Magna recently made a strategic investment to expand its existing collaboration with Innoviz Technologies Ltd., a pioneer in solid-state LiDAR technology. Magna started collaborating with Innoviz in December 2016.

Innoviz’s solid-state LiDAR can provide high-definition, 3D, real-time images of the vehicle’s surroundings regardless of changing light and weather conditions. It can be easily integrated into any vehicle at significantly reduced cost compared to commercially available LiDAR technologies with comparable performance.

Magna has been steadily expanding its overall suite of sensor technologies and features that enable Level 3/4/5 autonomous driving capabilities.

At the heart of this development is a desire to show the market Magna’s breadth of capabilities and an autonomous driving enabling platform with subsystems that do not compromise the interior and exterior of a vehicle. Our focus is on developing production-ready solutions that offer flexibility to integrate and the framework to enable Level 4 technology for when the market is ready.

—Swamy Kotagiri, Magna Chief Technology Officer

One of the targets for Magna was to simplify the way drivers engage with autonomous driving systems including the option of an intuitive and familiar cruise-control-like user interface that is controlled through the press of a button. A lighted display indicates the vehicle is in autonomous mode, and drivers can disengage that mode via brake pedal or an emergency button.

Level 4 automation according to SAE International includes vehicles that can perform all safety-critical functions for the duration of a trip in a specified operational design domain with no input from a driver, save for destination or navigation input. To compare, most of the vehicles on the road today equipped with some automation features are classified by SAE as Level 1 or Level 2, requiring active monitoring by the driver.

Magna has been developing and manufacturing autonomous technology features for automakers since the 2000s. Most recently it showcased its Level 3 autonomous capability with a 300-mile test drive which crossed an international border, in which the vehicle drove autonomously for 92 percent of the trip.

Magna will demonstrate its autonomous enabling technologies at the upcoming 2017 International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt.