AUTOSAR focuses on maintenance and stability for improved usability with revision 4.0.3

“A major objective of AUTOSAR Phase III is the maintenance of the existing releases,” explained Frank Kirschke-Biller, AUTOSAR Spokesperson. “With revision 4.0.3, we are significantly improving the maintainability of the standard and enabling easier and improved usability for our members.”
First standardization of partial networking technology.

By incorporating of support for partial networking into the standard, AUTOSAR is the first initiative to standardize partial networking technology and address the important need for efficient energy management. Partial networking is supported by the releases 3.2.1 and 4.0.3.

By reducing the number of active ECUs on the bus during vehicle operation, the development partnership aims to reduce the power consumption of the overall electrical system. AUTOSAR is capable of realizing shutdown and startup of the bus communication interfaces of groups of ECUs (partial network cluster) during normal bus communication. It will thus be possible to shut down functions such as seat control or park assistant when they are not needed.

Enhanced backward compatibility
The core partners’ exploitation plans show that the releases 3.x and 4.0 of AUTOSAR will coexist in the market for the next years. The increasing usage of AUTOSAR in series projects makes strict control of backward compatibility necessary. For this purpose, the development Phase III introduces process enhancements to impede incompatible developments in the standard. The AUTOSAR backward compatibility statement will support AUTOSAR users in the analysis of migration between releases or revisions. By these means, AUTOSAR ensures continuity and stability for the key software technology in the automotive industries worldwide.

AUTOSAR (AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture) is a worldwide development partnership of car manufacturers, suppliers and other companies from the electronics, semiconductor and software industry. Since 2003 they have been working on the development and introduction of an open, standardized software architecture for the automotive industry. By simplifying the exchange and update options for software and hardware with the AUTOSAR approach, it forms the basis for reliably controlling the growing complexity of the electrical and electronic systems in motor vehicles. AUTOSAR also improves cost efficiency without compromising quality. The core partners of AUTOSAR are the BMW Group, Bosch, Continental, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Toyota and the Volkswagen Group. In addition to these companies, more than 160 members play an important role in the success of the partnership. Companies which join the AUTOSAR Development Partnership can use the specifications free of charge.