RTI unveils Connext Drive platform for autonomous vehicles

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Real-Time Innovations (RTI) has unveiled Connext Drive, a platform that the company says provides the necessary software and tools to automotive manufacturers to build highly autonomous vehicles and fleets.

RTI says that Connext Drive allows autonomous vehicle makers to develop and build vehicles without the high risk and cost of in-house technologies. The platform also eliminates the difficulty of adapting legacy connectivity, as it bridges both research and production technologies, and supports development from prototype to end use.

Equipped with a native Software Development Kit (SDK) for developing and integrating vehicle applications, Connext Drive supports software from the research phase all the way through to production.

The platform is built on the open Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard, which means that it implements “data-centric” connectivity that offers a virtual “distributed shared memory,” allowing advanced algorithms to get all the necessary data while reducing in-vehicle wiring.

RTI notes that the DDS standard is specified by important automotive ecosystems such as ROS2, AUTOSAR, and several commercial designs, which allows Connext Drive be the first and only platform that can integrate DDS, ROS2, AUTOSAR Classic, and AUTOSAR Adaptive.

This allows OEMs to work with the standard, or standards, that best meets their needs at different points in the innovation cycle.

“Baidu is developing solutions for autonomous valet parking, fully autonomous mini-buses and more, based on Apollo, a leading global autonomous vehicle technology platform,” explains Dounan Wei, Commercialization Manager at Baidu Intelligent Vehicle Business Unit.

“The reason we decided to work with RTI’s technology as the connectivity framework was for the superior reliability, a critical factor in the development of autonomous driving. With Connext, we can guarantee the utilization of bandwidth with TCP + UDP, ensure flexibility through multiple QoS strategies and apply standards-based security and safety. We are looking forward to accelerating innovation in autonomous driving together with RTI.”

According to RTI, Connext Drive addresses a variety challenges including the increasing demand for security in vehicles, the ability for vehicles to operate non-stop, and the overall challenge of developing autonomous systems.