Evolution of the Automotive Electrical/Electronic Architecture

Hundreds of ECUs (engine control units), MCUs (micro-controllers), and complex embedded software code, as well as complicated CAN, FlexRay, and other vehicle communication networks, differentiate today’s automobiles from other IoT devices or smartphones. The car’s E/E (Electrical/Electronic) architecture has been growing and iterating to better serve intelligence and experience.

The automotive E/E architecture is still in the functional integration stage, while emerging car manufacturers (such as Tesla) and traditional car companies are focusing on the development of future models. They gradually adopt more advanced E/E architecture of the entire vehicle including intelligent driving domain controller (Figure 1).

The automotive industry will benefit from the rapid expansion of information technology and consumer electronics technology, as well as the accumulation of related technology. It will take time for these technologies to be implemented and adjusted for the automobile sector. As a result, the architecture of vehicle electronics is rapidly changing. It’s a clear trend that traditional powertrains are being pushed toward high-voltage hybrids and electric engines for energy efficiency. The migration of various sensors that involve in functionally independent control units is required for autonomous driving. With access to the cloud, over-the-air updates, high-speed access to mapping services, multimedia information, and V2X, the car has become a distributed IT system.

According to a Tesla analysis, technology sector players including Google and Apple are looking for opportunities and solutions that could be applied to the automotive market. Service-oriented architectures (SOA) and operating systems like iOS are examples of such solutions. Developers can use this strategy to design efficient new features (applications) that can be readily incorporated into the device’s complete ecosystem (e.g., iPhone). This integration of new features can personalize each user’s experience. Remote updates also assist with feature optimization, quality enhancements, and flexible lifecycle management. High-performance processors, as well as explicit design patterns like hierarchy and scalability, provide further opportunities.

New integrated platforms in vehicle E/E architecture are enabled by high-performance processors. These processors are bringing sophisticated operating systems to the automotive industry. An example in Linux is presented below (Figure 2).

A software architecture standard, including an operating system, is being established by the GENIVI consortium. This software architecture will be necessary for ECUs in various applications (e.g., autonomous driving). In addition, with POSIX standard, the AUTOSAR standard will be modified to produce the AUTOSAR Adaptive Platform. Developers will be able to construct E/E architectures in new ways thanks to these new technologies.

To date, E/E architectures have been designed mostly in an incremental manner, with a focus on local solutions. This means the following four things:

• the division of functionality is focused on computing powers.
• project-specific development methodologies are common across E/E areas.
• all ECUs follow the OEM’s generic system requirements, which often leads to over-engineering of ECUs.
• ECU development is focused on local optimization of ECUs due to the strict separation of duties and objectives.

To address these issues, BMW has created a layered E/E architecture for the design of next-generation vehicles (Figure 3) with several advantages:

• requirement-based ECU classification
• a unified development methodology for each type of ECU
• specific system requirements for each type of ECU
• system-level optimization

Today’s online architectures are being built at the expense of increasing complexity and variety. Design patterns commonly involve communication between senders and receivers, resulting in high interdependence and limited scalability.

For next-generation network architectures, Central Communication Servers (CCS) will support encapsulation to handle scalability locally. These architectures will have the following key features (Figure 4):

• Central servers and agents will handle all network architecture information.
• The E/E architecture will be able to extend all vehicles from the basic version to the full-functional version with slight modifications.
• Communication in the network architecture will be structured and hierarchical.
• Information translating between protocols such as LIN, CAN, Flex Ray, Ethernet, and the upcoming V2V wireless protocols is streamlined. Physical nodes, information, and service levels, including firewall capability will be autonomous.

At for the system level, CCS will provide optimization choices for both physical and logical topologies. At the physical level, sub-gateways can be replaced with CCS’s high-performance routing engine.  For logical optimization, CCS can separate the dependencies between the sender and the receiver, laying the framework for the gradual adoption of SOA (service-oriented architecture).

In terms of innovation, automotive functionality must be on par with that of the IT and consumer electronics industries. The functionality of automobiles is becoming increasingly sophisticated as people become more reliant on them. A good illustration is the transaction from simple cruise control through adaptive cruise control to autonomous driving. The functional picture of the system is currently based on signals. The distribution of functions is influenced by legacy systems, ECU resources, and the organization of the development system. Focusing just on the ECU level is insufficient to comprehend the complexity.

As a result, BMW has introduced a SOA-based solution for the next generation of E/E architecture (Figure 5). The SOA solution provides a service abstraction for the total system. The system’s layered structure and stringent packaging make agile development and easier interface testing, while also lowering system complexity. It will be considerably easier to reuse software components when cars are updated and replaced.

Vehicle electronics will benefit from information technology and consumer electronics standards, but many technologies will need to be updated to fulfill stringent requirements. Automotive electronic systems will not be comparable to traditional software systems. The demand of safety, performance, usability, and data security lead to the highest levels of skill and quality, which aren’t often required in consumer electronics. Smart adoption and adaptation of information technology and consumer electronics methodologies and technologies will create numerous opportunities while avoiding the drawbacks of weakening existing software systems.

Ecotron ADCU (Autonomous Driving Control Unit), is an intelligent computing platform developed by Ecotron, for autonomous driving systems using Black Sesame A1000 chip and Infineon TC297. Using the supporting basic software and development tools, developers can build an L4 level low-speed autonomous driving system in a safe, convenient, and efficient manner. It is designed for L4 autonomous driving applications in low-speed scenarios. Ecotron ADCU can also be customized according on customer vehicle parameters and components input specifications. Ecotron will keep working on the innovation of autonomous driving.

For more information about Ecotron ADCU: https://ecotron.ai/adcu/

For Business inquiries, please email info@ecotron.ai