of the students commencing engineering courses. These numbers are growing, albeit slowly, but history shows that women have always contributed to STEM fields, even when the forces of discrimination and institutional sexism have sought to keep them out. To celebrate this year’s International Women in Engineering Day, Ford highlighted some of the inspirational stories behind its exceptional female engineers from around the world. So it conducted interviews with a few, providing these women with an outlet to tell their stories. The theme for this year’s International Women in Engineering Day was “Shape the World,”
The finalists for Australia’s prestigious manufacturing awards have been announced.
which is something these women share with one of Ford’s early female engineers, Damyanti Gupta. In 1967, Ms Gupta was a trailblazer after she graduated with a master’s degree in engineering and was hired at Ford Motor Company headquarters in Dearborn. On International Women In Engineering Day McLaren celebrated a selection of women at McLaren Racing who also worked on the VentilatorChallenge UK (VCUK) consortium project – a collective of UK-based Formula 1 teams, engine manufacturers and their respective technology arms – who worked to answer the UK Government’s calls for additional ventilators in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Bosch invests $17m in new Clayton facility Construction of a new facility for Bosch’s Manufacturing Solutions and Rexroth businesses is underway, the company will invest $17 million on the new facility.
On completion, this will see the end of a fiveyear project to consolidate all of Bosch’s Victorian businesses to its 12-hectare Clayton site.
industrial space and workshops, 896 sqm of offices, amenities and laboratories, and a further 833 sqm for truck and service areas, as well as 74 additional car parking spaces.
Bosch’s history of manufacturing at this site dates back to the 1950s, when it established a plant to support a growing local automotive manufacturing industry – VW was manufacturing cars across the road, later that plant become the Nissan plant.
With the support of the Victorian Government, the new building brings with it a commitment to create at least 35 new jobs over the next four years.
The new building will comprise 4156 sqm of www.saea.com.au
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Finalists for manufacturing Endeavour Awards
Construction of the new facility is expected to be completed by October 2020.
The Endeavour Awards 2020, now in its 17th year, sees a high calibre of entrants representing Australia in an international capacity with innovative ideas, new technologies and the best in supply chain strategies. Despite the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, this year’s finalists showcase what Australia has to offer the world in manufacturing. All nominations for the 2020 Endeavour Awards are automatically entered into the Manufacturer of the Year Award. No awards presentation night will held in 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Here are all the finalists for the 2020 Endeavour Awards: • Mexx Engineering Pty Ltd • Titomic • Orica Mining Services • OLEOLOGY • Special Patterns • Centre for Infrastructure Engineering – Western Sydney University • Mexx Engineering Pty Ltd • Tyre Stewardship Australia & Flexiroc Australia • CSIRO • Successful Endeavours • Lithium Australia NL • Black Sky Aerospace • NISKA Retail Robotics • Helitak Fire Fighting Equipment • REDARC • Saferoads • Pilz Australia & New Zealand • PRM Engineering Services • Liquip • APR.Intern – Australian Postgraduate Research Intern • Asaleo Care • Supashock • APS Industrial • ANCA • DECO Australia • Jehbco Silicones • Noja Power • Flexicon • Accumulatos VTE | 13
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News | Overseas
What’s the Motive? It’s a gullwing AV prototype from Gordon Murray Design, Delta Motorsport and itMoves that claims to “break the mould for future mobility development”. Mobility “pods” regularly pop up and the latest is a quadricycle prototype called MOTIV, claimed by its creators to “break the mould for future mobility development.” The pod is a small-footprint vehicle platform designed to operate under SAE Level 5 autonomy “when paired with driverless technologies from an autonomous partner.” Mike Brown, GMD’s advanced products director, said that the MOTIV development
Briefs CEO Markus Duesmann after becoming Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi, will realign brand’s development division with a special focus on process quality. He will be supported by a Chief Operating Officer, who will coordinate the day-today business of the development engineers, and a Chief Transition Architect, who will organize the realignment of the Technical development at Audi. The next steps that are to modernize the structure of the Technical Development division.
team had successfully addressed several key factors. It had to be electric, clean from both urban and city perspectives, exceptionally compact and light, able to carry multiple occupants or up to 1,100 litres of goods and help traffic flow. Fulfilling European M1 crash regulations was also very high on the list. The pod, which has a single gullwing door, uses GMD’s flexible architecture (iStream Superlight) technology.
100-km maximum range from its 13.8-kWh usable (17.3- kWh total) battery and 20-kW motor driving a single-speed transmission.
The prototype had a Delta Motorsport battery and drive-by-wire dedicated vehicle control architecture that operates the steering, propulsion and braking systems. It has a
Performance figures supplied by GMD include a top speed of 65 km/h. Front suspension includes MacPherson struts, with an “i-link” setup at the rear.
RACEform aluminium The longstanding competition between steel and aluminium for high-volume vehicle production is set to literally heat up.
Bombardier Transportation is to build and deliver regional commuter and intracity transit trains with comprehensive maintenance services for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut semi-highspeed rail corridor under Phase 1 of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS). The project scope involves supplying 30 regional commuter trainsets of six cars each and 10 intracity mass transit trainsets of three cars each, together with 15 years of rolling stock maintenance.
Honda’s next-gen EVs will be based on a GM architecture and powered by its new Ultium battery design and jointly developed by the two companies but will be “based on GM’s highly flexible global EV platform”. Honda will execute exterior design and interiors of two Honda badged EVs. Sales of the Honda EVs are to begin in 2024. The two companies have an extensive history of technology-sharing agreements and currently are jointly involved in research and development of hydrogen fuel-cell systems. The two companies confirmed that it “will be manufactured at GM plants in North America,” but did not specifically name the Detroit-Hamtramck plant as the likely site.
Called RACEform, the project will validate Impression Technologies’ Hot Form Quench (HFQ) process for the mass production of complex aluminium components and structures.
process for high-volume structural applications.
HFQ’s promise to enable more-extensive use of aluminium promises to save both weight and cost while potentially signalling new design and manufacturing opportunities.
