Heuristics for Architecting Automobiles and Automotive Systems: Educating the Next Generation of Automotive Systems Architects

Developing successful architectures for a system as complex as an automobile requires an eclectic mix of art, science, and engineering judgment. Many of the skills necessary to be a successful architect in the automotive world come mainly through years “in the trenches.” Nonetheless, many of the lessons learned and the decision making practices of successful automotive architects can be captured in the form of heuristics which can be used to guide the architecting process. This paper will present and briefly discuss the rationale behind, and examples illustrating, a selected subset of heuristics developed by students taking the Systems Architecture course at UDM. These heuristics can provide valuable insight for any systems architect working in the automotive industry.