Audi chooses Altera SOC FPGAs for driver assistance

Cyclone V SoC FPGAs combine programmable logic with dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processors that allow ADAS platform designers to customise the hardware and software running in their products. This combination provides powerful building blocks to accelerate algorithms commonly used in ADAS designs.

Audi’s zFAS control unit is the industry’s first fully centralised ADAS module that processes all self-driving functions in a single unit, unlike other architectures which feature multiple modules distributed throughout the vehicle. In zFAS, Altera’s FPGAs deliver performance-critical functions such as sensor fusion, combining data from multiple sensors in the vehicle for highly reliable object detection, and deterministic Ethernet communications, used to transport high bandwidth data within the vehicle.

TTTech’s deterministic Ethernet IP solutions address the increased bandwidth and software integration requirements found in next-gen ADAS applications. The developed safety platform for semi-autonomous operations combines high-performance computing with functional safety and accelerated software integration. TTTech´s TTEthernet IP, software integration and safety platform integrated within Altera’s FPGAs deliver an efficient, scalable, high-performance solution for next-gen ADAS systems.

“Altera is one of the key parts of zFAS, our central driver assistance control unit that enables a car to sense and react to changing situations on the road,” said Ricky Hudi, Executive Vice President, Electronics, Audi. “With TTTech, Altera, NVIDIA and our other partners, we are delivering piloted driving that allows our customers to experience a new level of performance and safety in featured vehicles from Audi.”

“Altera’s SoC FPGAs integrate a flexible fabric and CPU that enable us to deliver leading-edge communication safety and a vastly accelerated, yet very robust software integration process to Audi on their way towards the vision of piloted driving,” added Dr. Stefan Poledna, Co-Founder and Executive Board Member, TTTech. “FPGAs are well-suited to manage this type of complex computing and networking. They still remain an affordable and low-power solution.”

“Audi is a pioneer in realising fully centralised ADAS architectures,” concluded Jeff Waters, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Altera. “Altera is pleased to be an enabling technology behind Audi’s ‘piloted driving’ vision that couples innovative approaches to safety with a great driving experience.”