The technology is already embraced by OEMs including Aston Martin (for the DB 11) and Lotus, with others working on projects globally
The process is all about the use of deepdrawn, complex aluminium components and structures manufactured from highstrength, ultra-high strength and recycled aluminium, delivering up to 20% weight reduction compared with some conventionally pressed aluminium grades. The RACEform (Rapid Aluminium CostEffective Forming), project with financial support from the UK government-backed Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), involves a joint industry and academia group working together to validate the HFQ components and parts design and manufacturing
HFQ applications would include massproduction body-in-white (BIW) and chassis assemblies – particularly for EVs and SUVs.
The HFQ process also is claimed to help aluminium compete with steel on affordability. In addition to vehicle A and B-pillars, potential examples of parts integration include front headers, dashboard panels, sills, battery enclosures, door inners, door intrusion and bumper beams, chassis components and seat structures. HFQ Technology enables investment reduction thanks to deletion of multiple forming tools and reduced parts count, which also drives assembly savings. The process is sufficiently rapid to meet the cycle times required for lowcost, high-volume manufacturing.
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Feature | Australian Auto Engineers
Australians engineering a new career in automotive A hooded figure with a scythe stood in front of parliament house in Canberra in late June, it was Bob Katter bemoaning the death of the Australian car manufacturing industry, there in his black cloak he held a press conference to discuss his motion to support the re-establishment of an Australian car manufacturing industry. The SAE-A also supports the re-establishment of an Australian car manufacturing industry, but it may not be quite the same vision as Mr Katter’s, the SAE-A’s vision is spelt out very concisely in the following pages of this VTE issue. On these pages we will look at where some of our best engineering talent has gone – most recently after the departure of Holden, but before that with local manufacturing shutting at Holden, Toyota, Ford and Mitsubishi, and even before that when Nissan pulled up stumps at Clayton, Victoria. The last remnants of Holden’s globally recognised engineering and design divisions are winding up over the next weeks with the remaining 100 Holden engineers, currently employed at the Lang Lang proving ground in South Gippsland, Victoria, to depart during August. Lang Lang is currently for sale, but no one as yet has put up their hand with enough cash to buy it. It had been reported that both Lindsay Fox and VinFast had shown interest but all has gone very quiet since early June. A number of engineers have found work with other car makers and component suppliers, including several moving to the newly established VinFast technical centre (ATI2) in Melbourne, and some having made the move overseas to GM in the US.
of the Camaro, G8 and Commodore updates including the first LPG Engine. From there she moved to platform calibration then became a design release engineer. She worked in active safety specifically front camera module, side blind zone radar and park assist before making the move to US in 2015. Ms Lewis is still working with a lot of ex-Holden engineers possibly around 50 but she said it is hard to tell as GM is so big. GM is a lot bigger than Holden which means there is a lot more happening. More programs, more vehicles and the sheer number of people she said. When she first moved to GM, she started work on the new electrical architecture that was only launched this year. That meant she was seeing a side of GM that engineers at Holden were never really exposed to. The very start of an architecture rather than just the start of a vehicle program. Now Ms Lewis has ex Holden colleagues all over GM and commented that a lot of her American colleagues often say there are Aussies everywhere.
Ms Lewis said that she and her fellow exHolden engineers were chosen based on their skills in specific areas, and their experience. Additionally, Holden engineers offer a different aspect on how things are done, which really makes them stand out. To make the move to the US there had to be a team that ‘wanted’ the engineer; as you can imagine the relocation costs were significant, so GM needed to make sure the right people were chosen. Fortunately, Ms Lewis had worked a lot with people in active safety at GM and was told she was chosen for her attitude to doing things right the first time and making sure that she knew what she was doing and not relying on others to do it for her. Over in the US the car industry is vast compared with Australia, so the opportunities are there and in many fields that simply were not available here. For Ms Lewis, the most exciting thing is that she gets to work in a space that she loves and that is just moving so quickly. Active safety really is a focus at the moment so being at the
Holden engineers at General Motors Jacqui Lewis Program Engineering Manager – Active Safety, is one Australian ex-Holden engineer who moved to the US to join GM, her move came in 2015 after starting with Holden in 2006. She initially started at Holden in warranty engineering specifically in electrical right before the VE launch she told VTE magazine. And she stayed there for almost two years before joining the electrical engineering team in a group called Buyout. In this role she worked in pre-production operations overseeing the electrical aspects of pre productions builds 16 | July 2020
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Australian Auto Engineers | Feature
forefront of that for GM is both exciting and important. She said she has moved around within active safety where she was part of the team working on a new radar for the new electrical architecture. After that role she moved into a more leadership role where she worked closely with program teams on feature rollout. This was an extremely important role as she had to learn how to balance risk – how many programs would get a new feature in its first model year, make sure the features we were working and meeting customer needs. It also meant meeting the company’s marketing needs and ensuring they were being delivered at a cost that meant customers could have the feature and realize the safety benefits. Ms Lewis has now moved into a people management role, working in a role that was created for her where she is expanding on the feature rollout experience by adding the business side and being more strategic. She is responsible for creating future strategies in the space and getting these approved by senior leaders for global support. Just recently her strategy was shared with leaders all the way up to Mary Barra (Mary Barra is the chairman and CEO of General Motors and the first female CEO of a major automaker). She said that to her this shows that the work she is doing is critical to GM’s future when it is getting attention all the way to the top. And for her that is so exciting and really fuels her passion
Holden engineers at VinFast On 11 June 2020, VinFast officially opened its office in Melbourne (Australia) where the company aims to research and develop new car models and lay the foundation for VinFast’s international expansion as it realises its vision of becoming a global brand in the future. However, the company first set up an office in the Port Melbourne location late in 2019, before GM motors announced its decision to leave. It chose the location to be near Monash
VinFast manufacturing plant, Vietnam
University’s large-scale research centres for R&D activities. VinFast Australia has nearly 100 employees who are industry experts and engineers enticed from the world’s leading automakers such as Holden, Toyota and Ford. Vinfast has a host of ex-GM and Holden employees in senior roles such as Jim DeLuca (Deputy CEO VinFast), Dave Lyon (director of design VinFast), Kevin Yardley (head ATI2 VinFast), Joe Sawyer (director chassis and powertrain VinFast) and Shaun Calvert (VinFast global vice president manufacturing and engineering). The Automotive Technology Institute 2 (ATI2) – VinFast speak for its Australian R&D operation – is headed by Kevin Yardley, who held senior management roles at GM Holden for 20 years. We spoke with NamLong Nguyen of VinFast in Vietnam and asked him to elaborate on the mix of engineers working at VinFast. “It’s a mix since we have various engineers that are ex Holden, then some had moved to Ford or Toyota or Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), and then moved to us at VinFast. So, their brand origin is not really as important as choosing our employees based on their experience and qualifications which fit our culture, plan and requirements,” Mr Nguyen said. “We have been very fortunate that we can select the best engineers from the Australian industry, and they bring with them a mixed “brand” culture which works well. “We can trade off the way Holden would execute something versus the way JLR, or Toyota would execute something. From this, we can create the VinFast way of execution, by taking the best pieces.” All together – that’s overseas and in Australia, the company employs around 1000 engineering staff. And Mr Nguyen said that the company is ramping up its operations and so more engineers will be required in the future in Australia as well as in Hanoi, Vietnam where the company has its manufacturing plant. Australian engineers are a good source of talent.
