CAN in low-cost cars
- Fig.1: ECU for low-end vehicles provide functions as ECUs for European mid-range cars some 15 years ago
CAN Newsletter September 2008
VDO Automotive, a company of Continental, has launched the Basic Function Controller (BFC) for the low-cost car segment. First use in serial production has started already this year in a car from the Chinese manufacturer Geely. Adaptation to other vehicle platforms will take less than a year. Bosch has recently also announced the development of dedicated electronic control units (ECU) for low-end vehicles.
Despite a certain degree of market saturation in North America, Western Europe and Japan, the worldwide car production will continue to increase – from 63 million in 2005 to a forecasted 74 million in 2013. The four major emerging countries Brazil, China, India and Russia will increase their share of the global car production from 14% at present to 20% in 2013. In these and other emerging markets, low-cost cars with few extra features and simple (electric and electronic) functions will experience high growth rates. The scope of their electronics corresponds roughly to that of a European mid-range vehicle some 15 years ago. Typical body electronic functions today are for instance power windows with anti-pinch protection, ultrasonic parking assist systems, light management, remote control for central locking system, immobilizer or windscreen wipers. Of course, ECUs for the low-cost cars support optionally CAN connectivity. ECUs for these body electronics functions need to be highly flexible and scalable. On the one hand, the carmakers and their suppliers must react very quickly to the changing needs. On the other hand, the equipment features of low-cost cars depend on the respective market demands and differ considerably, depending on the export country. What is more, there is the increasing pressure on costs.
In response to these needs, Continental’s Interior division engineers at the Shanghai location have developed a new control unit especially for the markets in the emerging countries: the BFC control unit. It replaces the individual relays required previously for functions such as blinker or wiper interval.
