Volkswagen uses The MathWorks tools to advance AUTOSAR deployment

The MathWorks, an AUTOSAR Premium Member and active work package participant, today announced that Volkswagen has integrated a fully AUTOSAR-compliant comfort and convenience electronic control unit (ECU) into an existing Volkswagen ECU network for the first time by automatically generating the compliant software from Simulink® models with Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder®.

Through the Automotive Open System Architecture (AUTOSAR) partnership, automotive OEMs, suppliers, and tool vendors are collaborating around a single standard to help manage the growing complexity in automotive electronics and to improve cost efficiency without compromising quality. Volkswagen successfully demonstrated to the automotive industry how this emerging AUTOSAR standard can be put into practice and integrated into next-generation vehicle design and development. As part of the project, Volkswagen further integrated the AUTOSAR-compliant ECU onto a serial device that was successfully deployed into a Volkswagen Passat sedan.

Applying Model-Based Design with MathWorks products enabled Volkswagen engineers to significantly accelerate the process of specifying, deploying, and verifying production-quality software. Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder automatically produced AUTOSAR-compliant C code from the models, which eliminated the cost and complexity of manual code generation. Volkswagen also used The MathWorks AUTOSAR Demonstration Kit (ADK), which supports Model-Based Design of AUTOSAR software components with MATLAB®, Simulink, and Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder.

“We are excited to demonstrate the integration of an AUTOSAR-compliant ECU into an existing ECU network through our collaboration with The MathWorks and other AUTOSAR partners,” said Bernd Kunkel, the project manager at Volkswagen responsible for this initiative. “We worked closely with The MathWorks to integrate Model-Based Design, which accelerated the generation of code, eliminated many of the errors associated with hand-coding, and helped us contribute to developing open standards.”

“Volkswagen’s success with Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder demonstrates the value of using MathWorks products to integrate Model-Based Design and automatically generate AUTOSAR components, which minimizes disruption to existing development processes,” said Andy Grace, vice president of engineering and design automation, The MathWorks. “We have a strong commitment to the AUTOSAR idea and MathWorks products themselves are built on an open-system architecture that provides automotive customers the power and flexibility they need to develop robust, scalable, and easily maintained software.”

The MathWorks is the world’s leading developer of technical computing and Model-Based Design software for engineers and scientists in industry, government, and education. With an extensive product set based on MATLAB and Simulink, The MathWorks provides software and services to solve challenging problems and accelerate innovation in automotive, aerospace, communications, financial services, biotechnology, electronics, instrumentation, process, and other industries