New profession, on the job ⑨｜Specialized in "finding faults" in cars! They make intelligent connected cars smarter and safer
2024-08-22
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How long does it take for a high-tech smart connected new energy vehicle to be tested before it can be put on the market?
The answer is nearly a year, with actual test mileage exceeding 4 million kilometers.
The profession responsible for this kind of testing is called intelligent connected car tester. Not long ago, it was released as an emerging profession by relevant state ministries.
Dou Jian, deputy chief engineer of software quality at Changan Automobile, is engaged in this new profession. In his opinion, his job is to "find faults": "We must expose problems of the car as much as possible through testing before the product is delivered, verify all product-level links, and help the car achieve 'zero defects'."
▲ Dou Jian is checking the car test data. Photo by reporter Bai Lin
The test items are several times more than those of traditional cars
On the morning of August 19, the reporter came to Changan Technology Park to experience this "new" job with Doujian. Sitting in the driving seat of Changan's new car, Qiyuan E07, Doujian activated the intelligent assisted driving. The vehicle drove smoothly on the test road next to the technology park. A long string of wires under the center console was connected to the laptop, and various real-time data kept flashing on the screen.
In the past six months, Doujian and his team have conducted in-depth tests on the vehicle's main performance, quality, appearance, communication, entertainment, and safety systems. Currently, their testing focus has shifted to NCA (high-speed intelligent driving and navigation assistance, an intelligent assisted driving system). In simple terms, it is to let the car run on the road continuously, encounter various road conditions, test the adaptability of NCA high-speed intelligent driving and navigation assistance, and then iterate and optimize.
"We have to guard the last checkpoint before the delivery of automobile products, so our testing work seems to be closer to the actual use of future users." After a round of testing, Dou Jian parked the car on the side of the road. While operating a laptop to check various test data, he told reporters that the Qiyuan E07 vehicle has a high level of technical difficulty and uses many new intelligent network connection technologies. Therefore, its test content and projects far exceed those of traditional vehicles.
For example, the wireless charging function of mobile phones in the car supports 50W wireless fast charging. In order to ensure that it can perfectly adapt to the current mainstream wireless fast charging mobile phones, the testing team has to take all these mobile phones for physical testing. For another example, the intelligent assisted driving system must be tested not only on highways, but also on national roads, provincial roads, rural roads, etc.
Add to that the lane change lever, mobile phone APP control, Bluetooth, car networking... the overall test items have increased from more than 300 for traditional cars in the past to more than 1,100 now.
New test items mean new problems will be discovered. For example, the Doujian team found that the navigation broadcast of a certain car model liked to prompt how many meters to turn left. Later, they provided suggestions to the engineering department and changed the voice broadcast to turn left at the next intersection.
According to reports, during the entire quality testing cycle, a traditional car may only find two or three hundred problems, most of which are only related to mechanics, but today's intelligent networked new energy vehicle testing may find ten times more problems. At the same time, the increase in test items and problems also leads to a longer test cycle.
In the context of intensified market competition and compressed product development cycles, how can testers meet their requirements?
"On the one hand, we need to expand the size of the testing team. More importantly, we need to adopt advanced technologies and new methods to shorten the testing cycle as much as possible." Dou Jian used vehicle simulation analysis as an example to say that in the past its effectiveness was only about 80%. Now, through optimization at the software and other levels, the effectiveness has been increased to about 93%. A large number of tests can be completed on the computer, which greatly reduces the time for actual vehicle verification.
Hard work but fun
Not long ago, Dou Jian and his colleagues just went through a long test. In 7 days, the test team drove the car for more than 5,000 kilometers. This working rhythm is their normal state.
"It is indeed very hard, but also very challenging and sometimes very interesting." Dou Jian said that today's intelligent networked new energy vehicles are more like a "walking big mobile phone", which poses a greater challenge to the original testing methods and ideas, requiring testers to think and explore hard, and sometimes they need to be creative and think of things that have never been thought of before. This also brings a strong sense of freshness.
For example, when testing automatic parking, we need to consider and anticipate various scenarios that may be encountered, such as dead-end parking spaces, parking spaces on ramps, unmarked parking spaces, etc. Sometimes team members will think of some rare non-standard scenarios, but they are indeed likely to be encountered in real life, and everyone feels that their imaginations are opened up.
"For example, to test the actual charging effect of the vehicle under various conditions, we need to consider ultra-fast charging, fast charging, slow charging and other conditions of various powers. In addition, when the weather is very hot, will there be a lot of heat? If the air conditioner is turned on in this case, will it affect charging?" Dou Jian said that before the team tests these scenarios, they will first organize a brainstorming session for everyone to brainstorm and think about how to plan.
Talent bottleneck needs to be broken through
Dou Jian majored in vehicle engineering. When he first joined Changan a few years ago, he was responsible for the quality testing of new product projects. Now as a tester of intelligent connected vehicles, his knowledge reserves and personal abilities have been greatly improved.
"In the past, testers were basically graduates of engineering majors similar to mine, from mechanical, electromechanical and other majors. Now this profession is more focused on the field of intelligent networking, such as computer, software, communications and other majors, but at the same time, the professional requirements in the field of automotive mechanics will not be lowered. This places higher demands on personal professional growth and knowledge mastery." Dou Jian introduced.
For example, all Changan Automobile's overseas export models now have voice control, which involves the adaptation and testing of languages such as English, Thai, and Arabic. This requires testers to have relevant language skills and knowledge of voice control software and hardware.
"Nowadays, emphasis is placed on the interconnection and communication between mobile phones and vehicles, and knowledge of mobile phone communications and mobile phone software also needs to be mastered." Dou Jian said that this is something that cannot be met by any single discipline training system at present, so domestic intelligent connected vehicle testing talents are also relatively scarce.
According to a report released by the China Society of Automotive Engineers, the total demand for intelligent connected vehicle talents in China will reach 116,000 by 2025, and the net talent gap may reach as high as 37,000, including intelligent connected vehicle testing talents.
In order to cultivate talents for the future, Dou Jian suggested that the industry should plan talent training in three major directions: vehicle intelligence and autonomous driving technology, vehicle new energy power system technology, and vehicle design and advanced manufacturing technology. Relevant majors such as vehicle engineering in colleges and universities should also add new disciplinary content and promote the cross-integration of knowledge systems such as intelligent networking, so as to break through the current talent bottleneck.
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