Autonomous driving (AD) will revolutionize the automotive industry in the coming years. It will transform the consumer experience and make traveling safer and more enjoyable. Potential benefits include increased productivity during commutes and improved mobility for elderly drivers. In terms of safety, we can also expect a significant reduction in the number of accidents. Apart from the advantages for consumers, AD also represents a lucrative opportunity for the automotive industry: McKinsey estimates the market for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving systems to be worth between USD 300 and 400 billion by 2035. Autonomous driving will also have an impact on various other industries.

High demands on the automotive industry

However, fully autonomous driving brings many new challenges for technology. Who sees and senses what is happening around the car if these tasks are no longer performed by the driver or a human being in the future? The seam- less integration of various sensor inputs will be essential. Multiple optical sensor technologies are required to enable autonomous driving beyond conditional driving automation. Typically, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) use a combination of LiDAR and long-range radar and camera sensors to equip their vehicles with environment perception capabilities. Subsequent sensor fusion is typically executed using a central control unit (CCU) or an advanced driver assistance gateway. Furthermore, X-by-wire systems play a crucial role in steering and braking by replacing conventional mechanical linkages with electronic controls, enabling more precise and responsive control over safety- critical vehicle functions.

Keeping ADAS safe: water ingress detection

The presence of humidity, through condensation or water ingress, presents significant challenges, impacting performance and compromising safety by increasing the risk of corrosion inside the systems.

This is where Sensirion’s SHT4xA humidity and temperature sensor comes into play. By using our sensors in AD systems, condensation and water ingress can be detected at an early stage, thus ensuring the reliability and safety of the electronic systems.

The transition to higher levels of autonomy requires stronger secondary measures for fault diagnosis while also creating new opportunities, such as innovative B2B insurance models designed to address emerging risks.

Sensirion at the forefront of functional safety in RHT sensing

Functional safety is crucial in ADAS to ensure reliable operation, detect and mitigate potential failures and minimize the risk of accidents, especially as liability shifts from human drivers to electronic systems. Central to functional safety is the Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) rating, which is a classification defined by ISO 26262 that measures the risk and safety requirements of automotive components. As the market leader for automotive relative humidity and temperature (RHT) sensing for more than 20 years, Sensirion has been working with multiple key stakeholders from the beginning in the development of AD systems and their safety. This focus over the past several years has enabled Sensirion to bring the first ASIL-rated RHT sensor to the market. Unlike standard automotive components, ASIL-rated components need to follow strict design and development guidelines and require extensive risk assessments, fault tolerance and diagnostic measures as well as fully traceable development processes.

Fundamental changes to the product development process

To develop the first ASIL-rated RHT sensor (SHT41A-AWSB), Sensirion made fundamental changes to its product development process, led by the project team including Mareike Weiss, Julien Cors, Manuel Becker and Tong Wu. Part of the transformation was the creation of new roles, such as Head of Functional Safety in Production as well as a new structure (ASIL Council), composed of representatives from all company departments, that oversees functional safety-related processes.

All members involved are now Certified Functional Safety Engineers and are experts in the strictly defined ASIL project management framework.