Gaining Insight into Cross-Functional Vehicle Behavior—Usage of a Vehicle Dynamics Model in Objective and Subjective Full Vehicle Simulation

The key trends in the automotive world demand for a highly integrated, validated and applicable digital development process. In this vehicle dynamics development process, several models for hardware & software development and evaluation need to be available. Key factor in the usage of these models is the ability to not only set targets, but also to follow up on these targets throughout the development process. Since not all characteristics of vehicle behavior can be completely described through objective measures, the integration of test drivers as subjective evaluators in driving simulators is evident. Validated models available for vehicle dynamics are not only needed for the development of the core behavior, but also in other use cases like software-in-the-loop (“SiL”) test clusters or drivetrain test benches. This article discusses the possibility of reusing existing models in multi-domain simulation environments. The advantage of this integral approach concentrates the efforts on optimizing models and products, instead of communicating data and understanding external models.