Abstract
This paper presents a new concept for future cars combining potentials of
Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and X-by-Wire technology.
Based on current developments in technology ADAS will cover a great part of standard traffic
situations and offer assistance on the conducting level to the driver. As a result, in addition to
basic driving functions on stabilising level assumed as fundamental so far (steering, braking,
accelerating), the driver now has to deal with the operation of a greater number of control
elements and furthermore the attention to new display elements. Beyond the extension of the
Human-Machine-Interface (HMI) interdependencies between assistance and basic driving
functions now arise, which are associated with the new requirement for the driver to be aware
of which functional mode the vehicle is in.
The idea of Conduct-by-Wire is to transfer the vehicle control from stabilising to conducting
level. Driver assistance functions and basic operations (steering, braking and accelerating) are
an integral part of a vehicle guidance system which communicates with the driver on
manoeuvre basis. For this, a large number of developments of operational elements can be
mentioned which range from multifunctional elements similar to a steering wheel or a
joystick. Indeed, instances of these forms are known from various X-by-Wire concepts.
Unlike them, the operational units of Conduct-by-Wire serve as a command interface for
manoeuvres and appropriate parameters.
A vehicle with such an HMI will transform the various inputs of the conducting function in a
motion vector and convert it into motion on the stabilising level without the driver´s help. As
a result a mechanical or hydraulical coupling between operational element and wheel actuator
becomes useless, so that an underlying X-by-Wire architecture has to be chosen logically.
The Conduct-by-Wire concept breaks away from the paradigm of a driver interface on the
stabilising level and chooses the conducting level instead. As a result consistent and
simplified vehicle guidance is realized, which provides the most of the ADAS-functionality
without removing the driving responsibility from the driver. A further advantage of this
concept is the simplicity of the vehicle´s architecture with a very simplified command flow
with no need of coordination between the functions of the controlling systems, i.e. a motion
vector is absolutely sufficient for the control of the underlying X-by-Wire systems.
Keywords - X-by-Wire, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, Human Machine
Interface, Vehicle Conducting, Autonomous Driving