 Software-based 6
kfz-tech.de/YSD4
After everything you may have read so far about the term 'software-based', you may be wondering what comparatively small companies like Elektrobit can actually achieve compared to huge OEM corporations, Sony, or even
Foxconn.
Perhaps we should take a brief look back at the time when the topic of "exhaust gas detoxification" first arose in the automotive sector. We were able to observe this at FEV, which was still a company at the time. Back then,
they developed, for example, a particle filter for Peugeot.
Not only is this costly, requiring a sudden increase in trained engineers, but it would also have been only a temporary task for the OEM. Certainly, in the beginning, it was also a major effort for FEV and yielded comparatively
little.
But what if suddenly all OEMs selling diesel engines have this problem? Then you can sell customized updates to the next person, so to speak, and you also have more motivation and resources to further develop this
technology.
Let's take a large supplier such as BOSCH and its equipment for an incredible number of vehicles with mixture preparation systems. The list could go on and on, and if
competition among suppliers is added to the mix, so much the better.
So now please apply that to the new era and the transition from rather hardware-based to software-based cars. And that's not all, because the next challenge is already lurking:
Automated driving as a challenge.
And anyone who thinks that a few lines of new code or a large amount of it will do the trick is barking up the wrong tree. Just as FEV had to develop extensive equipment to test innovations,
e.g., in the exhaust system, the same is true for software development.
Anyone who helps to develop it must consider how it will be tested. You need to have criteria in order to define the point of ‘passing’ more precisely. It is important to know the environment of existing software in which
testing is being conducted.
FEV apparently had hardware problems with the equipment needed for exhaust gas testing. During a visit there, we counted an incredible number of above-ground and, above all, underground tanks. So many
different types of fuel are available?
Software of the type that has just been completed basically only needs software that has been created for testing purposes. But wait, even Elektrobit obviously needs engineers who are familiar with the hardware side of
things.
But one more point to add. Those who repeatedly have to deal with similar problems naturally tend to move into a higher dimension, e.g. by classifying the problems into a larger grid.
What does this requirement belong to? Is it closer to the hardware area, does it affect only a few vehicles, or does it have to be assigned to the huge group of vehicles on a platform? Will it even be possible to solve the
problem via OTA?
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