How a Zone Architecture Paves the Way to a Fully Software-Defined Vehicle

At a glance

This paper looks at the transition to software-defined vehicles and how moving to a zone electric/electronic (E/E) architecture addresses power distribution, sensor and actuator, and data communication challenges.

1 Power distribution challenges and solutions	Explore implications of new zone architectures on automotive power distribution.
2 Smart sensor and actuator challenges and solutions	Understand separation of physical and logical IO functions and the impact on sensors and actuators.
3 Data challenges and solutions	Learn about the mix of data types required and their coexistence while maintaining communication security.

Introduction

Electronics have played a key role in automotive system innovations in the past several decades. The incorporation of new semiconductor devices with novel features has enhanced the functionality offered by the vehicle’s mechanical systems.

While semiconductor solutions and electronics continue to play a key role in vehicle electronics, looking ahead, innovation in vehicles will be much more characterized by innovations in and consolidation of software. This change in software architectures is enabled through the development of relevant hardware and semiconductor solutions.