ETAS LABCAR-XiL: Bridging the gap between development phases by harmonizing concepts and tools

Virtual reality has been named as one of the engineering challenges of the 21st century (www.engineeringchallenges.org). In automotive software (SW) development, its instantiation is perceivable as the endeavor of replacing real artifacts, e.g., electrical or combustion engines, or activities carried out on those real artifacts, e.g., testing and validation of real vehicles, through virtual artifacts, i.e., virtual representations on computers of real artifacts, usually called “models”, and activities carried out on those virtual artifacts, e.g., model-based verification and validation. Following this major engineering trend, we are facing the challenge to realize seamless transitions between all test and validation steps used to develop automotive controls. Closing the gaps between Model-, Software-, and Hardware-in-the-Loop (MiL/SiL/HiL) tools by an appropriate XiL environment will enable developers to homogenously conduct analyses by using appropriate tooling throughout the development process.