Jim DeLuca (Deputy CEO VinFast) www.saea.com.au
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“The local Australian industry is well known
for developing global cars for Europe, US and Asia,” Mr Nguyen said. “As a result of the demise of the Australian auto industry we were aware there would be plenty of talented engineers looking for automotive work. So, it was a logical step to tap into the resource base.” The company has already developed the Lux A2.0 sedan and Lux SA2.0 SUV. These are the first of many cars planned for overseas markets, which potentially include Australia. According to VinFast, the cars incorporate Italian design and German engineering by using a BMW platform and engines, and the two models will go head-to-head with Toyota’s Camry and Fortuner in the Vietnamese market. Australia was ripe for the picking when it came to engineers. “This step has been a carefully executed strategy by VinFast to take advantage of the recent loss of the Australian automotive industry. Currently all the talent, expertise and facilities are still intact in Melbourne and conditions are ripe for the picking,” Mr Nguyen said. “Melbourne has been the home to automotive manufacturers for decades including Toyota, Ford and GM. The supplier base and supply chains are still largely intact and it’s no coincidence that these manufacturers were all based in Melbourne. Port Melbourne in particular is based around a port where shipping and freight is within easy reach. “This area is also being developed as an innovation hub for Australia. Holden’s engine and vehicle plants were able to ship product directly out the door and into shipping containers for global export. “Several proving grounds are within 90 minutes of Port Melbourne enabling full vehicle testing and development within easy reach of the city, even for daily commutes.” One of those testing facilities is Holden’s Lang Lang proving ground, and Mr Nguyen would not elaborate on whether the company had any plans to purchase it or any other of Holden’s facilities but what he did say was: “Stay tuned. We have exciting plans for Australia.” VTE | 17
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Feature | A new Australia Car Industry
Let’s welcome a new modern Australian car industry A few years ago, we bid a fond farewell to the car industry in Australia and most recently a fond farewell to an industry icon in Holden but that should not be the end of the story, it should really be the beginning. We should be welcoming a new era with an electric autonomous, composite, modular vehicle and the Society of Automotive Engineers – Australasia (SAE-A) was ready to get behind such a proposal. This is especially timely in the era of COVID-19 when it has become obvious that we rely too heavily on overseas manufacturing in all areas. And it could be a global platform. Australia must preserve the engineering expertise built up by Holden and other Australian car company engineers over the years. “These engineers are a priceless brains trust that could launch right into a new automotive venture such as the electric police car project SAE-A announced this week,” SAE-A Chairman and CEO Adrian Feeney said. “I call on federal and state governments to support our feasibility study to get this project going, and to save our engineering brains trust while we still have it. “The Federal Government has shown its willingness to support automotive initiatives with the recent Automotive Innovation Lab Access Grants administered by the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Karen Andrews. “Added to that, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg are clearly committed to rebuilding our post-COVID economy, and the car industry can be part of that.” Mr Feeney said the SAE-A electric police car project had generated strong support from Australian automotive suppliers, from vehicle design to complete electric powertrains. “All it needs is the political will and modest financial support to do a feasibility study and harness all the diverse capabilities we have on our doorstep,” he said.
“The Holden engineers are a world class team, but their knowledge will soon be dissipated as they seek new jobs in other industries and other countries. “SAE-A is ready to ramp up the police car project – all we need is a small amount of funding to make it happen, and we can have some solid answers within six months. “With the government focused on building a clever, self-sufficient post-COVID Australia, we hope the Holden shutdown might be a catalyst for the start of something special, instead of the end.” SAE-A Chairman and CEO Adrian Feeney said a global car would energise Australia’s automotive sector homing in on uniquely Australian engineering and manufacturing strengths. “COVID-19 has shown the importance of car manufacturing, and we propose to start with a car that no other country could build,” he said. “We would design it at the cutting edge of near-horizon technology, and we would build it in the medium volumes which Australia has always excelled in.
Australia’s car industry is ready for an electric future What would it look like? It would be electric, substantially autonomous, built of advanced composites and made in a total volume of 50,000 to 100,000 per year. “It would be a modular family of specialist vehicles for world markets – imagine a police car, an ambulance, perhaps even a light military vehicle all off the same platform,” Mr Feeney said. The key to a reborn Australian car industry is to make the most of what our car and component manufacturers have always done better than others.
