Leading simulation and validation solution provider dSPACE GmbH has been making news recently related to the accelerated development of networked, autonomous, and electric vehicles facilitated by its range of end-to-end solutions to test the software and hardware components in new vehicles.

It has announced that BMW Group’s upcoming vehicle generation will be validated exclusively its simulators, continuing a more than 25-year partnership between the partners in the field of simulation and validation. The dSPACE hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulators consist of both hardware and software components and will be used by the BMW Group at development locations around the world for testing of electric drives, memory and energy management, vehicle dynamics systems, and driver assistance systems.

“It’s a real incentive for dSPACE to further strengthen and intensify the long-standing partnership and constructive cooperation between ourselves and the BMW Group,” said CEO Martin Goetzeler, for one of the largest orders ever placed with dSPACE, a leading provider of simulation and validation solutions.

The agreement is for the deployment of dSPACE’s SCALEXIO-based hardware and software components and complete systems. The real-time test systems, with bus and network support, can be integrated into car manufacturers’ development processes, where they enable realistic tests and highly automated validation of vehicle electronics. The BMW Group has been using HIL systems from dSPACE, helping to advance the development of the technology.

The BMW announcement comes on the heels of dSPACE’s launch of SIMPHERA, a simulation and validation solution for continuous testing on software-in-the-loop (SIL) and HIL platforms. The web-based, highly scalable, cloud solution lets users perform the computation-intensive validation of functions for autonomous driving quickly and easily, and lets customers seamlessly integrate their applications with reusable models, scenarios, tests, and interfaces.

According to dSPACE, the development of functions for greater vehicle autonomy places increasingly strict requirements on the quality and safety of functions, resulting in a skyrocketing number of tests that need a large and scalable computing infrastructure. In addition, virtual tests are front-loaded to earlier phases of development, where they are executed by development teams distributed around the world.

The company had this in mind when it developed the new web-based solution that provides three components.

The Prepare component gives users tools to generate and modify the artifacts required for specific development or validation tasks. This can include proprietary simulation models such as vehicle, sensor, roads, traffic, and environment models or scenarios.

For the Simulate component, the prepared models and scenarios are used for interactive simulations. Users can check the desired algorithm behavior with a range of visualization and measurement functions.

The functions of the Validate component help users perform scenario-based testing on a large scale. Intelligent variations of parameters in a scenario can turn a handful of logical scenarios into a number of specific test cases that can be rapidly processed and analyzed in more detail.

The initial SIMPHERA release is focused on validation solutions for functions for autonomous driving, scenario-based testing, and SIL testing. The reusable models, scenarios, tests, and interfaces allow for an easy transition to automated tests on HIL platforms. The solution supports traceability in troubleshooting, lowers costs, and accelerates development and homologation.

“SIMPHERA will make life easier for developers in all phases of development and validation—from the initial idea of an algorithm to the release test of an ECU,” said Tino Schulze, Executive Vice President, Automated Driving & Software Solutions at dSPACE GmbH. “By providing this integrated solution, we not only accelerate development but also make it more efficient, thereby, increasing our customers’ return on investment.”

Kevin Jost contributed to this article.