ATSSA Signal May June 2019

The Signal | May/June 2019 21 Innovation & New Programs In January, 3M and ON Semiconduc- tor announced a collaboration to im- prove communication between road- way infrastructure and CAVs. The intent is for 3M to use its experience in the roadway safety industry and ON Semi- conductor to use its knowledge of im- age sensor technology to better under- stand areas in need of improvement so the systems in CAVs can perform at optimum levels. The announcement came during this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Both companies displayed a model of ON Semiconduc- tor’s image sensor AR0234AT CMOS, which was integrated with 3M’s digitally enhanced sign technology. “Our image sensors are the ’eyes‘ of au- tonomous vehicles, and our sensor tech- nology can enable vehicles to ’see‘ much more than a human driver can,” said Ross Jatou, vice president and general manager of the Automotive Solutions Division’s Intelligent Sensing Group at ON Semiconductor. “Working with 3M’s advanced materials technology enables our sensors to deliver additional infor- mation from enhanced infrastructure to further assist drivers beyond tradi- tional Advanced Driver Assistance Sys- tems (ADAS) and pave the way towards autonomous driving.” According to Business Development Manager for the 3M Transportation Safety Division, Sinan Yordem, 3M has worked on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) since the late 1990s. Re- cently, within the last four to five years, 3M has shifted more of its focus to CAVs and their ADAS. “We understand that CAVs are much more present in our lives today through ADAS in the new vehicles that people purchase, and as we know from some of the media there’s more autonomous testing on the roads and more connec- tivity in roadway infrastructure,” Yor- dem said. “These are the bigger trends in today’s world.” Based on trending CAV technology, 3M formed a focus group that is dedicated to these emerging technologies and uti- lized its expertise with retroreflectivity to optimize infrastructure and roadway materials for optimal performance of human and machine vision. “We have a group working globally on areas where both governments and au- tomotive OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) are focusing on these next generation technologies,” Yordem said. “Our mission in every region is to improve roadway safety. We are look- ing into human drivers, the image sen- sors of today, and the sensor systems of tomorrow. We’re continuing to work with the roadway infrastructure and automotive industries to help improve safe navigation for everyone. We’re look- ing at this from a mobility and safety perspective for every driver on the road.” Yordem said the engagement with On Semiconductors started in 2017, when 3M started to work very closely with more progressive states like Michigan, Minnesota, and California. The compa- ny also had begun working with not only the transportation departments, but the stakeholders in the automotive in- dustry in those states through pilots or corridors. The groups could create proj- ects to introduce the new automotive concepts and technologies that 3M de- velops and evaluate how those products help the roadway safety infrastructure industry and the DOTs with the chal- lenges they face. In 2017, 3M had the nation’s first con- nected work zone in Michigan in collab- oration with the Michigan Department of Transportation and other collabora- tors in the market. The test corridor project was one of the key times 3M began working with and talking to ON Semiconductor. Global Communications Manager for 3M’s Transportation Safety Division Jo- line Bogdan said this is a pivotal time for these types of collaborations to occur and 3M is hopeful their integrated ef- forts will yield more safety innovations. “At 3M we look at trends and the indus- try—what’s changing, what’s happening. Obviously, the transportation industry is changing in terms of how we drive,” Bogdan said. “Vehicles are changing so the infrastructure needs to change as well to keep up with the vehicles and that’s where all of the efforts we’re do- ing now stemmed from. We know that we need to change and we know that we need to modernize the infrastruc- ture as well.”  3M and ON Semiconductor jointly displayed an image sensor product during this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, following an announcement of the companies’ collaboration to improve communication between Connected and Automated Vehicles and roadway infrastructure.