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SAE teams with CEA on auto electronics conference

Recognizing the importance that consumer demand has on fast-paced development of telematics and other automotive electronics devices, SAE is teaming with the Consumer Electronics Association to sponsor a new conference focused on engineering those devices into vehicles in an equally fast-paced way.

Announced at Convergence 2000 by SAE 2001 Presidential Nominee Neil Schilke, the Digital Car Conference and Exhibition will be inaugurated next October in Detroit. It will be held in Detroit in odd years (to avoid conflicting with Convergence).

"During its 95 years, SAE has sought to do whatever is necessary to provide real relevance and value to its members in the mobility community it serves," Schilke said. "For the fastest-growing areas of technology in the year 2000, that sometimes means forming strategic partnerships with other organizations that have similar reputations and values that can enhance the value of what SAE offers. In the consumer-based universe, no organization can match the quality of the Consumer Electronics Association," which draws 120,000 attendees annually.

According to James Rillings, Digital Car Conference Chairman, it will be "an interactive, online event, reflecting the leading-edge spirit of the sponsoring organizations, the universities, and companies developing these technologies." While the exhibition will be open and will support up to 5000 attendees, only 400 people will be accommodated for the technical program, with seats allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants will be involved in the proceedings with telematics devices at their seats. An additional 400 people worldwide will be given the same interactive capabilities online.

With the new format, "We hope it will set a new standard for future SAE high-tech conferences," Rillings said. In another first, for one night the exhibition will be opened to the public for free.

Patrick Ponticel

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The fourth engineering discipline

Automakers are established experts in powertrain, chassis, and body, but there is a fourth engineering discipline demanding OEM attention: electronics.

For certain vehicle models, electronics content can represent close to 40% of an automobile's value. "That's a lot, so electronics have got to be one of the big four core competency areas," said Cary Wilson, Director of E/ES Engineering for Ford Motor Co., during a Convergence 2000 panel discussion on "The Automotive Electronics/Information Revolution: What It Will Take To Make It Happen."

When a supplier provides in-vehicle electronics, the OEM needs to know more than the purchase price. "You have to understand the entire vehicle electronics architecture as well as the processes. If you're not understanding the 'dirty details,' you're not understanding the functionality, and you won't get the architecture right," said Karl-Thomas Neumann, Director of Electronics Research for Volkswagen AG.

Peter Thoma, former Vice President of E/E Development for BMW AG, agreed: "We need clear vision - clear architecture - so that tomorrow we can build plug-and-play."

The plug-and-play enabler is standardization. The Automotive Multimedia Interface Collaboration (AMI-C), a global organization of vehicle manufacturers created to foster development, promotion, and standardization of multimedia interfaces to vehicle communications networks, generated opinions from the panelists. "AMI-C is approaching the right vision. The problem my company has is that it's progressing too slowly," said Neumann, noting that 12 companies need to agree on protocols.

David Wohleen, Executive Vice President of Delphi Automotive Systems, shared the sentiment that putting protocol guidelines on the fast track is a good idea. "I think AMI-C needs to be on a tighter time schedule, a tighter cadence."

As for which protocols OEMs favor, panelist responses show that Toyota, BMW, and VW like multimedia buses; Ford likes IDB; VW and BMW like the Class A bus; VW and BMW like FlexRay time-triggered protocols; and VW likes time-triggered protocols.

Discussion about a 42-volt architecture wrapped up the session's topic list. Wilson ventured a prediction that it would be at least 2008 before a 42-volt architecture gained acceptance. "It's a huge move, but there will be lots of introductions way ahead of that."

Offering a tongue-in-cheek dissenting opinion, James Mitchell, Vice President of Sun Laboratories (part of Sun Microsystems), said: "If you hold off long enough, maybe we'll get the electronics voltage down low enough that it will be a moot point."

Kami Buchholz

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