Integrated Electronic Dashboard for an Alfa 75 Alfa Romeo Car

Alfa Romeo and Zanussi have been working together for a few years on a project to innovate the whole car wiring system through electronic technology.

This paper describes the technical features of the first production of a finalized multiplex subsystem.

The purpose of the project is not to redefine the entire car wiring but only one of its more complex subsystems; the dashboard.

The solution foresees the introduction of a dashboard area network (DAN) made up of three electronic modules:

• Left-side wiring controller
• Right-side wiring controller
• Instruments interface controller.

The paper describes:

• the technical solutions (communication links, choice of components, engineering definition);
• the analyses of various features (automatic self-test, size and weight reduction, total cost improvements);
• the evolution of the integration of electronics and wiring in the dashboard plastic models (integrated subsystem).