Centralization potential of automotive E/E architectures

TL;DR

This paper assesses the potential for centralizing automotive E/E architectures by analyzing key system properties and validating findings through industry interviews, providing practical guidance for system designers.

Contribution

It introduces quantitative criteria for evaluating centralization potential and validates the approach with industry insights, bridging theory and practice.

Findings

Seven key properties limit current architectures.

Centralization can mitigate these limitations.

Practical guidelines for system design.

Abstract

Current automotive E/E architectures are subject to significant transformations: Computing-power-intensive advanced driver-assistance systems, bandwidth-hungry infotainment systems, the connection of the vehicle with the internet and the consequential need for cyber-security drives the centralization of E/E architectures. A centralized architecture is often seen as a key enabler to master those challenges. Available research focuses mostly on the different types of E/E architectures and contrasts their advantages and disadvantages. There is a research gap on guidelines for system designers and function developers to analyze the potential of their systems for centralization. The present paper aims to quantify centralization potential reviewing relevant literature and conducting qualitative interviews with industry practitioners. In literature, we identified seven key automotive system properties reaching limitations in current automotive architectures: busload, functional safety, computing power, feature dependencies, development and maintenance costs, error rate, modularity and flexibility. These properties serve as quantitative evaluation criteria to estimate whether centralization would enhance overall system performance. In the interviews, we have validated centralization and its fundament - the conceptual systems engineering - as capabilities to mitigate these limitations. By focusing on practical insights and lessons learned, this research provides system designers with actionable guidance to optimize their systems, addressing the outlined challenges while avoiding monolithic architecture. This paper bridges the gap between theoretical research and practical application, offering valuable takeaways for practitioners.