“We have always achieved more with less – more performance, greater strength and value for money, with smaller budgets, fewer engineers, and tighter economies of scale,” he said. “We still have the core engineering and manufacturing skills here, and if we have learnt anything from this current situation, it is imperative that we do it and do it now.” “First to join our group is Delineate, a transportation design company whose clients include Tesla, Google, Honda, Ford and Nissan,” he said. “Delineate has given us our initial inspiration – a blue-sky imagining of what a 21st century police car might look like – as a first step towards a commercially viable real-world vehicle.” Mr Feeney proposed a process similar to that which produced the aXcess Australia concept cars 20 years ago – two aspirational cars that generated billions of dollars of export sales. He said those cars had drawn on more than 130 Australian component manufacturers, and quite a few of those manufacturers were still in business. “For example, the first car was made of advanced composites such as Kevlar, and right now in Australia we build cars with even more advanced Kevlar-carbon fibre panels,” he said. The second aXcess Australia car, the LEVE, was one of the first hybrid electric cars to be designed and built in the world and it
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A new Australia Car Industry | Feature
preceded Toyota’s entry with the Prius. It was a pioneering exercise in new the use of new technologies. “And then there’s the legendary Aussie toughness – the history of our car industry overflows with stories of European and Japanese engineers being stunned by the strength of our cars.” Mr Feeney said Australia’s car industry had long enjoyed medium-volume manufacturing technologies unimagined by European, American and Asian manufacturers. “Global manufacturers were amazed at how their local subsidiaries could build 50,000 cars with the same quality and efficiency as overseas plants with 10 times the output,” he said. “If we move now to harness our engineering brainpower while we still have it, we can design and develop the cars of the future and we have the factories to build them. “The time is right to put money and political will behind our engineers and our manufacturers and rebuild a specialist car industry that can be the envy of the world.”
A reborn Australian car industry could repay its investment The key to the financial success of a new Australian car hinges on embracing the most suitable technologies for a low-volume, highly specialised design. “What we propose is not a 20th century mass production concept, but rather a 21st century www.saea.com.au
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high-tech manufacturing exercise that plays to our Australian strengths,” Mr Feeney said.
our thriving coach and truck manufacturing industries.
“The car factories we once had were billiondollar plants with a hugely expensive foundry and engine shop, body presses and weld lines just to produce the basic body and driveline.
“By targeting a market with very specific needs, we can own that market long term and by dramatically reducing the capital cost, we completely re-write the financial equation.”
“By contrast, our police car proposal would use the same type of efficient low-volume body production already used to perfection by Paccar to build Kenworth trucks in Melbourne.
Mr Feeney said SAE-A looked forward to generating interest from government and the private sector, with a view to a feasibility study to take the concept to the next level.
“The driveline would be electric, with proven savings in materials and manufacturing costs, backed by Australia’s wealth of lithium and emergent battery industry.
Proving a point with the concept car
“And we should never forget that all these technologies will preserve a level of expertise that will be priceless next time we face a crisis such as a pandemic.” The market for these vehicles would reward high-level expertise that could produce exactly what the various police forces required. Australian police forces buy up to 5,000 cars each year, each with tens of thousands of dollars in special equipment added. The focus on police and emergency vehicles is a key element of the SAE-A proposal. “Our approach would put the money and effort into producing a modest volume of highly specialised vehicles, while avoiding the massive capital costs of a big-volume factory,” Mr Feeney said. “We’ve seen this sort of thing before, with specialist manufacturers building postal and ambulance vehicles, not to mention
Australian automotive engineers and designers have the expertise to lead the world in specialist vehicle design, and the proof is in a concept car. Australia has retained much of its skills base despite the end of volume car manufacturing in October 2017. “We basically have the automotive spectrum covered, from styling and engineering through to testing and development, and ultimately manufacturing and assembly,” Mr Feeney said. “All we need is the will to succeed and the investment to back it, and we can design, engineer and manufacture world-class specialist vehicles for world markets. “We are already doing it, with companies like Thales, which is currently building 1,100 Hawkei light armoured vehicles in Bendigo for the Australian Defence Force. “There is also substantial engineering and manufacturing expertise in companies such as HSV, which is remanufacturing several VTE | 19
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Feature | A new Australia Car Industry
thousand cars and pickups every year to the highest engineering standards.” The SAE-A proposes to set up a group of automotive specialists to develop this vehicle. The concept group embodies leading practitioners of all the key capabilities that are needed to design and build a range of specialist vehicles. Australian companies could apply world-class local technology to produce electric drivetrains and high-tech composite bodies, plus all the specialist systems required. There are already many companies quietly achieving important milestones in the drivetrain and systems technologies that the car project would need. “Take electric drivetrains – we already have SEA Electric producing real-world electric trucks and vans, while AEV Robotics has developed a unique digital vehicle platform,” he said. “Australian engineers are working on the latest systems for global vehicles, and several companies are working with worldclass composite technology.” Above: the first aXcess Australia car
There are specific benefits for police cars in the type of composite construction developed by Bolwell Advanced Composites for ultra-light sportscars. “In addition to the strength and durability we have seen in the Boeing Dreamliner, composite construction can give a police car extra strength where it most needs it,” he said. “Some overseas police forces add expensive bullet-proof panels to the doors of their cars, but composites can offer this protection by simply adding Kevlar to the door skins. “Impact protection can also be enhanced by including carbon fibre and polypropylene in the mix – this technology is already being used in Australia.”
Purpose built for police protection A purpose-built police car would offer law enforcement agencies unique operational and financial benefits and a specialised design would free police forces from the many compromises involved in adapting a volume-built car to their needs. “Police cars all around the world are cluttered with add-on equipment that was never a design priority for the cars on which they are based,” Mr Feeney said. “But our unique police car will be designed from the ground up to meet all the requirements of police forces both in Australia and overseas.” Above & below: the aXcess Australia LEV developed in the late 1990s.
Australian transportation design house Delineate is experienced in designing modified police vehicles and CEO Rob Veitch says a purpose-built car would solve a lot of problems. “It takes a lot of work to fit modern police equipment to an existing design, especially if you need to convert that vehicle back to a normal car after its police service life,” Mr Veitch said. “A car designed from the outset to meet police needs could also be designed for a very specific second life, most likely as a taxi, with easy conversion as part of the design.” The Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore “police packs”, introduced in 1978 and 1981 respectively, served 30-plus years for general duties, highway patrol and prisoner transport. Mr Feeney said the situation changed dramatically by 2016, when police forces in Australia and New Zealand knew their preferred cars would soon cease production. “Around that time, the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA) sought proposals for three national police cars, for prisoner transportation, highway patrol and general duties,” he said. “Since then we have seen BMW, Mercedes, Kia, Hyundai, Volkswagen and Chrysler among the prominent suppliers to Australia’s police forces.
