Virtual car key, Lidar sensors and more: Valeo flexes its muscles

Feature articles | November 13, 2014

By eeNews Europe

Automotive

With sales of more than 12 billion euros (2013) and almost 80.000 employees in 29 countries, Valeo is truly a global player. The 51 R&D centres the company is running share out an R&D budget of €1.1 billion in total. Driven by high demand in all automotive electronics segments from connectivity to powertrain and lighting, the company currently experiences strong growth; by 2020 Valeo expects sales in the magnitude of € 20 billion, explained Alexander Ziems, Group President Germany, at the event. The management has defined two strategic growth fields – one is CO2 reduction which includes all technologies aiming at better fuel efficiency; the other one is defined geographically: Valeo is committed to expand its business in Asia and hopes to grow particularly strong in that geography.

At the event, the company showcased a number of designs and technology study to near-series maturity. Here are three examples I found particularly striking:

InBlue: the virtual car key is a technology that facilitates car sharing, be it on a business level, among friends orwithin the family. The system turns the smartphone into the car key. It enables car owners to share and distribute a virtual key to family members, friends, or business partners by means of a smartphone app (plus the backend software that runs on a server operated by the OEM or a service provider). InBlue also allows the manager or owner to manage the virtual keys currently active, to set up limitations in terms of time, and to revoke the permission. The receiving persons cannot pass on their virtual key – they just get a data token that is valid only in connection with their smartphone. "This system is already reality, it will enter series production at a major OEM in 2016", explained Valeo R&D Vice President Jean-Francois Tarrabia. The system connects to the vehicle via a Bluetooth link and anticipates that the vehicle is equipped with a keyless entry system.

Fig. 1: InBlue is the name of a system that enables users to lend their (virtual) car key to friends or business partners

Electric supercharger: In contrast to today’s typical turbochargers which are driven by the exhaust gases, Valeo’s supercharger is powered electrically, allowing car designers not only to avoid the infamous turbo lag, but to completely change the engine characteristics, be it for the purpose to add power or for the purpose to enable lower fuel consumption. At the media day, Valeo illustrated the spectrum of the options by demonstrating two vehicles that could not be more different. One was an Alfa Romeo sports vehicle, the other one the Duster SUV from Dacia, a vendor of extremely low-cost vehicles. In the Alfa Romeo, the electric supercharger provided 70 additional horsepowers to the already vivacious standard version with 280 hp. In the Duster, the supercharger modified the entire torque characteristic of the gasoline engine, enabling designers to equip it with a "longer" transmission originally developed for a diesel engine, resulting in about 7 to 10 % lower fuel consumption without compromising the (albeit humble) temperament of the original vehicle.

The supercharger by itself exhibits stunning technical data: When activated, it reaches full speed of 70.000 rpm within 250 milliseconds. During this period, it however loads the voltage supply with a whopping 2 kW. "Yes, this calls for buffering, perhaps with supercaps. But this is at the discretion of the OEM" said Tarabbia, adding that it is possible to modify the charger according to customer requirements – be it for an 48V supply, or for a different power characteristic. In the 48V version, the supercharger is integrated in Audi’s V6 Biturbo engine developed for the RS5 TDI Concept.

Fig. 2: Additional horsepower immediately, no turbo lag: Electric supercharger

Lidar sensor: Valeo has developed a lidar sensor that offers an aperture angle of 140°, enabling it to use in automated driving schemes like a "parking lot assistant" that autonomously drives the vehicle to a parking lot. As to the price of the sensor, Valeo was not overly talkative, just saying that it will be "much cheaper" than the rotating sensor from Velodyne, known from the "Google car" and currently said to be something like the "gold standard" in the Lidar market. The wide aperture angle of Valeo’s sensor is achieved through rotating mirrors inside the casing; nevertheless the sensor has about the same compact size as standard radar sensors today in use. Its infrared beams however create a much more clear and detailed image than radar sensors. At the event, Valeo demonstrated its use in a working zone assistant system, where the lidar sensor detects the driving lane’s lateral limitations with very high precision.