Bosch predicts Ethernet growth in cars

Speaking at the 2011 Euroforum Automotive Electronics meeting in Munich, Kallenbach noted that "We see Ethernet also as infotainment bus system", Kallenbach said. "In connection with internet connectivity, also IP will enter the cars". Applications are many, Kallenbach mentioned in this context remote diagnosis and location based services enhancing the navigation system functionality.

Examples for applications which drive the bandwidth demand are video systems in the infotainment context where data rates up to 100Mbit/s accrue. In the vehicle motion and safety domain, video cameras increasingly are deployed. Again, the video streams generate data rates of up to 100Mbit/s, Kallenbach explained.

In Bosch's scenario, Ethernet will start to offer an alternative to MOST150 beginning around the year 2015. By 2020, it likely will replace MOST. The same holds true for in-vehicle camera applications where first MOST150 will displace the LVDS data transfer technology; later Ethernet could displace MOST150. And in a future architecture characterized by the deployment of domain control units (DCUs) and a backbone connecting these domains, Ethernet will be without alternative from the start which Bosch expects around 2020.

But what about FlexRay—the networking technology designed to replace CAN and High-speed CAN in particular time-critical applications? Will it also be replaced by Ethernet before it really came out of the starting blocks? No, Kallenbach said, FlexRay likely will be able to defend its terrain. But it will be application will be confined to powertrain and vehicle motion management.

- Christoph Hammerschmidt
??EE Times Europe

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