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A new Australia Car Industry | Feature
“Some of these imported cars cost thousands more than the Commodores and Falcons they replace, so we believe we could produce a special-purpose car at a competitive price.” Mr Feeney said the equipment and features fitted to Australian police cars could be readily designed into the electric, composite, modular and partially autonomous new car. “A powerful engine and automatic transmission are part of it, along with minimal maintenance, and these are easily matched by an electric car,” he said. “Then there’s radar equipment, a calibrated speedometer, roof-mounted number plate recognition cameras and a laptop computer with mobile data terminal – all much more readily built-in than added on. “Also, on board are video cameras, special radios, random breath testing gear, traffic cones, fire extinguisher, first-aid kit, lights and sirens, plus bullet proof vests, batons and torches. “Once you start adding up the cost and complexity of accommodating all this gear
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in a mass-produced car, it’s easy to see the potential for designing them in from day one.”
A life beyond police duties
“As with the London tax and van, our police car platform could easily spin off a taller, longer-wheelbase vehicle, not as a van but as an ambulance,” he said.
A unique modular Australian police car would have several lives beyond its initial role as a police patrol vehicle as its modular design would maximise the car’s versatility.
“That’s a cost saving right there that can offset any lost economies of scale, and the economy continues when it’s time for that police vehicle to retire.
“It’s all in the detailed planning that happens long before a car is built,” Mr Feeney said. “We see the initial police car concept being built on a scalable modular architecture that is adaptable to purposes such as ambulances and other emergency service vehicles.
“In many parts of the world, retired police cars have a second life as taxis, being adapted as best they can for both roles, whereas our car would be purpose built for both lives.
“Just as importantly, it would be designed to adapt perfectly for a second life as, say, a taxi which is where a lot of the value lies.
“Fittings for police lights, computers, radios and safety screens can all be designed to serve similar but slightly different purposes in a taxi.”
“Unlike mass-produced cars which need major modification for specialised roles, our car would be designed for both its roles, with minimal cost and effort for each transformation.”
Design concepts for the unique new Australian vehicle would be based on extensive and detailed research of all likely markets around the world to maximise wholeof-life value.
A scalable specialised platform concept was already used to good effect by the London EV Company in its electric London taxi and its LCV delivery van.
Mr Feeney said this research would consider not only of the end-user needs but also whether markets would take fully imported or locally assembled variants of the car.
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Feature | Auto Innovation Centre (AIC)
Engineering services expanding at the Auto Innovation Centre
Opened just six months ago, the Auto Innovation Centre (AIC) is already making an impact on the automotive industry and looking to expand its services. Companies in the Australian automotive industry, have been impressed by the centre’s state-of-the-art facilities and the role it can play in product development activities. “Our mission and ability to represent the industry as a whole allows us the unique opportunity to collaborate and gain traction (and all-important vehicle access) with OEMs; and we are pleased to offer cost-effective, premium services to our customers. We are committed to always demonstrating best practices as a true centre of excellence,” AIC Managing Director Luke Truskinger said.
AIC Managing Director Luke Truskinger
“Absolutely every interaction between customers and the AIC, right from the very first phone call enquiring about utilising the centre, is completely confidential.” AIC offers a range of options including access to vehicles, the use of the workshop for test fitting, 3D scanning and post
processing, 3D printing, dynamic vehicle testing and ADAS calibration. “One of our points of difference is that we acquire vehicles, which are then made available for companies to rent for the purpose of product development either on or off site,” Mr Truskinger said. “Access to vehicles is a real challenge for many companies because they can’t justify the expense of sourcing them; and while commercial ‘rentals’ can be a stopgap this is far from ideal and usually, it is not permitted to conduct product development on hire cars. “This means clients can come to the AIC and access vehicles for test fitting in our workshop, or they can arrange to rent a
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Auto Innovation Centre (AIC) | Feature
vehicle from us and take it off site for other types of dynamic testing.” Customers also benefit from access to the state-of-the-art workshop, which is fully equipped with all of the tools and equipment needed. “Thanks to the collective expertise of the industry, we have been able to fit out our workshop to make sure that virtually anything that could be done on a car, can be done here at the AIC,” Mr Truskinger said. “We are very thankful to all of our sponsors, partners and especially our champion companies who have provided support since long before the AIC was guaranteed to be approved. They believed this was something which was going to help the industry as a whole and their backing has made the AIC a reality. “Further, their continued support alongside our sponsors and partners ensures that not only are we offering world-class facilities now, but that we will continue to stay at the forefront of technology far into the future.” Alongside a fully-fledged fabrication workshop with hoists, tyre changers and tyre balancers is a full complement of hand tools and power tools, and a varied list of precision equipment. Among this equipment is a range of the latest 3D scanning, 3D post processing and 3D printing technologies. “Having highly detailed and accurate 3D scan data is vital. In recognition of this, we have invested in two types of 3D scanning technologies with each scanner performing a different function,” Mr Truskinger said. “This means we have the ability to scan entire vehicles, chassis and mechanical www.saea.com.au
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Feature | Auto Innovation Centre (AIC)
components as well as other items. This is thanks to metrology grade scanners which offer some of the highest possible accuracy available. “Of course, we all know scan data itself is not overly useful unless it is post-processed well, so the AIC has a number of post-processing programs which allow us to produce surface and solid models to suit the customer’s chosen usage and CAD programs. “As part of the AIC’s commitment to help customers amortise costs where possible, companies can even purchase 3D scan data created by the AIC as standard data sets which have been organised into particular target areas to suit most common requirements. “At the same time, we offer pay per use contract scanning services and, like with all activity undertaken by and for customers at the AIC, the customer owns all of the data for that job, although they can agree to allow the AIC to use or adapt their data for industry access in exchange for lower cost service if they choose to. “Then there is our additive manufacturing centre, which has three 3D printers that offer three different technologies and so three different capabilities. We have done this because each printer has a unique strength: one is best for larger volumes; one excels with incredibly detailed smaller parts and one is perfect for very strong parts. “This means we can provide a more flexible service offering, which is better suited to the customer’s application. We are also getting ready to run training courses on additive manufacturing to help keep the industry abreast of the new technologies and even help them to add additive manufacturing capability to their own company if they so wish.” 24 | July 2020
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Auto Innovation Centre (AIC) | Feature
When it comes to the various systems of vehicles on the road today, the AIC is ready to assist with dynamic vehicle testing and Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS) calibration offerings. The AIC offers dynamic vehicle testing services with a range of specialised equipment including a steering robot, inertial measurement units, GPS positioning technology, force transducers and data logging equipment. “We are an approved testing facility for ADR 31, 35 and 88 which represent brakes and electronic stability control and we also offer customised dynamic testing services tailored to the requirements of the customer,” Mr Truskinger said. “With the widespread introduction of cameras and radars into new vehicles, it is also exceptionally important that we are able to support the industry to best understand the operation and performance of that technology. “As such we are thankful for our partnership with AIC sponsors Bosch and Hella Gutmann Solutions, which allow us to offer a full complement of ADAS calibration equipment.” The Centre also has a training facility that can be used for courses, seminars or networking events. “Where previously you may have booked a hotel meeting room or similar for your seminar or training event, the AIC’s facilities allow you to take advantage of not only a state-of-the-art training room but one that is accompanied by the AIC workshop,” Mr Truskinger said. “This means those hiring the room can arrange for the use of the workshop to accompany the training space so they can perfectly partner theory and practice for their event. “Soon we will have a range of exciting new equipment at the AIC,” Truskinger said. “We will be switching on our hydraulic test facility which can perform asynchronous fatigue testing and static testing up to 10kN. “We will also be offering vibration testing with load capacity up to 150kg which can provide high frequency vibration testing to validate the durability life of components mounted to a vehicle chassis or engine. “At the same time, we will be bringing to the AIC laboratory-spec tensile/compression testing with capacity up to 10kN and a range of options for grips and mounts. “Finally, we will also be introducing a Damper Dynamometer which will boast the capability to provide highly accurate damper plots for a wide range of vehicle dampers, right up to armoured.” More information on the AIC is at www.autoic.com.au
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Feature | Technical
Hayoung Kim, Dongchan Kim, and Kunsoo Huh Hanyang University
Intention Aware Motion Planning with Model Predictive Control in ABSTRACT Highway Merge Scenario
FIGURE 1: Highway merging scenario that requires other road user’s intention.
Introduction There has been an active research to solve merging problem. First, there exist methods using Model Predictive Control (MPC) [1,2,3]. Mukai et al. [1] uses MPC to solve merging problem in highway scenario. Here, constant velocity model is used to predict the surrounding vehicle. Therefore, it is not realistic to apply in complex traffic situations. MPC is also used in [2]. In this work, in order to represent uncertainty of the physical state of the surrounding vehicle, Gaussian distribution is utilized. Zhan et al. [3] combines search-based method and optimization-based method to roughly plan longitudinal trajectory. Then, perform longitudinal and lateral trajectory smoothing using MPC. Studies in [1,2,3] have a limit in that they do not consider intention and interaction of nearby vehicles in common.
FIGURE 2: Overall architecture for highway merging.
Next, there exist studies which consider intention of the surrounding vehicles and interaction with the host vehicle [4,5,6]. Milanés et al. [4] presented Fuzzy logicbased method to solve merging problem. They used physical state information which includes intention of the surrounding vehicles. However, there exists a limitation that the information used is obtained through vehicleto-infrastructure (V2I) communication. In the work [5], to model interaction with the surrounding vehicles, extended probabilistic IDM model is used. Here, trajectory prediction is performed estimating the parameters of the proposed IDM model. In the case of motion planning, the computation time is reduced by treating only longitudinal movements except the lateral movement through the road network represented by the arc length of 1-D. On the other hand, as can be seen in studies
Human drivers navigate by continuously predicting the intent of road users and interacting with them. For safe autonomous driving, research about predicting future trajectory of vehicles and motion planning based on these predictions has drawn attention in recent years. Most of these studies, however, did not take into account driver’s intentions or any interdependence with other vehicles. In order to drive safely in real complex driving situations, it is essential to plan a path based on other driver’s intentions and simultaneously to estimate the intentions of other road user with different characteristics as human drivers do. We aim to tackle the above challenges on highway merge scenario where the intention of other road users should be understood. In this study, we propose an intention aware motion planning method using finite state machine and model predictive control without any vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) or vehicle-toinfrastructure (V2I) communications. The key idea is to design the behavioral planner that control the possible modes like human drivers do. This behavioral planner contains “negotiate” state which could inform my intent to other road users and estimate the other user’s intention from their reaction. The model predictive controller generates an optimized trajectory for merging in terms of safety, efficiency and comfort with directly reflecting the estimated intention of the road users. In order to verify the proposed framework, the complex highway merging scenario is implemented where various road users with different intention and characteristic exist by using IDM (Intelligent Driver Model).
[1,7,8], in parallel lane merging scenarios where merge points are not defined, it is difficult to cope without considering lateral planning. Hubmann et al. [6] deals with the merging scenario in the congested traffic situations. They use Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) to model uncertain cooperation with the surrounding vehicles. In addition, Monte Carlo sampling algorithm is used to solve the combined longitudinal and lateral optimization problem. In this study, we propose an intention aware motion planning method using finite state machine and model predictive control in highway merge scenario. The proposed behavioral planner contains “negotiate” state
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Technical | Feature
which could inform my intent to other road users and estimate the other user’s intention simultaneously.
System Architecture The system for safely merging into highway consists of three modules as shown in figure 2. The future trajectory predictor predicts the other road participant’s future trajectory by using road structures and the tracking information from sensor fusion module. It differs from the existing methods in that it predicts the intention of the other vehicle and simultaneously reflects it in the predictions. In the highway merging scenarios, it helps the host vehicle determine its behavior by considering whether or not the other vehicle will yield to the host vehicle. The behavioral planner sets the behavioral goals that the host vehicle should perform. The surrounding vehicle’s states, road network and intention prediction are used together in this module to set up the target lane and target speed profile for trajectory planner. It contains “negotiation” behavior to estimate the other road user’s intention. The trajectory planner calculates the collision-free trajectory by using the target lane and target speed profile from behavioral planner. It determines drivable space by using future trajectory predictions. After drivable space are set, jerkminimizing trajectories are calculated within this drivable space. If inevitably a collide is anticipated, it can be communicated to the behavioral planner so that the behavioral goal can be modified. This module also determines the steering angle and target acceleration for the vehicle to follow the trajectory.
