Visteon Joins Autosar Alliance

Visteon Corporation has become the latest premium member of the Autosar partnership (AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture) – the co-operative alliance set up by vehicle manufacturers and suppliers to develop and establish an open industry standard for automotive electronic and electrical architecture.
“Our involvement as a premium member of Autosar will enable Visteon to help shape the future of the motor car,” said Dr. Heinz Pfannschmidt, Visteon’s president for Europe and South America. “The pace of development and the impact that electronics will have in the automotive business is truly breathtaking. Visteon’s membership in the Autosar partnership will ensure that we continue to be at the center of these developments.”
Visteon expects to be a full and active participant in the Autosar project. Visteon also will contribute to many of the working groups operating within the partnership.
“The automotive industry worldwide is facing many challenges,” said Martin Thoone, Visteon’s global director for the development of electronic products, “and electronics is very much at the heart of many of these developments. Within our cockpit-related electronics portfolio, for example, we are exploiting new platform designs for infotainment. Here, Visteon is targeting high levels of design and development re-use across original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with its newest open software and hardware architectures capable of deploying both internally developed and third-party middleware and applications.”
This approach offers the OEM benefits including lower cost, faster time-to-market and increased flexibility before and after product launch. Visteon is also developing a new generation of engine control modules that will assist its customers in meeting future global engine emissions standards and future needs for performance and drivability.
Visteon is joining a growing number of OEMs within the Autosar organization, including core partners BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, PSA Peugeot Citron, Toyota and Volkswagen as well as premium members Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Porsche, Renault and Volvo together with major suppliers (see www.autosar.org). It is expected that the first production vehicles that will incorporate elements of Autosar will be in model year 2007-8.