Why we chose Lexus RX450h
By OSCAR Team Engineers
Building a self-driving car is a pretty exciting journey, full of dozens of challenges. One of them — is to choose the right base (car model) for the future autonomous vehicle. As you may noticed from the previous post OSCAR utilises Lexus RX450h and there is a reason why made that choice.
Candidates
Initial requirements
Electric controls (no hydraulic steering/mechanical pedals)
Our software must be able to manage hardware (gas, brakes, steering and so on) and the most efficient way to do it is electric controls. Otherwise, we would have to build and install additional hardware for pedals and steering wheel manipulation (actuators).
CAN bus
The most common bus in automotive insustry. As long as OSCAR remains an open-source project we’re interesting in pulling as much as possible contributors in this project. Choosing FlexRay/LIN or other standard would heavily limit the range of car possible to control. Besides, StarLine has a 10+ years experience of working with CAN bus.
Hybrid
Hybrid cars are not just eco-friendly, but also provide powerful batteries for additional hardware (control unit, GPU, lidars, camera, etc.). Moreover, software (neural networks, computer vision, data processing) has a great power consumption, which can’t be fullfilled with regular onboard battery.
Lincoln MKZ
One of the most suitable for autonomy cars, used by companies like Udacity, Pony.AI, Drive.AI and others. Besides that, it’s Apollo ready. Pretty expensive though.
Pros:
- electric gearbox
- electric steering
- adaptive cruise control
- hybrid (powerful battery)
Cons:
- not presented across the Russia, maintenance risks
- high price ($47 000 + taxes + delivery cost)
- long delivery from USA
Toyota Prius
Pretty reliable hybrid in third generation. Companies like Waymo and Yandex build their solutions on the top of that car.
Pros:
- hybrid with powerful batteries
- big screen (can be used for visualization)
- automatic parking
- electric steering
- electric gearbox
Cons:
- no adaptive cruise control
- not so much internal space
Genesis G80
Product of Hyundai’s luxury divison. Provides access to almost every software subsystem, which is important for AV. Not very popular across the Russia, so limited maintenance comes along.
Pros:
- electric steering
- electric gearbox
- adaptive cruise control with Stop & Go
- parking assist
Cons:
- not hybrid (means additional battery installation)
Lexus RX 450h (winner)
In the end, RX450h became our weapon of choice. The product of Toyota’s luxury division has almost everything we need, plus comfort and reliability. Apple and other AV companies successfully used it in production.
Pros:
- electric steering
- adaptive cruise control
- hybrid (powerful battery)
- Lexus brand pretty known across the Russia (easy maintenance)
- Onboard AEB (Auto Emergency Braking)
- Onboard road sign recognition
- Lane keep assist
Cons:
- no electric gearbox (which won’t be necessary for early rides)
Since we have a car, it’s time to move forward and tell you about what exactly we’re going to build. In one of the next publications we will unveil OSCAR platform and our plans for the future.
Stay tuned, a lot of exciting things are coming.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/starline_oscar
Website: https://smartcar.starline.ru