Intention Aware Behavioral Planning For a vehicle to safely merge into the highway, it is very important to estimate the driver’s intentions and set proper behavioral goal based on them. The success rate of merging is highly depending on accuracy of the intention estimation in dense highway situation. However, the intention is not observable from the environmental sensor. Therefore, it is challenging to estimate the intention of the other road participants and important to planning process.
TABLE 1: Target lane and target speed for each state in finite state machine. The value of target lane is relative: see Figure 4. However, in a general situation if you do not show your intention to merge into the highway first it is difficult to know the intention of the driver in the other vehicle. This intention aware behavioral planning part will show you how to show your intent to others on the highway, determine if the opponent is making concessions, and then set the goal of the host vehicle.
Finite State Machine for Behavior Planning Behavioral planning plays a role in establishing a strategy for vehicles to join into the highway road by considering surrounding traffic and road network information. It is important to drive naturally as human driver’s do for successful highway merging. For this reason, this behavior planning module is designed as a Finite State Machine (FSM), focusing on how people operate when merging onto a highway without crashing. The actions that vehicles can take in joining on the highway are limited to the states defined in the finite state machine. These states are composed of five states: “ready”, “negotiate”, “yield”, “merge”, and “cruise”. The possible transition in each state is defined as directed acyclic graph (DAG) as shown in figure 3. The decision process traverse from the “ready” state to the “cruise” state along the graph. In each state, it is necessary to define in advance what actions the vehicle should take and what conditions must be met to move on to the next state. For every state, the behavioral goals are shown in Table. 1. Possible scenarios for merging into the highway based on this state machine are as
FIGURE 3: Finite state machine design for highway merging scenario. www.saea.com.au
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follows: First, in the “ready” state, it is first determined whether the vehicle is in the merging area or approaching the merging area. If we have a vehicle in the merging area and there is traffic on the highway, we “negotiate” with other traffic to determine if we can join. Rather than merging into the highway, the host vehicle approaches the lane mark drawn between the main lane and the current lane to judge whether another vehicle intends to give way to me. This process serves as turn signals. If the car on highway does not have the intention to yield to the host vehicle, the host vehicle will quickly get off the lane mark and “yield” the road to the car on highway. On the other hand, if the car in the highway decides to yield, the host vehicle will “merge” to the highway. On the other hand, if the car in the highway judges that it intends to give it to me, it will “merge”. If, during the “merge” process, a collision is predicted in the future, it will return to the “negotiation” state again. However, if it is judged that a “merge” is possible without a collision, the vehicle enters the space between the vehicle in front of the highway and the vehicle behind it. When you successfully “merge” to the highway, the decision process is terminated by “cruising” the distance to the preceding vehicle. In the following part we will discuss in detail the role of the “negotiate” state defined in the state machine and how to make joining decisions.
“Negotiate” State in Directed Acyclic Graph The negotiation state determines whether to merge into the highway or to send a behind vehicle when there is a host vehicle in the merging area as shown in Figure 4. To make the decision, the Negotiation module considers two major things. The first is to identify the intention, I, of the behind vehicle and the second is to calculate the minimum safe distance, dsafe. The intention of the behind vehicle can be predicted when the host vehicle approaches to lane marking between the lanes to reveal the intent of merging. If the behind vehicle is willing to yield, it will slow down when the host vehicle approaches the lane. On the other hand, if the behind vehicle does not intend to yield, it can be expected that it will move at VTE | 27
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Feature | Technical
three initial states and two final states are used for boundary conditions. Here, to make various trajectory candidates, final conditions are varied by different Δsm from the target velocity starget and time interval Tn according to
Distance Keeping Trajectory
FIGURE 4: Definitions for target lane, merging area and the behind vehicle, the ahead vehicles. faster speed or maintain its speed. To estimate the intention, I, the speed history of the behind vehicle is used: V = {v1, v2, … , vN} where N is the number of elements in speed history. If the intention, I, to yield is constant over the history interval, N, the concession intent can be determined by the tendency of the speed. Let the tendency of the speed be slope term p1 for linear relations: p0 + kp1 = vk. Then, we can calculate P = [p0 p1] T using least square method on speed profile V as follows:
Finally, in the “Negotiate” state, we decide whether to move to the “merge” state or the “yield” state, taking into account both the intention I of the behind vehicle and the safe distance dsafe. When the distance is greater than the safe distance and the intention of the behind vehicle is determined to be concession, it goes to the “merge” state.
Trajectory Planning and Control Method This part covers how to use the information provided by the behavioral planner to generate longitudinal and lateral trajectory for real driving. Longitudinal Trajectory Planning
In this paper, we classify the intention of the behind vehicle to be “yield” when p1 is negative. In order to merge to the lane without a collision, it is essential to consider the current speed and acceleration of the behind vehicle such that the distance is sufficiently large when the host vehicle merge in front of the behind car. This distance must be unconditionally secured and independent of the intent. For example, the safe distance, dsafe, in [9] can be simplified for convenience:
where vbehind, ρ, amax, aceel, amin, brake are velocity of behind vehicle, response time, acceleration of behind vehicle and proper deceleration of behind vehicle, respectively, and vhost, amax, brake are velocity of the host vehicle, maximum deceleration of the host vehicle, respectively. The value of proper deceleration amin, brake should be set considering other road user’s comfort. The larger this value, the greater the vehicle must decelerate when the host vehicle merge.
Trajectory planning in longitudinal direction is divided into two cases according to the situation. We use a similar approach as [9] and generate trajectory for velocity keeping and distance keeping in a different manner. Then, various trajectory candidates are generated and the optimal one is selected.
