Automotive & Mobility

In recent years, vehicles have increasingly become “computers on wheels”, with complex software on board. The trends towards higher levels of automation and digital networking with services in the automotive industry continue to drive this development. But how do you ensure that your software is highly reliable?

Fraunhofer IESE develops innovative software and systems engineering solutions for the automotive and commercial vehicle industry that can be relied on in every respect. We support you in the implementation of safety concepts, the development of new architectures, virtual integration and qualification, and the design of innovative products. Measurability, transparency, and quality are our top priorities in this regard.

• What does state-of-the-art safety engineering for vehicles look like?
  
  
• How do you ensure dependability of your AI-based systems?
  
  
• What does your future development and testing environment need to look like?
  
  
• How is your business model changing with the digital transformation and the platform economy?
  
  
• Does your software (still) make you an innovative pioneer in your industry?
  
  
• Is your software architecture prepared for the challenges of the future?
  
  
• Do you use the methods and technologies available on the market profitably in the right processes?
  
  
• Are you looking for another solution or support in the context of software and systems engineering?
  
  

Keep track and save time and costs with automated analyses

Modern safety engineering must take numerous safety-relevant aspects into account. In addition to functional safety, these also include, for example, the opening up and networking of passenger cars and commercial vehicles, which offers opportunities for attacks and thus also generates new risks for functional safety. Classic safety assurance methods such as FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) or FTA (Fault Tree Analysis) must therefore be supplemented by other aspects, such as those of IT security/cybersecurity (ISO/SAE 21434).

TARA (Threat Assessment and Remediation Analysis) provides new aspects for potential hazards. Experience state-of-the-art safety engineering from a single source. At Fraunhofer IESE, we use our safeTbox tool to integrate all these factors into a uniform model of your system that describes all relevant safety challenges and countermeasures. Automated analyses on this model will save you time and money in the development and qualification of your systems.

Fraunhofer IESE supports you in introducing these methods and mapping them to the tool chain!

Dynamic Risk Management

In mobility services or in new architectures for electric or highly automated/autonomous driving, the system boundary is not limited to the vehicle: More and more backend systems are being integrated and connections are being created in Digital Ecosystems from the “Automotive & Mobility” industries and beyond. Systems must dynamically couple to form systems of systems in order to achieve their goals. For this, it is necessary that the vehicle-side software and the software in the cloud work absolutely reliably, that risks are assessed dynamically, and that the system derives actions that avoid hazards and damage – while at the same time adequately achieving the goal of the task. State-of-the-art safety engineering methods also provide support here and, supplemented by suitable software architectures, can create dependable systems. Therefore, safety engineering must go hand in hand with system design.

Read more about the topic of “Functional Safety” and safety for modern vehicle systems:

• Competence “Functional Safety”
  Overview and explanation of our services regarding functional safety.
• Tool support for model-based safety engineering
  With our plugin solution safeTbox, you can start working productively immediately.
• Research program “Autonomous Systems”
  We have a separate research area dedicated to the development of highly automated and autonomous systems.

Quality and dependability for highly automated vehicles

The safety of modern vehicles is at a very high level. The topic of software validation has also been an issue for companies for a long time. However, interconnection on the one hand and high automation on the other hand create new challenges in the areas of security and safety.

Existing standards such as ISO 26262 or ISO 21448 (SOTIF) still provide insufficient support for the safety assurance of highly interconnected vehicle systems. Especially in the context of Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning, the topics of safety and dependability represent a challenge.

Highly automated vehicles rely on the processing of huge amounts of data and are increasingly integrated with central cloud services for this purpose. These range from navigation functions via federated learning to the outsourcing of safety-critical functions to cloud infrastructures. Under the buzzword “Dependable AI”, we are creating a framework for making the inherent uncertainties of solutions involving Machine Learning controllable. At Fraunhofer IESE, research work in this area has been carried out and solutions have been offered for many years already. The underlying methods can be integrated into the processes of automotive software engineering. Together with our partners, we are using these to develop solution concepts and products. One important element, for example, is the assessment of the inherent uncertainties of Machine Learning methods. Another topic that Fraunhofer IESE is dealing with in this context is the evaluation of data quality – both in the context of system design and during operation.

