In-vehicle communication networks - a historical perspective and review

The use of networks for communications between the Electronic Control Units (ECU) of a vehicle in production cars dates from the beginning of the 90s. The speci c requirements of the di erent car domains have led to the development of a large number of automotive networks such as LIN, CAN, CAN FD, FlexRay, MOST, automotive Ethernet AVB, etc.. This report rst introduces the context of in-vehicle embedded systems and, in particular, the requirements imposed on the communication systems. Then, a review of the most widely used, as well as the emerging automotive networks is given. Next, the current e orts of the automotive industry on middleware technologies which may be of great help in mastering the heterogeneity, are reviewed, with a special focus on the proposals of the AUTOSAR consortium. Finally, we highlight future trends in the development of automotive communication systems. ∗This technical report is an updated version of two earlier review papers on automotive networks: N. Navet, Y.-Q. Song, F. Simonot-Lion, C. Wilwert, "Trends in Automotive Communication Systems", Proceedings of the IEEE, special issue on Industrial Communications Systems, vol 96, no6, pp1204-1223, June 2005 [66]. An updated version of this IEEE Proceedings then appeared as chapter 4 in The Automotive Embedded Systems Handbook in 2008 [62].