Modern automobiles are complex mechatronic systems rich with existing and new opportunities for application of automatic controls. Today's vehicles already have dozens of microprocessors and millions of lines of control software that manage everything from the electric seats to fuel injection timing. Expectations are that electronic control will constitute the largest growth area of new vehicle content in the future.

Managing the growth of this complexity in a way that still delivers quality products requires a disciplined adherence to a structured control system development process. There are opportunities for use of model-based methods throughout this process, beyond just control algorithm development. Today, most automotive companies have an installed base of processes, methods, and tools for control system development that is a mixture of traditional and model-based methods. In order to move to an end-to-end process that is based primarily on model-based methods, careful consideration of all aspects of the process is required. This session provides examples of how model-based methods can be used throughout the controls development process as well as elements that need to be considered when growing the percent of model-based work within the overall process.