Bosch is developing components for new electrical/electronic (E/E) architectures that ensure the complexity of future vehicle systems stays manageable. These centralized and zonal architectures enable “thinking” to be separated from “acting.”
Thinking is the computing layer or the “brain” of the vehicle with vehicle computers such as the vehicle integration platform. This enables application software to be consolidated from distributed ECUs into a few very powerful vehicle computers. To connect the computing layer to the thousands of actuators, sensors, inputs, outputs, and the remaining ECUs, a new layer, the “zonal layer” with zone ECUs is to be introduced.
New approaches and new technologies are needed on the computing and zonal layers as well as for the electronic communication between these two layers. Bosch supports vehicle manufacturers on their individual transition paths with a broad product portfolio, technological expertise, and innovations such as automotive Ethernet technologies, including asymmetric Ethernet and Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN).
With these technologies, we are able to connect high-bandwidth sensors to the vehicle computers through the zone ECUs.