The automotive industry is experiencing a phase of profound transformation, racing to cover new vehicle requirements and to be able to update the software continuously mid-operation. But it is not just the amount of software in the vehicle that increases. The software components are also reaching new levels of connectivity: in the vehicle, with the environment, and with the back end. This leads to a never-before-seen complexity, which the industry seeks to master. The same applies to safety requirements. To ensure that complex systems live up to defined quality standards, everybody knows that large parts of validation have to be completed using simulation. But validation does not stop once a vehicle is shipped. The advancement of software requires a process for continuous integration and deployment. Reliable, future-proof methods and tools for simulation and validation are needed to ensure that software releases and tests can be provided during the entire life cycle of a vehicle. Simulation is therefore an important pillar in the quality assurance of software-defined vehicles and allows for quick over-the-air update cycles. For us, our customers’ success is decisive. What have we done and what will we still do to this end?

• The dSPACE team has continuously grown to more than 2,000 employees, of which over 1,450 are engineers and computer scientists. They understand the complexity of your requirements for the research and development process, from product conception to homologation. With our expertise, consulting services, and seamless solutions, we enable you to master the complexity.
• Our end-to-end solutions cover the entire development cycle. This includes prototyping, data replay, as well as software-in-the-loop (SIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation. Our products can be combined to build an ideal, overall solution, but are also open to the integration of customer or third-party solutions.
• We have upped our skills and capacity in agile software development and have evolved into a company for end-to-end SIL and HIL simulation.
• We continuously build up our technology expertise, both organically and through mergers and acquisitions. We focus particularly on sensors, AI, cloud computing, and data management. We have also joined forces with leading engineering, sensor, and cloud providers.

This is the basis for our entirely new software solutions. Take SIMPHERA, for example, our new, cloud-based platform for simulation and validation. It combines the dSPACE strengths you appreciate in HIL and SIL simulation with scalable cloud computing. Our newly acquired interests in the highly specialized Deep Tech start-up neurocat reinforce the robustness and quality assurance of AI. This edition of dSPACE Magazine again shows our determination to be your partner in simulation and validation. This is underlined by the many user stories that have been created together with you, our customers. I hope this issue inspires you. Enjoy reading.

Martin Goetzeler