General Motors To Join FlexRay Consortium
FOR RELEASE: September 27, 2001General Motors To Join FlexRay Consortium
Global Adoption of Advanced Communication Bus Accelerates with New Core Member
Baden-Baden, Germany - The FlexRay Consortium today announced General Motors will be joining its powerful roster of core member companies. Formed in September 2000 to develop a standard for high-speed bus systems for distributed control applications in automobiles, the FlexRay Consortium member companies include founders BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Motorola, Philips Semiconductors and Bosch who recently joined the consortium as a core member. GM's decision to join further emphasizes the viability of the FlexRay protocol to assist automotive suppliers in developing future cost-effective applications and provides representation from the world's largest vehicle manufacturer.
"FlexRay has been designed to provide the capabilities necessary for implementing advanced vehicle controls such as x-by-wire systems which do not use mechanical backups, " said Ben Baker, Electrical Director, General Motors North America Engineering. "GM recognizes the importance of the FlexRay protocol in providing the flexibility needed to simplify integration with current control systems and development processes, reducing overall system complexity."
The introduction of advanced control systems, such as steer-by-wire, brake-by-wire and central vehicle control which combine multiple sensors, actuators and electronic control units are placing greater demands on today's communication protocols. Standardization of the FlexRay protocol will enable automobile manufacturers to lower development and production costs, as well as reduce the risks of introducing new electronic control systems into vehicles. The FlexRay protocol is designed for use in chassis control, body and powertrain applications that require high levels of communication bandwidth and deterministic fault tolerant data transmission. In addition, it will complement the major in-vehicle networking standards CAN, LIN and MOST by adding a high-speed protocol for the most demanding systems.
FlexRay Development
BMW, DaimlerChrysler and GM will jointly define the requirements for a new automotive communication system. BMW, DaimlerChrysler and GM intend to use FlexRay in advanced application series-production within the next few years. Bosch, who joined the FlexRay Consortium in August 2001, brings expertise in engine and braking system electronics along with experience in developing CAN and TTCAN. GM, as the largest volume vehicle manufacturer in the world, will play a key role by identifying cost-effective ways to implement the protocol across a wide range of vehicles based on its current diverse portfolio.
Motorola will provide the data link layer, originally offering a stand-alone communication controller, with future FlexRay protocol integration planned for 16- and 32-bit microcontrollers in its extensive portfolio. Philips Semiconductors is developing the physical layer and will offer transceiver test chips initially for evaluation, then later to the broad automotive market.
For more information: http://www.flexray-group.com.
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