Forty-one percent of the electronic components currently sold in Germany are destined for use in automotive electronics. Up to 100 control units are now linked via 2700 contacts in the electrical system of a German premium vehicle. And the importance of vehicle electrical systems is set to rise even further - not only in terms of value added, but also by reason of their complexity. The development of these systems thus calls for a high degree of specialization and division of labor, as well as an increasingly thorough integration of interdisciplinary processes. It is therefore more important than ever that ideas are exchanged with project partners at an early stage.

However, implementation of an end-to-end development process to tackle such tasks has proved impossible to date: the concepts of the respective development processes are simply too varied and diverse. Standardization of the data to be exchanged is nevertheless essential if work is to be performed more efficiently. It is the only way of reducing the ever more extensive information, wide range of systems, language regulations and description types to a common denominator and controlling rising development costs.

The above considerations prompted the VDA “Process Chain Vehicle Electrics“ project group to start addressing these challenges in 2000. The group was made up of representatives from German automotive manufacturers as well as their direct suppliers. Its initial aim was to develop definitions and standards solely from the user’s perspective, without having to take existing IT solutions into consideration from the outset.

On the other hand, it was a sensible idea to involve system vendors in the process as early as possible. Thus the “ECAD Implementor Forum (ECAD-IF)” was founded at the instigation of ProSTEP iViP that same year, with a view to debating interim results and providing feedback to the VDA project group.

This forum now supports system vendors and users in particular with implementations based on VDA project group recommendations. Expert workshops and webinars are held, sample and test files made available, and VDA results marketed by means of information material and tutorials. Further information on the ProSTEP iViP Association is available at www.prostep.org.