Electronics architecture for the millennium

New perspectives and innovative relationships are needed within the industry as the technology at the core of vehicles evolves.

The automotive industry is transforming itself an entirely mechanical industry to an industry driven by electronics and services. Companies that will succeed are those able to control, drive, and renew the architectural concepts enabling introduction of the newest information technology to the car and its supporting infrastructure. Researches from Motorola, PSA, Volkswagen, and the University of Vienna provide clues to help companies succeed.

In the early 1990s, the computer industry was undergoing radical change, causing well-known names to struggle or even disappear. Centralized computing was replaced by desktop technology as new companies appeared and dramatically changed the rules of the game. Added value shifted fundamentally from hardware to software. This led to the perception of software as a product that was packaged and sold independently from the computer.