A development framework using scale platforms for the verification of vehicle technologies

There is a need to enable the evaluation of ascending vehicle technologies such as the electrified powertrain and the driving assistance systems with low cost and low risk resources. In a context of ever stringent requirements for developing new vehicles, system and production complexities lead to high capital expenses required to ensure serial production will be implemented. One of such complexities is the interdependency between power delivery and dynamic control, which creates trade-offs in the treatment of performance and safety parameters. Virtual models still provide intermediate-level resources, and test platforms have limitations to verifying dynamic parameters; against this situation, scale vehicle platforms provide a low cost and low risk alternative for the implementation of innovative technologies based on integrated systems for improving vehicle performance and safety. The methodology proposition involves the definition of a meta-model based on the following dimensions: functionalities and their respective subsystems, and dimensional/dynamic similarity to real vehicles. This is applied to planning the development of an electronic differential system controlling individual traction motors with torque vectoring. As a result, the method generates a framework of vehicle technology development through different technology readiness levels considering similarity in the following criteria: the degree of refinement to which vehicle functionality is implemented, and the similarity in vehicle architecture and performance parameters. The use of scale platforms is expected to allow the tune-up of preliminary dynamic qualities through varied performance demands and terrain conditions, prior to scaling them towards real vehicle size.