Optimizing Automotive Product Development: Integration of Electronic Control Units and Virtual Prototypes Using Virtual Reality

The automotive industry is continually evolving, with advanced technologies in a dynamic and competitive market increased consumer expectations driving the need for faster and more efficient product development process. It`s required vehicle manufacturers to launch new models with a short time to market and a larger number of electronic functionalities. Virtual reality is being widely adopted by the automotive industry to enhance the efficiency of product development processes and streamline project stages, leading to a reduction in the use of physical prototypes. Nevertheless, there is still a need for improvement in the analysis and verification of virtual reality through the monitoring of eye tracking and brain signals, which can enhance its robustness. A promising approach to increasing the efficiency of developing new products during the conceptual phase is the integration of models of Electronic Control Units with virtual prototypes. Testing on virtual prototypes reduces the usage of natural resources and inputs compared to physical prototypes, making the product development process more sustainable. The objective of this optimization is to improve the engineering efficiency in the process of generating and assessing ideas for vehicle digital functionalities during the conceptual phase. During the conceptual phase of developing new vehicle digital functionalities, discussions among the engineering team, user experience team, and studio team can be time-consuming since a logical and technological requirement base is often unavailable to drive new ideas in terms of technical feasibility of implementation. The absence of a validation process for the Electronic Control Unit logic model from the perspective of the end consumer highlights gaps in the industrial means in the decomposition of product development and how technological interactions can enhance the development process.