Audi chassis development – Attribute based component design

Automotive industry changes rapidly. So-called Game Changers, like connectivity or piloted driving, do not only influence products, but organization structures and development processes as well. Complexity increases significantly, thus front loading in terms of creating early results, making essential product-decisions and developing validated concepts becomes more important than ever before. Furthermore, the need for using virtual tools in the concept phase increases, since hardware is usually not available in early process stages. The Audi chassis development process has been optimized constantly over the years to cover the above-mentioned challenges. The result is an attribute-based way to derive component design from overall vehicle attributes. This paper describes this process and gives an overview of key factors and requirements to establish such a process.