Digital Twin Development Vital for a SDV Future, Continental Says

Continental is accelerating its digital twin technology capabilities that it says is essential to develop future technology features and applications for the software-defined vehicle.

To this end, it announces a collaboration with digital technology developer Synopsys to build digital twin capabilities for software development that help automakers accelerate software development and speed up their time to market.

This new collaboration integrates Synopsys’ virtual electronic control units inside Continental’s Automotive Edge (CAEdge) cloud-based development framework.

Using virtual environments to develop real-world solutions

In order to fulfill consumer demand for SDV powered in-cabin experiences, Continental says it is vital for manufacturers and suppliers to use comprehensive tools to simulate the performance of digital features and confirm their compatibility with existing and new car models.

It says its cloud technology can provide automaker clients and their partners with a virtual environment to develop solutions for SDV features and services in a fraction of the time traditionally required.

Continental claims its modular hardware and software platform connects the vehicle to the cloud and features a virtual workbench to develop, supply and maintain software-intensive system functions. Digital representations of the real-world physical devices, such as vECUs and the vehicle digital twin, speed up the development and validation of software solutions in readiness to bring to market.

Synopsys’ virtual prototyping tools claim to simplify the deployment of individual vECU and vehicle digital twins by combining these with vehicle dynamics, sensor and environment simulations.

Gilles Mabire, chief technology officer at Continental Automotive, says: “The software-defined vehicle requires working on hardware, software, applications and validation in parallel, all while maintaining the highest level of quality and safety. By combining our CAEdge framework with Synopsys’ vECU technologies, we are directly addressing the vehicle manufacturers' needs to accelerate software development and automate software validation in a modern cloud-based environment.”