Dear Reader,

Over the years, the usage of software in vehicles has steadily increased. Ever more demanding requirements on safety, environmental protection and comfort have resulted in a sharp increase in the number of electronic systems. Meanwhile, over 90 % of all innovations are driven by electronics and software. To handle increasing functional complexity in a cost efficient way, the standardisation of the ECU architecture was needed to enable a high amount of functional integration and the reusability of software applications. Therefore the evolution of a global partnership was required.

When AUTOSAR was founded in September 2003, not many people believed that it would be possible to standardise the software architecture, methodology, basic software, and application interfaces. Doubts also remained with regard to bringing together leading automotive manufacturers and suppliers in a collaborative effort to define standards. After publishing a first set of major specifications in 2006, AUTOSAR came up with a technically mature, comprehensively documented standard. The launch of the BMW 7 Series in October 2008 marked the coming of age of the AUTOSAR standard. Nowadays, the standard has been gaining remarkable momentum regarding application in series projects at many partners. Several OEMs have started the development of high volume vehicle platforms which apply AUTOSAR at most of their ECUs. This comes along with many AUTOSAR series projects at suppliers and tool providers. Always true to the motto “Cooperate on standards, compete on implementation”, each partner follows its own strategy based on the roadmap of its product lines.

The diversity and the development of different approaches towards AUTOSAR can be discovered in this issue. We congratulate AUTOSAR on its decennial and on proving to be the standard for E/E systems.

Enjoy reading this special issue!

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