Header image source | Jidu car
The new energy vehicle market in 2022 has become very lively because of the large-scale launch of lidar.
On April 18, a year after the official announcement of the car, Jidu Automobile officially released the design details of the first automotive robot concept car, in which the lidar design scheme placed at the headlights and front cover attracted the attention of the industry. At the press conference, it was officially confirmed that the two lidars were from Hesai's AT128 and adopted a telescopic design.
After the relevant reports were issued, Li Xiang, the founder of Ideal Automobile, expressed different views on the design of lidar on the social platform, and then Xia Yiping, CEO of Jidu Automobile, and He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xiaopeng Automobile, also joined in. The three new car manufacturers also sparked a discussion about lidar in the industry.
The core reason why lidar can attract countless attention at present is that it is not only a symbol of the advanced degree of automatic driving, but also an important selling point for car companies to flaunt high-end. Up to now, smart car brands including Xiaopeng, Weilai, Ideal, zhiji and other intelligent car brands have released mass production models equipped with lidar.
From the previous intelligent central control screen dispute, to today's collective deployment of lidar, on the way to intelligence, each family continues to pile up new materials, this boom also made the head of the new energy salon mecha under the Great Wall shout out the classic speech: "How many lidar do you have?" If you have less than 4 pieces, please do not talk. ”
According to CICC's previous report, vehicle-mounted lidar has entered the first year of commercial use, and mass production models equipped with lidar will be intensively listed from 2021 to 2023.
Of course, considering the current hardware cost of lidar of thousands of yuan per piece, this intelligent label is not all models, after all, between necessity and cost, different car companies and models must have their own judgment and balance.
Who of the three bosses is right?
On April 18, in response to the relevant reports of the Jidu conference, Li wanted to put forward his own judgment, "Put one on the roof, and put two on the cover or bumper, there is no difference in performance, and even the performance of the single overhead will be better." But on pedestrian collisions, repair costs, and vibration control (linking the main car), the roof is optimal. ”
The background of this statement is that just last month, Ideal Cars released a new SUV model, the Ideal L9, which also uses the LIDAR AT128 from Hesai, but the ideal choice is to install it on the top of the front of the car. Li xiang said that the only problem is the bulge of lidar on the roof, and the shape changes brought about by it need to be adapted.
In response to this statement, Xia Yiping responded, "120 degrees OFV (angle of view) and 180 degrees of FOV are still not the same, and the solved corner case is also different." So there is still a difference in the ability and experience of the product and even the security. ”
Lidar is located on both sides of the cover Source: Jidu Cars
According to the introduction of the concentration, the point cloud field of view of the dual lidar is wider, compared with the 120 degree FOV design of the single radar, the dual radar can achieve 180 degrees OFV coverage; in the area of 60 degrees FOV directly in front of the vehicle, the double lidar can be doubled and overlapped, and the point cloud data on the target is more and the recognition rate is higher; in terms of the redundancy safety of high-level automatic driving, the two lidars can be safely redundant with each other.
In short, the two lidars have a wider viewing angle, see more clearly, are redundant with each other, and look good.
Judging from the discussion between the two sides, the main focus is on the location, quantity and quality of lidar, which is obviously based on the advantages of their respective solutions.
The industry generally believes that lidar placed on the roof of the car can avoid obstruction to the greatest extent and achieve the best results. The concentration emphasis on the wider coverage of THE FOV is also the core performance of lidar.
Guo Jishun, head of the intelligent driving technology department of the GAC Research Institute, told Future Automotive Daily that the lidar deployed on the roof can indeed get a better view, but in terms of FOV, the two radars still have irreplaceable advantages over a single one. "If there is only one 120-degree FOV lidar, we think that it is impossible to complete the intelligent pilot function in the urban scene, and can only complete the intelligent pilot function in the high-speed scene."
For example, in the open pavement represented by urban roads, unprotected 90-degree turning is a typical scenario, and vehicles need to cover the 90-degree range on both sides in the process of autonomously completing the turn to ensure sufficient safety.
He Xiaopeng's subsequent speech also expressed the same view, "Two lidars are definitely far better than one in terms of performance, and the difference can be seen in the future in urban NGP and robustness." ”
However, at this stage, lidar does not necessarily equal a better assisted driving experience, as Xiaopeng said, "In fact, the hardware configuration only represents a possibility of potential, and ultimately the balance of safety, cost, scenario and capability is still the barrel effect rather than sprint logic." ”
And it cannot be ignored that before lidar truly realizes higher-order autonomous driving functions, these expensive hardware will be reflected as a cost in the final price.
Where should lidar be placed?
In fact, on the basis of the existing body structure, where the lidar should be placed is still a problem that the industry is groping. Behind the choice is the needs and trade-offs between many factors such as performance, cost, safety and appearance of car companies.
Judging from the models that have been released so far, the forward-facing main lidar is mainly deployed in two areas: bumper/middle grid and roof.
Models represented by the WEILAI ET7, Ideal L9, and WM M7 put lidar on top of the windshield, while the Audi A8, Xiaopeng P5, and Polar Fox Alpha S models put lidar in the bumper position.
Xiaopeng P5 lidar location Image source: Xiaopeng Automobile
From the perspective of the need for single lidar detection, placing it on the roof of the car is a common layout method in the industry, which can reduce the obstruction as much as possible, obtain the widest field of view, and exert maximum performance in perception.
But the problem is that all models that use this scheme, from the appearance, a small drum bag inevitably appears above the windshield, and such a styling design is often easy to cause user controversy. At the same time, the raised part will also have an impact on the wind resistance performance of the car. More importantly, the original intention of car companies is how to avoid increasing maintenance costs.
For which scheme to adopt, Xiaopeng Automobile has also made trade-offs. He Xiaopeng said, "We initially wanted to put two on the roof of the car, but no matter how designed, they resembled rabbit rake ears, and then we gave up." It seems that it is precisely for the sake of appearance that Xiaopeng put the two lidars on the P5 on both sides of the front of the car.
Judging from the current official pictures, the dual lidar of jidu has been arranged to the left and right sides of the front cabin cover.
In Guo Jishun's view, from the perspective of realizing functions, different positions have their own advantages and disadvantages. However, when it comes to the standard of car building, putting lidar on the cover is not only a problem of conformity, but even a problem of non-compliance.
It believes that from the information currently released, it seems that there are hidden dangers in pedestrian protection by placing lidar on the cover of the car. Under complex car crash standards, the commercial lid is designed to be softer and more elastic in order to minimize injury when crashing into pedestrians, but is stuffed into heavy, dense lidar, "which clearly does not meet this requirement." ”
This also corresponds to what Li Xiang later said, "According to the current position, the latest pedestrian collision regulations cannot pass this pass." ”
Secondly, considering the maintenance cost, the position of the cover is a deformable area in the vehicle collision, because the daily small scratch is difficult to avoid, putting expensive lidar on the cover will also push up the maintenance cost of minor accidents.
It is worth noting that the unofficial mass production model unveiled by Jidu this time, "when mass production, lidar will not be placed in the position of the cover shown in the picture." After Further speculation, Lee wanted to conclude the confrontation about the location of the lidar.
At least for now, the lidar position dispute does not have a conclusive and optimal solution. Each family is also from the perspective of adapting to their different functional needs, choosing different solutions, there may be differences in cost and difficulty of implementation, but there are no advantages and disadvantages.
In Guo Jishun's view, it is like the front camera of the mobile phone, "there are bangs screens and pinhole screens, each has its own advantages and disadvantages, but it does not affect the capture of good photos." ”
The author | Lee Hyun-hwan
Edit the | Wang Yan