Bernd Spies, Member of the Executive Board of Knorr-Bremse AG with global responsibility for the Commercial Vehicle Systems division: “Knorr-Bremse is systematically bringing its redundancy solutions for trucks to market maturity. With our extensive experience, we have the in-depth knowledge and skills required to create multiply redundant systems for braking, steering and power supply systems, and so enable our customers to achieve SAE Level 4 automation. We’re already able to deliver high levels of safety and system availability for trucks operating at automation levels 2 through 4. We’re looking to contact our customers at the earliest possible stage to discuss possible use cases and how we can best customize our redundancy concepts for them. A good example – with real-world applicability – is our involvement in the ATLAS-L4 joint development project. Here, we’re contributing the redundant braking system architecture, which includes steering redundancy based on steer-by-brake technology. We also developed the accompanying safety concept, and the prototype truck is already undergoing successful test track trials.”
Increasing automation requires system redundancy. In the future, more and more functions – and consequently, responsibilities – will shift from human to machine. The objectives of driving automation include overcoming the shortage of drivers, improving road safety, and reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO) for operators. But for automated driving to be successful, key prerequisites include very high levels of vehicle reliability and availability, which in turn require redundant (meaning failsafe) braking, steering and energy management systems. Here, redundancy is defined as primary and secondary systems that function independently of each other, coupled with systematic detection and management of faults or failures, plus monitoring of each system by the other. For Knorr-Bremse, the challenges involved in designing redundant functional components include, for example, increased safety requirements, additional and modified components, new interfaces, and the complex task of validating and verifying the entire systems solution. Additional challenges include new ways of working as a result of new process frameworks for developing safety-critical components. Despite these challenging conditions, Knorr-Bremse has the experience and expertise required to develop cost-optimized system solutions for all new applications.
Knorr-Bremse knows what customers need and offers suitably integrated products
Knorr-Bremse specializes in safety-critical actuators, understands global customers’ needs and challenges, and acts as an enabler of highly automated driving (HAD). The successful way to avoid an uncertain future of fragmented development work and recurring technical hurdles is to espouse scalability, modularity and the resulting flexibility. This is precisely what Knorr-Bremse is doing as the company focuses on developing modular Level 2 systems that can be upgraded to Level 4 systems by adding or modifying modular components. The competencies acquired during this development process, and the use of failsafe actuators, will have future applications that extend far beyond automated driving to embrace new truck technologies. Examples include X-by-wire technologies such as electromechanical braking systems (EMBS) and steer-by-wire systems.
Knorr-Bremse systems improve the safety and availability of automated trucks in a wide variety of applications. The scalability of the company’s products is clearly illustrated by various concepts which – depending on the application – aim to bring trucks to a safe stop even if safety-critical functions should fail. Potential use cases range from executing a minimum-risk maneuver (limp-aside mode) to continuing the journey with reduced system functionality (limp-home mode) right through to completing the transportation assignment with almost the same level of system performance (mission-complete mode).
