Creating automotive camera tech with an eye toward the future
Ask engineers what draws them to their line of work and the answer is likely to have something to do with their inclination for tearing apart gadgets or the chance to create new technology.
In the case of Marwan Shaker, it's both. And he gets plenty of each working on the Bosch computer vision team as a technical expert, supporting surround-view and front-video cameras.
With surround view, four cameras placed around the car provide visual indicators to the driver. They support functionality like detecting vulnerable road users and detecting parking spots — delivering marked improvements to safety and convenience. Together with other sensors, the system can perceive the environment, and is able and helps to detect a live event such as a cyclist veering toward a car.
In the technical expert role, Marwan puts years of advanced training to work. Most of his college years were spent during wartime years in Baghdad, where he earned degrees in computer engineering and computer & control systems. Then he won a scholarship and moved to the UK where he earned a PhD in computer vision and robotics. Besides working on systems for the next generation, he also trains those who work on them in his current role in Bosch's North American operations.
Marwan's father was an advanced mathematics professor, which afforded Marwan chances to learn STEM topics early on in life. "He introduced me to Windows 95. I used to break his PC and fix it myself. That's what triggered me to be an engineer. I do not call myself a computer engineer but an engineer in general. I like the idea of taking something apart and putting it back together. It's like peeling the layers of an onion."
The burgeoning field of cameras and computer vision drew him because it was new and offered unexplored challenges. "It was still being worked out when I was in school. It was a wide open field to us." Unlike text or even still images, video presents challenges for processing, identifying and cataloguing the substance of the content so that it is searchable by human or machine.
"From the beginning, I thought, 'This is the future.' Camera-based technology is data-rich — you just need to know how to interpret it. And now it's playing a leading part.
He places himself at the nexus between hardware and software — ensuring that the software correctly comes together with the desired features in the hardware. While the systems Marwan works on are used for familiar features such as lane-keeping assistance, they point toward autonomous driving down the road.
The arrival of that day depends in part on the current focus of his work: advancing the tech behind surround view cameras so they can better detect and visualize objects.
"The challenge of the work is to learn something new. If I learn one new thing in a day, I am a better person for it."
The engineer's mindset manifests itself in personal ways, too. When asked about himself, Marwan has the habit of pulling out a presentation slide depicting his "Five Pillars": health, family, work, team activity and hobbies. He breaks down each component and explains how they work together, not unlike a technical system.
One of the hobbies? Cooking. "My wife laughs at me, but I don't like to improvise. If it says to use a teaspoon of ginger, I use one teaspoon. But, like an engineer, I can adapt. If I don't have any ginger, I can find a substitute. But I prefer to stick with the recipe. Someone already did the learning — I don't want to repeat the experiment."
