Next generation wired intra-vehicle networks, a review

Automotive electronics is a rapidly expanding area with an increasing number of driver assistance and infotainment devices becoming standard in new vehicles. A review of current networking standards within vehicles reveals a fragmented and proprietary situation with several standards such as MOST, CAN and LVDS dominating, all of which are currently being used by various vehicle manufacturers. Due to the cost of employing a range of networking standards, there is a general desire within the automotive industry to converge on the use of the 802.3 Ethernet for all in-vehicle communication between devices. The introduction of in-vehicle cameras to provide driver assistance applications and the associated high bandwidth requirements of multi camera systems has accelerated the demand for a unifying automotive network architecture. This paper presents an overview of current research present in the literature and identifies trends in the field for the future.