Next, as explained in Table 1., when the target lane is 1 and the host vehicle is “merge” or “cruise” state, distance keeping trajectory is needed. Here, quintic polynomial is used as follows:
To solve the polynomial function in this case, three initial states and three final states are used as boundary conditions. Here, to make various trajectory candidates, the deviation term Δsm from the target position starget and time interval T are varied according to
Optimal Trajectory Selection Depending on the situations of the behavior state, various trajectory candidates are generated in the manner described above. Here, in order to select the optimal trajectory, jerk, deviation from the target velocity and the time interval are considered in the cost function as follows:
Velocity Keeping Trajectory First, as can be seen in Table 1., when the value of target lane is 0 or 0.5 and the host vehicle is in “ready”, “negotiate”, “yield” state, trajectory for velocity keeping is required. Here, quartic polynomial in the direction of the main road is used as follows:
In order to solve the polynomial function,
where cjerk, cvel, cT are weights for each index. The trajectory candidate which minimizes the cost function is chosen as the optimal one. Then, target acceleration is calculated and it is transmitted to the lower level controller part. In addition, the velocity profile is transmitted to the lateral trajectory planning part so that it can be used when model predictive control is performed.
FIGURE 5: Safety constraints ymin, ymax in vehicle coordinate.
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Lateral Trajectory Planning Lateral Kinematic Model The state equation of the vehicle on the vehicle coordinate can be expressed as below:
In the case of the safety constraint, as shown in Fig. 5, it makes the host vehicle drive safely in the drivable space using the predicted trajectory of the surrounding vehicle and the road boundary information. Here, slack variable ϵ is introduced in case the feasible trajectory cannot be found [12]. The equation is used as follows:
Optimization Problem Formulation. The optimization problem for lateral trajectory planning is defined as below. The cost function is design as follows to create a trajectory that follows the target lane reference yref and heading reference ψref well within the constraints defined above.
For the validity of the kinematic model, lateral acceleration ay must meet the following conditions [13]. On the other hand, in the highway merge situation, cos(ψ) ≅ 1, sin(ψ) ≅ ψ can be assumed because the heading angle has a small value when the vehicle is in control. In addition, as longitudinal and lateral trajectory planning are performed separately in this work, the longitudinal state ζlon and the lateral state ζlat = [y, ψ]T are dealt separately. In summary, the state space equation about the lateral state ζlat can be expressed as below:
On the other hand, lateral acceleration can be expressed as ay = ÿ + ψ vx, in highway situation, assuming that ÿ ≅ 0, ay can be approximated as ψ vx. Also, yawrate ψ ≅(ψ (k + 1) - ψ (k))/ dt from the kinematic model can be shown as follows:
By multiplying the longitudinal velocity vx = v(k) on both sides, the following equation is derived: The kinematic model used for lateral planning is not well suited for slip situations. Nonetheless, the kinematic model is used rather than using the dynamic model in this study. The first reason is that kinematic model is easier at model identification. Then, for the second reason, in highway merge application where lateral acceleration ay is not large, it is experimentally better than dynamic model if mode validity is guaranteed. [11] Model Predictive Lateral Trajectory Planning For lateral trajectory planning, MPC method is applied. First, the lateral trajectory planner is designed by defining the constraints for stable trajectory planning without collision and defining the costs so that the target lane can be followed well within the constraints.
Therefore, the constraint on model validity can be changed from the lateral acceleration constraints to the control variable constraint with δ according to
In the case of the actuator limit, constraints can be expresses as below considering the value of the steering angle and the variation of the steering actuator limits.
Constraints. Lateral constraints consist of 1) safety constraints, 2) model validity constraint, 3) actuator limit constraint.
We formulate the optimization problem with safety, model validity, actuator limit constraints and kinematic model. The lateral trajectory planning problem is formed as following quadratic programming problem:
Simulation and Result To evaluate the intention aware behavior planning and trajectory planning framework, two different type of road users (aggressive driver and defensive driver) based on intelligent driver model (IDM) are used in scenarios. The simulation environments are based on real test road. The proposed framework is implemented in C++ and python with Robot Operating System (ROS). To solve model predictive control problem, CVXGEN [14] is used, which provides an optimal solution in several milliseconds. The simulation environments are conducted by using Unity 3d, which is the real-time engine for game and simulation. Traffic Generation Traffic was generated using the Intelligent Driver Model (IDM) to generate road users with various intentions. Simulator randomly generates aggressive driver and defensive driver. The parameters of each are shown in Table 2. It moves with the following dynamics according to each parameter:
TABLE 2: The parameters used for aggressive and defensive road users. www.saea.com.au
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Feature | Technical
Results To evaluate the proposed framework for highway merging, randomly created scenarios are conducted. There were two representative decision-making process depending on other road user’s intention. First, host vehicle tried to negotiate for merging onto the highway approaching to target lane and the other road users didn’t give a way. Figure 6 shows the negotiating process, where the behind vehicle’s intention is “not yield”. The host vehicle entered merging area after t = 5(s). When the car entered merging area, the car tried to nudge the behind car to “yield”. As the behind car didn’t slow down the speed, the host vehicle decided to “yield” so that the behind vehicle can pass the host vehicle. Even though the host vehicle gives a way to the other vehicle, as the another behind vehicle take a way, the host vehicle should slow down to wait another chance to merge. Figure 7 shows the decision-making process which successfully traversing directed acyclic graph from “ready” to “cruise”. It shows the situation when the behind vehicle slows down to make room to merge for the host vehicle. After t = 8.5 (s), the host vehicle starts to merge and finally at t = 10.5 (s), the host vehicle successfully merges onto the highway.
FIGURE 7: A second example sequence for successfully merging into the highway.
Conclusions In this study, an intention aware motion planning framework is presented using finite state machine and model predictive control method in highway merging scenarios. The behavioral planner is designed to guess the other road user’s intention, which referred as “negotiate” state. In addition, to achieve the behavioral goal without collision, the longitudinal trajectory planner and the lateral trajectory planner are designed. Especially, by separating the longitudinal trajectory planner from the lateral trajectory planner, the lateral trajectory planning problem is simplified as quadratic programming. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed framework could work well in highway merging scenario with randomly sampled drivers based on intelligent driver model. Future work will focus on how to cope with the uncertainty on sensor for robustness of algorithm.
Acknowledgement FIGURE 6: A first example sequence of highway merging scenario. Red colored vehicle is host vehicle and blue colored vehicles are other road users. The red line and the blue line represent lane before the merge and lane after the merge respectively. The current behavior is written on the title of each figure.
This research was supported by Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology(KEIT) grant funded by the Korea government(MOTIE) (No. 10052375, Test Scenario Study for Supporting Autonomous Driving Technology Development).
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