Impact of Electrification and Digitalization on the Development Methodology and Testing Technology

Because of electrification of vehicle drives and because of digitalization, three striking trends are emerging for the development at test beds: Firstly, the importance of the classic powertrain test beds is decreasing and two extended test bed types are emerging. On the one hand, components are tested on component test beds that are significantly upgraded in terms of importance as they allow automated model parameterization. On the other hand, the electro-mechanical, thermal and electronics/software subsystems are brought together on a so-called system integration test bed and tested together. Secondly, the extensive transfer of real test drives to the system integration test bed by implementing the three realistic boundary conditions (“power, thermal and information flow”). There is still significant potential for improvement in the future. This trend will result in a reduction of the test drives, whereby the degree will depend on how far it is possible to sufficiently implement the mentioned requirements. And thirdly, the use of artificial intelligence. In addition to the increased use of data analysis methods, due to the smaller volumes of data but physical knowledge in technical developments there will be a combination of artificial intelligence and prior information in the form of so called “hybrid intelligence”. However, the aforementioned changes require corresponding organizational measures and broader skills of systems engineering personnel in order to be able to implement them.