Read more about our focus topic “Dependable AI”

• Topic page “Dependable AI” 
  Holistic dependable AI from AI strategy via AI development to the assurance of AI, including AI validation and AI auditing

Reference projects in the area of Automotive and Functional Safety

Virtual development, qualification, and virtual testing

In the future, it will be possible to retrofit vehicles with software functions via updates and thus to always adapt them to usage behavior and customer needs. The large number of vehicle configurations required for this purpose calls for models of software components and vehicles that support and automate testing and inspection activities in engineering. Virtual integration, virtual validation, or virtual deployment are the keywords that characterize automotive software engineering. Fraunhofer IESE provides its own simulation framework for this purpose. Be faster than your competitors. Work with us to realize the development and testing environments of tomorrow. Even today, you can save significant costs with virtual Hardware-in-the-Loop (vHiL) tests. These replace expensive HiL test benches with simulation-based solutions and thus relieve your existing HiL capacities. Our solutions scale with your problems and are suitable for realizing even the required large number of test runs for highly automated and autonomous driving functions. Do you want to implement a rest bus simulation or a complete Digital Twin? We will be happy to support you with our simulation solutions!

Even starting small is worth the effort!

There is no need to simulate an entire virtual vehicle. With the help of virtual ECUs, the performance characteristics of E/E architectures can be simulated at an early stage. Is the performance of the selected hardware sufficient for your solution? We will virtually integrate your target hardware (e.g., Aurix) with the Autosar software stack! Does the new control model work in the existing system? Do the communication buses transport all messages within the timing constraints? We will simulate your Matlab/Simulink model together with vehicle buses and existing C code! With our partner network, we will find solutions even for special challenges. Which DRAM solutions have enough power reserves for the head unit of the future? With DRAMSim, which was developed jointly with TU Kaiserslautern in the Fraunhofer High-Performance Center, we will find the answer for you!

Read more about what we offer in the area of Virtual Engineering:

• Topic page “Digital Twin/Virtual Engineering”
  Meet the ever-increasing complexity of systems more flexibly, more quickly, and more cost-effectively with virtual engineering and test environments.
• Tool support for virtual development
  Introduce simulations and deployments with our tool FERAL.
• DRAMSim and DRAMmeasure
  Easy simulation and analysis of DRAM memory for automotive applications

Reference projects in the area of Automotive & Virtual Engineering

Software technology for a world in motion

The flexible and individual integration of services is a key feature of mobility today, while the requirements on comfort, environmental protection, and safety are increasing at the same time. Highly automated assistance systems and driving functions must function safely and reliably in order to implement new mobility services or innovative commercial vehicle solutions. In this process, existing system boundaries between vehicles and IT-based services are becoming blurred. 

Future mobility services will be offered in Digital Ecosystems in which different stakeholders cooperate multilaterally to conduct business. Such Digital Ecosystems are currently emerging in a wide variety of different, even competing, constellations and cover both the provision of services related to the use of mobility and the optimized production of vehicles. At the center of these Digital Ecosystems are platforms which, for example, take care of brokering mobility offers or the harmonized exchange of telematics data or production-relevant data.

Making Digital Ecosystems successful in the long term

Just as in an ecological ecosystem, it is important to create a balance between the various participants – otherwise the ecosystem will collapse and there will be no basis for business. Traditionally, business relationships can exist between OEMs and suppliers or with the end consumer, but can also include service providers, repair shops, and drivers or passengers. The availability of data and digital information makes it possible to implement new business opportunities that also involve new partners, such as insurance companies or other transport carriers. 

In addition to the design and structuring of such systems, we at Fraunhofer IESE also address the IT-technical realization with platform architectures and with the handling of the data. Which data provides you with which added value? We work on answering this and other questions with you and perform a potential analysis. How do I use data sovereignty to motivate my customers to share mobility data, for example? We work with you to design your entire Digital Ecosystem in a way that offers added values for all stakeholders, is fair, complies with data protection laws, and is attractive overall for long-term growth.

