Auto Electronics Software

We have Upgraded Your Car Systems requiring maximum reliability are proliferating in vehicles. A new, open standard developed by the automobile industry will ensure that such systems speak the same language and can be economically combined and upgraded. A new software architecture from Siemens is designed to do the same for automotive infotainment systems.

Onboard electronics and software are making cars more comfortable, safer, and more environmentally acceptable

In the split second before a crash, multiple systems in your car could hold a conference, evaluate the circumstances, and decide on a course of action that could save your life. The scenario, which is just a few years away, would look something like this: One of the tires on the car ahead of you suddenly blows out. Radar in your car calculates a dramatic and continuous reduction in the distance to the next vehicle, wheel sensors determine that your car is starting to slide, the braking system works to eliminate loss of control, shoulder and seat belts tighten, a processor primes the air bag sensor for deployment, and the cars GPS-based navigation system transmits an emergency message that notifies downstream vehicles as to the location of your car and the need to reduce speed. The successful coordination of these events not only relies on advanced sensors, actuators and highspeed processors, but also on the ability of all reliability-related systems to exchange informationin short, to function based on an open communication standard. That standard is now taking shape in the form of the Automotive Open System Architecture, otherwise known as AUTOSAR. In stark contrast to the current automotive environment, AUTOSAR will set the stage for standardized interfaces for software components and operating systems, thus enabling economical scalability and transferability of functions. The need for an open standard for systems critical to vehicle dependability is growing for a number of reasons. Nose-diving memory chip costs and the resulting migration of functionalities from electromechanical devices to microprocessors and software (see Pictures of the Future, Fall 2004, Facts and Forecasts) have made new systems possible that promise to become a major competitive factor throughout the automobile industry. Not only are new services such as dynamic stability control, automatic lane keeping, and even drive- and brake-bywire on the horizon, but existing technologies are constantly being fine-tuned to improve comfort, performance and safety.

The problem is that today each module that provides a service comes with its own microprocessor and proprietary softwareand there are already as many as 80 processors in some high-end cars. As such services proliferate, the amount of time and money spent on adapting software from one model year to the next, as well as across product families, is increasing exponentially. "Naturally, we want to be able to introduce important new safetyrelated functions as they become available; but the goal is to do so as cost-effectively as possible," says Prof. Harald Heinecke, former Speaker of the AUTOSAR development partnership and head of BMW Car IT GmbH, a BMW subsidiary that specializes in IT solutions and automotive software development. With this in mind, major automobile manufacturers around the world, suppliers (including Siemens VDO as a Core Partner), and others have hammered out AUTOSAR, which is a standardized platform on which future vehicle applications can be modularly implemented. "By providing a clear infrastructure architecture and standardized interfaces and defining rules as to how to write software that meets these needs, AUTOSAR sets the stage for affordable and practical integration and transfer of functions," says Reinhold Achatz, head of the Software and Engineering Division at Siemens Corporate Technology, which played a leading role in designing AUTOSARS architecture. Simplified integration and transfer of functions could mean, for example, that existing software governing a cars motor electronics could be transferred to its power management module and would be automatically integrated. The result would be higher efficiency without the cost of rewriting the software. Whats more, if a competing supplier comes up with better software to govern motor electronics, the automobile manufacturer can replace its old software with the new versin its next model, or even offer the change as an upgrade in existing vehiclesall without making any significant modifications to the software. "The advantageand the noveltyof AUTOSAR is that it makes it possible to have interchangeability of functions between suppliers, while simplifying integration and limiting costs," says Heinecke. Obviously, auto manufacturers stand to benefit from AUTOSARbut so do suppliers. If 20 suppliers develop twenty competing programs for an ABS system, for instance, chances are that most of the effort will be lost in reinventing the wheel. But if the standards for that braking system are universally known and the software development tools themselves have been standardized, each supplier can focus its resources on innovations. Furthermore, suppliers can work together to cut costs and hone their technological edge. Either way, experts agree that AUTOSAR will tend to level the playing field, while allowing market forces to bring the best technologies to the consumer. When AUTOSAR is completed in 2006, the automotive industry will begin a subtle but profound transformation. Thanks to standardization, the process of developing, introducing, upgrading and exchanging software components in automobiles will be accelerated. Software will become increasingly reusable, thus cutting errors, increasing dependability, and lowering costs.

It will soon be possible to upgrade navigation- and entertainment-related functions, ensuring that vehicle electronics keep pace with technologies as they evolve

Comprehensive Platform. Plans call for AUTOSAR, which will initially be limited to managing so-called "low level" functionssomething akin to breathing and heartbeat in the human bodyto soon evolve into a comprehensive platform that will accommodate the integration of things like navigation, communication and entertainment as well. These "higher level" functionsthe rough equivalent of the five senseswill also be integrated, first with each other, and eventually with the AUTOSAR platform. With this process in mind, Siemens VDO has developed Top Level Architecture (TLA), a kind of plugnplay structure to allow infotainment systems from different vendors to recognize each other automatically and be upgraded or exchanged as technologies evolve. The basic idea behind TLA is simple, explains Gnter Hauptmann, a member of the Siemens VDO Executive Board: "There are two types of products in vehicles: those that do not change, and those that do. The former have a life span of five to seven years. The latter are commodities that have a life span of six to twelve months. TLA offers an architecture that allows commodity products to be upgraded throughout the life of the vehicleand an opportunity for end users to enjoy the same level of service integration in their vehicles as they do in a wired environment." Always Online. But the Siemens VDO vision of our automotive future goes well beyond what we have at home or in the office. Today, even something as simple as finding the nearest Mexican restaurant in your area can be a challenge that requires time-honored tools like maps and phone books. With TLA, however, a new world of connectivity may be at hand. "We believe that in the near future, as soon as you enter your car, you will be online," says Dr. Anton Mindl, CEO, Infotainment Systems at Siemens VDO. He explains that TLA, which is based on Java (a flexible, open standard language), the Open Service Gateway Initiative (a standard that allows devices to recognize each other on a plugnplay basis), and its own XML-based human-machine interface (HMI), will make it possible to not only create new forms of connectivitysay between a car and a restaurantbut to support new interfaces tailored to the automotive environment. Robert Simon, who heads TLA platform development at Siemens VDO, expects that in the near future it will be possible to verbally ask your car for the name and location of the nearest Mexican restaurant (see "My Car Understands Me" and have the navigation system not only direct you there, but reserve a parking space, and a table that meets your preferences. "Its not a difficult thing to do," he says. "Were almost there already. Whats still missing to make this scenario possible is a service provider and an HMI

designed to offer the providers information in a way that a driver can use safely. As soon as that business case becomes available, we will be ready to make it happen with TLA." As Hauptmann and others at VDO see it, TLAs modular approach to combining software building blocks will eventually snap infotainment systems into the larger AUTOSAR picture. At that point, advanced services such as full-windshield navigational displays that synch flawlessly with reality could be combined with underlying safety-critical informationeven from other cars. The vehicle ahead of you might then flash an emergency message to your infotainment system, causing your windshield display to highlight one of its tires and indicate a rapid loss of pressuregiving you just enough time to avoid a life threatening accident. Arthur F. Pease