Title: Virtual product development of vehicle drives

Authors: Peter Fietkau; Bruno Kistner; Sabine Sanzenbacher; Jérôme Munier

Addresses: Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Porschestraße 911, 71287 Weissach, Germany ' Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Porschestraße 911, 71287 Weissach, Germany ' Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Porschestraße 911, 71287 Weissach, Germany ' Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Porschestraße 911, 71287 Weissach, Germany

Abstract: The development of vehicle drives is undergoing radical change. New electrical drive technologies have to be developed and the complexity is massively increasing. The paper shows the necessary improvements to the product development process (PDP) at Porsche AG whereby digitalisation is the core element. Virtual hardware development and software calibration are introduced at the first stage. Early validation is possible through separate milestones and release criteria. At the second stage, the PDP is restructured with the aid of systems engineering and all requirements are derived from the customer level. This means there is potential to use customer field data in a targeted manner for design and validation purposes on all system levels. At the third stage virtual and physical validation are merged. The result is a common, optimised validation program. Practical application examples are presented and current challenges that are both methodical and procedural in nature are outlined.

Keywords: virtual product development; vehicle drives; digitalisation; product development process; digital prototype; digital twin; virtual development; systems engineering; holistic validation; customer data; testing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPD.2021.120588

International Journal of Product Development, 2021 Vol.25 No.4, pp.327 - 342

Received: 10 Aug 2021
Accepted: 20 Aug 2021
Published online: 26 Jan 2022 *

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