With Autosar 2.x and 3.x being a success in the industry, version 4.x is expected to find even more acceptance - for the first time in its history, Autosar will cease to be a fast-moving target. According to the Autosar group's schedule, the 4.x versions will provide stable platforms for a long time. In 20014, Toyota will be the first OEM to start production of a car based on version 4.x of the Autosar standard software architecture, followed by Ford, GM and BMW in 2015. But the OEMs are already in the process of developing ECUs running under Autosar 4.x. General Motors by far leads the pack with 85 different Autosar ECUs currently under development, followed by Volvo with 40. In BMWs labs, 30 Autosar ECUs are currently being developed, Ford follows with 25 and VW/Audi with 20.

This huge design effort raises the demand for up-to-date design tools. The Mentor / Mecel tandem plans to serve this market for the years to come with its comprehensive tool package. Besides offering full flow coverage from design to implementation and test, the software is integrated and modular, promises Joachim Langenwalter, Director Automotive Network Design for Mentor Graphics. The tool collaborates with all different other tools supporting Autosar - for instance Matlab Simulink, the ubiquitous automotive software design tool. It also is standards based in that it is compliant with Eclipse, Artop, Sphinx and Genivi. It also meets the requirements for functional safety levels ASIL A to D, described in ISO 26262.

Mecel contributed its existing Picea family of BSW, RTE and configuration tools to the environment. Within the scope of their collaboration, the partners jointly implemented different building blocks of the configuration tool and the Autosar software stack and promise that these parts seamlessly interact.

The tool will be sold by both partners to their respective customers, albeit under different names and in different packages. Mentor's Autosar BSW solution contains the embedded software design tool Volcano VSTAR as well as the company's own configuration tool VSB. Mecel names its package 'Picea Suite'; the configuration tool is obtainable under the label Mecel Picea Workbench. Along with the software, Mecel offers consulting services to its customers in the automotive value chain. These services help OEMs and tier ones to develop and configure Autosar-based solutions and adapt them to the respective development platforms.

Complex environment: Mecel contributes the blue elements; the yellow ones come from Mentor. Combined they form the first embracing development environment for Autosar 4.x. For full resolution, click here. 

While Mentor and Mecel claim that their tool is the first environment covering the entire functionality and design process, it still competes at least in parts with other products on the market - for instance Vector Informatik Elektrobit and KPIT. The only large OEM which certainly won't be a customer for Mentor is Daimler: According to rumors, the company has developed its own Autosar tool chain.