AT&S Gives Driverless Cars Vision

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In early January, AT&S presents its latest communication infrastructure developments at the CES electronics trade show in Las Vegas. Today’s transport systems are increasingly no longer able to meet the needs of a modern society. A large number of private vehicles, which spend most of their useful life in parking lots and are driven by combustion engines, are problematic in more than just one way: they produce significant CO2 emissions, need large sealed areas for parking and cause traffic jams. In addition, they require energy and resources for production and cause enormous environmental pollution through tyre wear.

“Driverless electric cars and trucks are one of the most promising options to make transport systems more sustainable. A fleet of autonomously driving electric cars available to everyone could dramatically reduce the CO2 and resource footprint of transport systems. AT&S is working hard to provide the automotive industry with the technical prerequisites for such systems,” says Gerald Reischl, VP Corporate Communications at AT&S.

5G and Sensors

Driverless cars able to manoeuvre under controlled conditions without any human intervention already exist today. However, systems capable of handling unlikely scenarios under real-life conditions are still a long way in the future. One limiting factor is the ability of autonomous vehicles to register their environment in sufficient detail. AT&S high-tech printed circuit boards play an essential part at several levels when it comes to enabling driverless cars to interact safely with human road users and to deal with other unforeseen troubles.

Special AT&S printed circuit boards not only enable the production of high-frequency radar sensors able to provide a detailed image of the immediate surroundings. They are also an integral part of the infrastructure of future smart transport networks which allow automated, sustainable and efficient management of the flow of traffic. In the future, cars will constantly communicate with other cars, traffic lights and smartphones in the pockets of nearby pedestrians and cyclists. This is called V2X communication (Vehicle-to-Everything) in the industry.

It requires communication systems that enable fast, efficient and low-latency connections. AT&S communication modules capable of managing high frequencies will be an essential component of such safe communication networks. “We are a leading supplier of high-frequency printed circuit boards and integrated antenna solutions, which will form the basis for smart V2X networks in the future,” Reischl says.