Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) has announced the inauguration of a new state-of-the-art Mechatronics Lab inside its Oragadam facility. This lab significantly increases the efficiency of software architecture verification and validation and ensures cost efficiencies in the range of 70-80% when compared to traditional methods.
Agile methodologies deployed in the lab facilitate the rapid identification and resolution of software bugs through a closed-loop feedback system. Testing and verification methods that earlier took weeks and months now take days, thereby drastically improving the efficacy of quality and testing processes.
DICV’s Mechatronics Lab verifies and validates software feature functionality for trucks and buses that not only meet current safety standards but also help Daimler Truck products manufactured in DICV stay ahead of the curve in meeting future global safety regulations.
Pradeep Kumar Thimmaiyan, President of Product Engineering & Chief Technology Officer at Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, said, “Our new Mechatronics Lab signals a transformative phase in our Research and Development operations, ushering us into an era that underscores enhanced agility and breakthrough innovations. Beyond validation, our Mechatronics Lab stands as a hub for innovation, positioning us uniquely on the global stage.”
He added, “Already, the lab is the core of our future electrical and electronic architectures. The DICV Mechatronics Lab complements the company’s long-term vision, positioning it at the forefront of technological advancements in the commercial vehicle sector. It underscores our commitment to ‘Make and Develop in India, for India and the World’, embodying our vision to not only cater to domestic needs but also to set new benchmarks internationally.”
Dilip Shrivastava, Head of Mechatronics and Software Technology, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles added, “Our Lab can verify and validate around 300 features, encompassing over a thousand signals within 10 days, and can verify 600 fault codes in a developing product in just a few weeks, which otherwise would have taken months. Our aim is to ensure our software architecture gets verified and validated before it gets embedded in our trucks and buses as early identification of software bugs which saves enormous developmental costs.”
Shrivastava added, “Keeping our long-term vision in mind we are bringing such efficiencies that can accelerate product development cycles for which our Mechatronics Lab will play a lead role. By establishing the lab, evaluation of diverse vehicle architectures has become seamless, eliminating the need for multiple test vehicles while enhancing the overall efficiency.”
DICV’s Mechatronics Lab will be instrumental in driving DICV’s research and development efforts, particularly in enhancing the efficiency, safety and performance of its trucks and buses as well as expediting the development time of new generations of vehicles. It also enables the simulation and confirmation of rare fault cases, that are challenging to reproduce in real-world conditions, ensuring comprehensive verification and validation.
The lab’s infrastructure includes a flashing station for pre-production verification of all ECUs, ensuring hardware and software compatibility before production, thus minimizing errors, and reducing the need for re-releases. The ADAS setup allows on-road data to be reproduced in the lab, aiding initial software modifications and reducing vehicle dependency, saving time and cost. The lab also enables safe verification of Driver State Monitoring (DSM), avoiding risky in-vehicle trials.
