Test platform ignites turbo for modern vehicle development
With each generation, cars are becoming more complex, more interconnected and more varied. As a result, the need for testing is also growing – an enormous challenge with ever shorter development cycles. IAV’s answer is a test automation platform that not only makes the work of OEMs and suppliers easier, but also significantly shortens the development time for new automations.
The platform contains all the essential modules such as tracing, hardware actuation, residual bus simulation, image and sound processing as well as user and resource management that are required for designing a test automation system. Even engineers who have never developed a test automation before can create automations with the support of the community.
On the platform, IAV engineers make their developed test automations available to colleagues. These can be automations for voice and gesture recognition or smartphone control, for example. This allows the team to use existing automations from colleagues for new projects or to adapt them to their own requirements within a very short time. In this way, the test platform’s toolbox grows automatically from project to project.
“In areas such as component development, data transmission, back-end functions and overall integration into the vehicle, we share test resources and automation tools with our platform,” says Björn Steffen, Senior Vice President Connectivity & Analytics at IAV.
«We are thus able to develop end-to-end solutions for our customers much faster than before and cut development time by quite a bit.»
— Senior Vice President Connectivity & Analytics at IAV
Initial automations based on the IAV test platform are taking place in the areas of availability analysis of interconnected systems, navigation services or even app testing.
Customers, partners and third-party providers benefit
ntegration of the Remote Infotainment Lab (RIL). This allows manufacturers and suppliers as well as their app developers to access the test hardware released by IAV from anywhere in the world and test whether their newly programmed functions harmonize with the existing control units and software versions. The test platform is particularly suitable for developers who are unable to set up such a test environment. They conveniently receive the results of test automations and availability checks of services and controls via e-mail. “In addition to this, we provide our customers with a service that allows them to transfer log data with a log of the test process or trace data to their own systems and evaluate it virtually,” says Daniel Danz, Senior Vice President Infotainment Functions and Systems.
And the platform holds even more potential: With each newly configured test automation or availability analysis, the know-how collected in it grows. The aim of IAV’s developers is to make the platform accessible to as many interested parties and areas as possible. “In perspective, we also want to open up the platform to topics such as hardware-in-the-loop control or engine test bench control,” says Steffen.
«An extensive ecosystem is just emerging here, and we are far from having exhausted its potential.»
— Senior Vice President Connectivity & Analytics at IAV
The article was published in automotion 01/2021, the automotive engineering magazine of IAV. Here you can order the automotion free of charge.
