Central Car Server (CeCaS) for highly automated vehicles

Software architecture for future cars

To ensure that the cars of the future can travel safely and reliably on roads regardless of environmental conditions, vast amounts of data must be processed. The data are collected in real time from sensors in the vehicle while driving and from databases and/or simulations on test benches during vehicle development. “For autonomous driving, the data recorded by the vehicle itself is combined with data from permanently installed cameras, lidars or radar sensors on sign bridges or from other nearby vehicles. That would be the maximum amount of information you could get,” says Knoll, head of the TUM Chair of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Real-Time Systems.

Ad-hoc data analysis

Over the past three years, researchers at TUM and various partners from the automotive and chip industries have developed a suitable vehicle architecture that evaluates and uses the data on an ad-hoc basis – as part of the ‘Central Car Server’ (CeCaS) research project funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). A centralized and entirely software-based architecture of this kind will be required for vehicle generations from 2033 onwards.

The advantages in detail:

(1.) Scenarios can be tested realistically in simulations

In reality, vehicles are not yet fully capable of handling many traffic and weather conditions that they encounter. To address this, researchers have created a simulation environment in which a wide range of scenarios can be generated with the aid of powerful graphics chips. After training, the vehicle has the knowledge to cope with the given situation ‘on board’. The scenarios can also be made available to users from the automotive industry and research via open source access.

(2.) Drastic cost savings through centralized and standardized data processing

Conventional vehicles often use more than a hundred individual control units. Versatile, programmable high-performance computers such as those used in the CeCaS concept will largely replace them in the future. This will eliminate the need for many connecting cables between control units, make installation easier and reduce costs. Above all, however, it will be possible to add new functionality purely through software upgrades. And, as with mobile phones, the software development can be customized by customers.

(3.) A digital twin allows all functions to be assessed on the test bench

The TUM test bench allows vehicles to be securely clamped in place with all axles and wheels for testing. This means that not only driver assistance systems, anti-lock braking systems and new emergency braking assistants can be tested. “Using a digital twin of the vehicle, we can also import scenarios and perform live testing on the test bench,” explains TUM researcher Alois Knoll. In addition, scenarios from real-world accidents involving autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles can be imported and used for training – without anyone being harmed in the process.

Artificial intelligence: software created effortlessly

For TUM Professor Knoll, a key advantage of the future vehicle architecture is that it will accelerate development processes and thus innovation as well. As TUM research results within the framework of the CeCaS project show, software can be developed ever more quickly with the help of artificial intelligence and generative language models. Specifications are almost always available in text form. And these reflect the behavior of technical devices. TUM researchers have shown that language models can process specifications as long as they are consistent, complete and free of contradictions, which in turn can be checked by AI. This allows new software code to be created in seconds, virtually by design. However, this requires the entire architecture in the vehicle to be compatible. Knoll: “Understanding cars as software-defined vehicles, i.e. software platforms, is simply necessary in order to remain competitive in the vehicle market in the future.”