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The Future of Automotive Network Solution - BUS Systems and Ethernet

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Florian Netter
10/31/2014

Automotive IQ recently spoke with Florian Netter of Audi Electronics Venture about the current state of Automotive BUS Systems and Ethernet.

Mr. Netter, what is your company’s role in the automotive industry?
Florian Netter: Audi Electronics Venture GmbH is a 100% subsidiary of AUDI AG. The objective of Audi Electronics Venture GmbH is to implement innovations in the vehicle based on new technologies.
In a fast growing and developing market, how is your company setting itself apart?
F.N.: We do this through our own functional and software development, by means of technology scouting and through participating interests and partnerships. To respond to the challenges that we face in the dynamic high-tech environment, we seek to combine our own strengths with those of our partners. This approach helps to achieve shorter development times, increase all-round expertise and bring all participants lasting benefits.
What are – from your perspective – the current challenges of automotive BUS systems?
F.N.: Current challenges in the E/E architecture design are the growing complexity required to deliver the bandwidth and quality of service for upcoming technologies as well as the transition from shared media to a communication infrastructure based on point-to-point links.
From your point of view: In which area do you see the greatest impact on E/E architecture and why?
F.N.: Ethernet will enable a consolidation of the current, function-centric E/E architecture design and, thus, helps to reduce complexity. The available bandwidth allows to provide the driver more fascinating applications, e.g., piloted driving.
Ethernet is seen as the future automotive network solution. What challenges are we facing here?
F.N.: Ethernet comes with a huge set of different standards, most not directly tailored to the special requirements of the automotive use case. The challenge is to find a beneficial selection of protocols and, then, their parametrization to create a working toolbox for an at least OEM-wide application. Of course, the resulting toolbox must follow the existing open standards and also be compatible to the requirements of other OEMs to avoid the costly development of OEM-specific communication hardware.
Regarding cyber security: Is this a real challenge within BUS systems?
F.N.: Cyber security is and will ever be a challenge for the E/E architecture. And the more holistic the driver-supporting software interacts, the more important cyber security is. Especially with the ever increasing car connectivity (like infrastructure, mobile devices, smart home, car2car), cyber security is an essential aspect to be considered from the very beginning of the design process of an automotive system.
What are the "best" concepts for evaluating quality-of-service strategies?
F.N.: Well, I guess you’ll find these in our talk. ;-)
Where are the challenges for concepts that evaluating quality-of-service strategies?
F.N.: The selection and parameterization of QoS mechanisms must be evaluated for usability in a dedicated future automotive environment which will be available much later: The result of the evaluation of QoS strategies itself is the basis for the development of automotive certified hardware and software.
Quo vadis Automotive BUS systems and Ethernet? What are your thoughts?
F.N.: What are upcoming standards for Ethernet? Do we need TSN and for what use cases? How do we layout networks with both – time critical control messages as well as high bandwidth requiring audio/video applications? For which Ethernet features do we need hardware support, what is better achieved in software?
Thank you for your time.

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