Making the Case for Centralized Automotive E/E Architectures

The rapidly increasing complexity of software in modern cars dictates new trends in electrical and/or electronic (E/E) automotive architectures. As a result, many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers have been advocating centralized E/E architectures as the automotive architectures of the future. In this article we make the case for centralized E/E architectures in the automotive industry. We discuss the motivation for centralized architectural schemes by carefully examining challenges and drawbacks of the traditional decentralized automotive E/E architectures, while contrasting with the corresponding benefits offered by centralization. Then, the technologies required to support new centralized architectures are discussed in detail. In particular, we present the state of the art in networking technologies, virtualization, electronic control unit (ECU) hardware and AUTOSAR, and discuss the state of adoption of these technologies in industry. Throughout, functional safety is considered and addressed as an overarching concern in the automotive industry.