Required Elements of Integrated Vehicle Control Systems

Electronic technology has made it possible to apply large scale system control techniques to integrated control of the entire vehicle. Elimination of redundancy, powerful diagnostics, failure management techniques and new vehicle features are possible by designing the vehicle as an integrated system rather than a confederation of independent subsystems. This paper discusses the required elements of an integrated vehicle control system, drawing upon experience obtained from the design, fabrication and operation of a highly integrated concept vehicle. The electrical/electronics architecture is discussed in terms of its physical and functional partitioning, communications, failure management and power management aspects.