Future Automotive Architecture and the Impact of IT Trends

The transfer of IT and consumer-electronics technologies to the automotive domain will provide major opportunities. However, both these technologies and the automotive industry will require much adaptation. Architectures for automotive electronics are quickly changing. Energy efficiency is evolving the classic powertrain toward high-voltage hybrid and electric engines. Autonomous driving demands multisensor fusion away from functionally isolated control units. Connectivity and infotainment have transformed the car into a distributed IT system with cloud access; over-the-air functional upgrades; and high-bandwidth access to map services, media content, other vehicles, and the surrounding infrastructure.