Automotive Development Processes

Abstract

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.Cover design: eStudio Calamar S.L., HeidelbergPrinted on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) ForewordThe global crisis the automotive industry has slipped into over the second half of 2008 has set a fierce spotlight not only on which cars are the right ones to bring to the market but also on how these cars are developed. Be it OEMs developing new models, suppliers integerating themselves deeper into the development processes of different OEMs, analysts estimating economical risks and opportunities of automotive investments, or even governments creating and evaluating scenarios for financial aid for suffering automotive companies: At the end of the day, it is absolutely indispensable to comprehensively understand the processes of automotive development -the core subject of this book.Let's face it: More than a century after Carl Benz, Wilhelm Maybach and Gottlieb Daimler developed and produced their first motor vehicles, the overall concept of passenger cars has not changed much. Even though components have been considerably optimized since then, motor cars in the 21st century are still driven by combustion engines that transmit their propulsive power to the road surface via gearboxes, transmission shafts and wheels, which together with springdamper units allow driving stability and ride comfort. Vehicles are still navigated by means of a steering wheel that turns the front wheels, and the required control elements are still located on a dashboard in front of the driver who operates the car sitting in a seat.However, what has changed dramatically are processes involved in vehicle development. What used to be solely the work of one brilliant engineer over several years is achieved today by a highly interlaced co-operative network of specialists coming from a variety of disciplines. The process of vehicle development has become a complex interplay of decentralized sub-processes which are steered on a relatively high level. Even though this has been the dream of automotive development managers for years, there is no such thing as a completely detailed process model. On one hand, if there were one, it would be out-of-date the day after it was completed. On the other hand, on the operational level, real vehicle development "happens" to a certain extent according to individual experience, preference, and current necessities, rather than following a meticulously detailed plan. Even at the most efficient carmakers in the world, it is, to a surprisingly high extent, an ad-hoc process. After all, automotive development is about people.It is that twofold challenge, to both technically integrate separate components to create a complete vehicle, and at the same time to orchestrate the cooperation of thousands of peo...

Mechatronic Design and Optimization Using Knowledge Based Engineering Applied to an Inherently Unstable and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

“…These developments require manufacturers to transfer part of their attention from mechanical design aspects to the integration of electronic control system into their products. Unfortunately, the established development processes, which aim at the efficient creation of high quality mechanical systems, cannot deal efficiently with the problem of integrating highly complex electrical and electronic systems (E/E systems) [1]. As a result, the number of E/E systems related failures on road vehicles has increased dramatically.…”

“…For example, there are more than 2500 software controlled functions on typical passenger car, representing 10 million lines of software code [1]. Furthermore, the aerospace industry is currently developing more electric aircraft (MEA) in which mechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic systems are replaced with electrically-based power systems.…”

Knowledge Based Engineering to support electric and electronic system design and automatic control software development

“…The development process of the E/E systems is based on the V-Model in [3]. The process starts from the logical, technical system specification down to the software components (along the first leg of the V).…”

“…In other words, because almost all functions on the vehicles are electronically controlled nowadays, the complexity of overall E/E systems rises sharply along with the increasing number of vehicle variants. The established vehicle development processes, which are aimed at the efficient creation of high quality mechanical systems, cannot deal with the problem of the high complexity of the E/E systems [3]. Moreover, the analysis and specification for the architecture of the logical system, the technical system and the software itself includes many repetitive processes in conventional automotive software development [4].…”

Using Modelling and Simulation to Predict Dynamics of Converted Ground Vehicle

“…1 . Nevertheless, vehicle simulations are intended to reduce the cost and the duration of the vehicle development process and help identifying errors and deficiencies at early stages of the design process.…”