Introduction

Introduction

The safety and comfort of vehicles are continually advancing. Legal requirements relating to fuel consumption and exhaust emissions can now only be met by the use of more electronic components (e.g. control units, actuators and sensors) in vehicles.

Processes controlled by individual control units are increasingly being linked to one another via bus systems. That means that the processes are shared together and control units interact with one another in a coordinated manner.

As a result, the exchange of data across the vehicle's electrical system is increasing rapidly and because of that exchange of information, many new functions are being made possible. The consequences of this trend are greater vehicle safety, superior ride comfort and improved fuel economy. However, such continuing advances can no longer be achieved with conventional electrical systems.

Limits of Conventional Electrical Systems

The increasing amount of desirable electronic components in cars is limited by a number of factors. These factors include:

- Increasing complexity of wiring systems
- Higher production costs
- Increasing demands on available space in the vehicle
- Extreme complexity of component configuration
- Reduced reliability of the overall system

In order to minimize such disadvantages, bus systems are now being used for the vehicle's electrical system.