In Pursuit of Vision Zero
The ADAS Market has been driven by the NCAP 2020 assessment and most of the OEMs today have mature solutions in mass production.
Meanwhile, the NCAP roadmap has been extended until 2025, adding new requirements almost every year. Driver monitoring systems, rear cameras, and a wider front view became key features requested by NCAP. At the same time, while the technology becomes mature and cost efficient, legislation is mandating the use of a camera system and we can easily anticipate that front cameras, rear cameras, and driver monitoring systems (DMS) are becoming standard features in 2025 car models.
Developer’s Dilemma and Challenges
Most smart camera solutions on the market today take an inflexible black box solution approach, making it challenging for the OEMs and Tier 1s to address changing market demands and slowing down development. Adding external hardware using the latest deep learning solutions, is most often chosen, to comply with NCAP requirements, but the system BOM often cannot be reached.
In emerging countries like India or China, the challenge is even larger, with a goal to catch up to the market status seen in Europe and the US. The development of new ECUs in China, therefore, requires a very short time to market, typically 1 to 1.5 years.
EagleCAM Open Platform Turnkey Solutions
Renesas and LUPA have been working to address the challenges that follow from NCAP 2025. With EagleCAM featuring R-Car SoCs, Renesas and LUPA introduce an open turnkey solution that delivers flexible, high-performance, and up-to-date perception stacks while shortening time to market and reducing the bill of materials (BOM) costs.
With the recent update of the R-Car V3H, the new turnkey solutions further benefit from the improved CNN performance of up to 3.7 TOPS, ASIL-C capability of the real-time domain, camera support of up to 8 Megapixels and support of RGB-IR latest sensors standard. EagleCAM features a pre-validated hardware design, shortening the time required to reach mass production.
Customers can access best-in-class perception stacks that offer shorter turnaround times or stacks based on emerging technologies, allowing them to achieve the best fit for the latest market requirements.
“One Stop Shop” Enabled by a Combo Chip
In addition to the R-Car SoCs, EagleCAM also includes Renesas’ automotive power management ICs (PMICs) to further reduce BOM costs.
Key Features of the R-Car V3H Power Solution
- Programmable Output Voltage, Sequencing, I/O Configuration, and Safety Configuration provide flexibility to support R-CAR V3H and an expansive range of SoCs
- Integrated 12-bit SAR ADC with up to 16 external inputs monitors internal and external signals, eliminating the need for an added system ADC
- Dynamic Voltage Frequency Scaling (DVFS) adjusts output voltage to minimize power consumption
- Optional Spread Spectrum Clocking mitigates EMI
- Built-in Support for R-Car V3H SoC Activation streamlines SoC self-test procedures
Availability
The EagleCAM camera featuring R-Car SoCs is available now from LUPA. For more information on EagleCAM, visit www.lupa-electronics.com. For more information on EagleCAM featuring Renesas’ R-Car SoCs, visit https://www.renesas.com/EagleCAM.
About LUPA-Electronics GmbH
LUPA-Electronics GmbH develops automotive safety systems, offering turnkey solutions to automotive OEMs and Tier 1s. LUPA’s mission is to bring technology to market that makes our vehicles safe, smart, and fun to drive. LUPA combines the best in sensing, semiconductors, and unique perception and AI techniques into industry-leading automotive safety and autonomous vehicle solutions. Its first product is EagleCAM, an open, flexible, and extensible camera platform for front camera applications that targets Euro NCAP and C-NCAP safety regulations. LUPA is headquartered in Berlin, Germany.
