Aquantia, Bosch, Continental, NVIDIA, and Volkswagen announced the formation of the Networking for Autonomous Vehicles (NAV) Alliance, to drive the ecosystem development required for the next generation of Multi-Gig Ethernet networking in vehicles.
Self-driving cars have become data centers on wheels constantly analyzing vast amounts of data to endeavor to ensure the safest and most secure experience for passengers, pedestrians, and other vehicles.
Autonomous driving is creating a need for a new breed of in-vehicle networking solutions that can transmit data between the increasing number of high-resolution sensors, cameras and processing engines at blazing-fast speeds.
NAV alliance’s members, leaders in their respective segments as auto manufacturers and technology providers, are joining together in an effort to shape the future of in-vehicle networking technologies as society prepares for the paradigm shift to autonomous driving.
Akin to a very advanced nervous system, this next-generation networking architecture is based on an array of ECUs, CPUs, GPUs, high-definition cameras, sensors, gateways, and storage devices, all connected through a high-speed, Multi-Gigabit/s Ethernet network that works to seamlessly move data throughout the vehicle securely and reliably.
NAV Alliance’s Founding Objectives
- Promote development of new specifications, as well as build consensus for new technologies related to Multi-Gig Ethernet automotive networking
- Create procedures and testing requirements to endeavor to ensure interoperability, security, and reliability of the in-vehicle network
- Promote products and solutions that adhere to the new specifications
- Liaise with standards bodies to build consensus, create IEEE proposals, and promote standardization
- Build awareness and educate the market place and users on the requirements for autonomous vehicle networks
Founding members will focus on these core objectives and expand the NAV Alliance membership roster in the coming months to include additional automotive suppliers and manufacturers.
“Redundant and diverse AI algorithms are the key to level 5 automation. However, the volume of data generated by multiple types of sensors (camera, radar, lidar, ultrasound) can reach 32TB every 8 hours – that level of data transfer calls for a new breed of ultra-high-speed networks, including Multi-gig Ethernet. The NAV alliance will catalyze the development of a reliable next generation of networking platform for self-driving cars,” said James Hodgson, Senior Analyst Autonomous Driving, ABI Research.
NAV Alliance was created to provide a platform for the automotive industry to develop the next generation of in-vehicle Network infrastructure for autonomous vehicles and facilitate wide deployment of networking technologies and products. The alliance was founded by leading vehicle manufacturers, technology suppliers and networking players in the automotive market, sharing the goal of developing the ecosystem that is required for next-generation Multi-Gig Automotive Ethernet networks in the vehicle.