Read more about the solution we offer and about our service portfolio for Digital Ecosystems:

• Topic page “Digital Ecosystems”
  Comprehensive overview of the positioning of Digital Ecosystems and the platform economy
• Tangible Ecosystem Design
  Starting the positioning with the Tangible Ecosystem Design method
• Big Data Potential Analysis
  What data can I score with?
• Data sovereignty in Digital Ecosystems
  Data sovereignty and data usage control with MY Data Control Technologies by Fraunhofer IESE
  
  

Reference projects in the area of Automotive & Digital Ecosystems

Modernizing systems and keeping them competitive

Present-day vehicle systems, as well as the systems supporting their development and operation, involve thousands of person-years of software engineering effort. The same is true for many systems that deliver mobility services or form the backbone of mobility companies. This legacy software is the cornerstone of success, but also a cost and risk factor.

Companies have to decide again and again whether to continue working with the existing systems as before, whether to implement selective improvements, or whether to develop a new generation from scratch. We support you in the necessary analysis and decision-making process. With our experts and analysis tools, we assess your situation competently, quickly, and independently. The results will help you reposition yourself in terms of new customer requirements, technologies, and interfaces and to migrate or transform existing systems.

An upcoming modernization of systems always also offers the opportunity to realign such systems to the current situation and future opportunities. We will be very happy to help you with this – from the initial exploration of future business opportunities and business models to the technical implementation.

Read more about our portfolio on software and system modernization:

• Software and system modernization at a glance
  Opportunities and challenges of modernization and our relevant range of services
• Independent architecture evaluation
  Make better modernization decisions based on a neutral evaluation
• Presentation: “But the new system must be able to do the same things as the old one! NO!” 
  Why you should never take over all the old functions when modernizing a system.

Changing system architectures create need for action

System and software architecture is an absolutely central topic in vehicles, in all systems beyond vehicles, and in the interconnection of all systems. The system architecture of vehicles is currently undergoing rapid and comprehensive change. Networking with backend systems, the ability to update onboard software, and the increasing proportion of software create a need for action.

We support you in the design and selection of an appropriate approach! In doing so, we look at sensible potentials for reuse and answer questions such as: “How to switch to new vehicle architectures, such as domain control units or service-based architectures – without having to start all over again?” We also support you in integrating new concepts and technologies such as the “Digital Twin” of vehicles.

Industrie 4.0 in the automotive industry

There are also numerous architecture-related challenges outside the vehicle architecture and between vehicles and surrounding systems on which we are happy to work with you. These range from the establishment of scalable data platforms for vehicle telematics data to dealing with huge amounts of data collected by vehicles as part of Machine Learning to the question of where safety-relevant functions can and should be executed along the vehicle – edge – cloud route.

Read more about what we offer in terms of system and software architecture:

• Design of future-oriented architectures
  Our service portfolio for the construction and documentation of architectures
• Independent architecture evaluation
  Make better decisions based on neutral architecture evaluations
• Build up knowledge about software architecture
  Continuing education for current and future software architects in our seminar
• Industrie 4.0 in the automotive industry
  Learn more about the technology trend Digital Twin in automotive production

The classic development cycles lasting several years are a thing of the past

Today, customer solutions must be implemented quickly and flexibly and must be continuously developed further. Continuous engineering builds on agile practices. In the automotive sector, however, the integration with production processes and special normative requirements must be taken into account.

For 25 years, we at Fraunhofer IESE have been supporting manufacturers and suppliers in the continuous improvement of development productivity and software quality. For the adaptation and modernization of your processes, systems, and architectures with respect to current requirements, we rely on proven approaches combined with state-of-the art methods. We support the transfer of technology to you – with customized solutions, co-creation, training, and coaching!

 Read more about our topic area “Development Processes”

• Competence “Development Processes”
  Overview and explanation of our services related to development processes
• Agile transition
  Let’s go for holistic agility! We explain how this can also be done with your company.

With our specialist departments, we cover a broad range of topics across the entire lifecycle of software and systems engineering. From hardware-related software to the design of Digital Ecosystems, our competencies span many levels of abstraction.

Overview of Fraunhofer IESE services

Have we sparked your interest?

Just talk to us! We will be happy to make time for your question and find a suitable solution – with us or in the large Fraunhofer network!