Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) has launched a new Mechatronics Lab at its Oragadam facility in Chennai. The lab is designed to enhance the efficiency of software architecture verification and validation, promising significant cost reductions of up to 80% compared to traditional methods. By employing agile methodologies, the lab enables faster identification and resolution of software bugs, cutting down the time required for testing and verification from weeks to mere days.
The Mechatronics Lab is a key development for DICV, allowing the company to ensure that software feature functionality for its trucks and buses meets not only current safety standards but also prepares the vehicles for future global safety regulations. The lab's advanced technology allows new vehicle architectures to be evaluated without the need for multiple test vehicles, streamlining the development process and reducing overall costs.
Pradeep Kumar Thimmaiyan, President of Product Engineering and Chief Technology Officer at DICV, stated 'Our new Mechatronics Lab marks a transformative phase in our Research and Development operations, enhancing agility and fostering innovation. This lab is central to our future electrical and electronic architectures, helping us maintain a leading position in the global commercial vehicle sector.'
The lab's capabilities are extensive, with the ability to verify and validate around 300 features across more than a thousand signals within just 10 days. It can also verify 600 fault codes in a developing product within a few weeks, a process that previously took months. This rapid turnaround is expected to significantly shorten product development cycles, making DICV's trucks and buses safer and more efficient.
The lab's infrastructure includes a flashing station for pre-production verification of all ECUs, ensuring hardware and software compatibility before production. This reduces the need for re-releases and minimises errors.
Additionally, the lab's Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) setup allows on-road data to be reproduced in a controlled environment, facilitating initial software modifications without the need for vehicle dependency. This setup also enables the safe verification of Driver State Monitoring (DSM) systems, avoiding the risks associated with in-vehicle trials.
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