5. AUTOSAR (AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture)

In this chapter, we describe the role of the AUTOSAR standard in the development of automotive software/system architectures. AUTOSAR defines the reference architecture and the methodology for the development of automotive software systems built on top of the AUTOSAR platform (middleware). It also provides the language (meta-model) for their architectural models. The AUTOSAR platform comes in two flavors – the AUTOSAR Classic Platform designed for the development of traditional mechatronics systems such as climate control and doors and the AUTOSAR Adaptive Platform designed for the development of modern automotive software systems in the area of, e.g., autonomous drive and connectivity. For both of these platforms, we show the AUTOSAR’s reference architecture and describe the proposed development methodology. We also explain the role of the AUTOSAR meta-model in the development process of both the AUTOSAR Classic and Adaptive Platforms and show examples of the architectural models that instantiate this meta-model. Finally, we explain the use of the AUTOSAR meta-model for configuring the AUTOSAR platform modules in the middleware layer.