Porsche Engineering Newsroom

Functional safety and the safety of the intended functionality are essential pillars when it comes to developing safe, modern vehicle systems. Due to increasingly complex assistance systems and autonomous driving, functional safety is becoming increasingly important. The experts at Porsche Engineering put their many years of experience into practice helping customers develop modern, safety-conforming systems from the initial draft to release.

The ComBox app from Porsche Engineering records relevant measurements in test vehicles, evaluates them with the help of AI—on the spot in some cases—and automatically sends the results and measurement data to the cloud. This reduces the manual workload for test drivers and increases the efficiency when developing and validating new vehicle functions.

Porsche has officially opened its first integrated overseas R&D center in Shanghai’s Hongqiao CBD, marking a major milestone in its “In China, for China” strategy.

Porsche’s new road simulation test bench makes it possible to accurately reproduce real road conditions. This means that vehicle characteristics can be optimized and validated early in the development process—for Porsche sports cars and in other vehicle projects.

How can automotive development service providers and aerospace benefit from each other? In this interview, ESA astronaut Dr. Matthias Maurer and Dr. Christoph Roggendorf from Porsche Engineering talk about material research, autonomous systems, and virtual test methods.

The latest issue of the Porsche Engineering Magazine paves the way for new horizons. Take a look at innovative solutions for the automotive industry and beyond.

Digitalization has long since found its way into vehicle development. In this context, Porsche Engineering and Porsche Digital are currently evaluating the consolidation of competencies by combining both corporate groups. The goal is to decisively and jointly advance the development of integrated technology solutions and digital customer experiences – for Porsche, the automotive industry, and other sectors.

This June marks five years since Porsche Engineering Services s.r.o. (PECZ) established its location on the innovation campus in Ostrava. The Czech subsidiary of Porsche Engineering, the international technology partner for the automotive industry and beyond, had launched its activities in Ostrava seven years ago and quickly relocated to the Moravian-Silesian Innovation Center, a local hub for high-tech development. Since then, Porsche Engineering has continuously expanded its local competencies to deliver cutting-edge solutions across increasingly complex and integrated value chains.

Nardò Technical Center (NTC), known for its unique high-speed ring track and historic automotive milestones, celebrates 50 years of validating the mobility of tomorrow.

The Rust programming language combines security and convenience of modern languages without compromising on the performance of traditional system languages such as C and C++. Together with the use of LLMs in traditional languages, this opens up further efficiency potential for automotive development.

Porsche Engineering has developed three prototype V2X applications over the past twelve months. The software team in Lecce and the Nardò Technical Center play a key role in this. A state-of-the-art wireless infrastructure is available there.

TABASKO (from German for ‘tape-based carbon-fiber lightweight construction’) can reduce the use of plastic materials; the process developed by Porsche Engineering also allows the use of post-consumer recycled material. This makes vehicle construction a bit more sustainable.

Porsche Engineering makes ADAS validation scalable: Using the in-house development ComBox App in combination with Peregrine.ai’s object detection could enable every test vehicle to contribute to the validation of traffic sign recognition in the future.

Porsche Engineering has developed an AI-based driving-comfort evaluation system that supplements the assessments made by human experts to deliver objective results and accelerate development time. It will also be possible to use it in series-production vehicles in order to provide information on chassis performance during vehicle use.

Porsche will not pursue the development plan for the Porsche Engineering Group's Nardò Technical Center (NTC) in Apulia.

Porsche Engineering has developed the concept of an ‘AC battery’ for electric vehicles that unites numerous components in a single part. It is controlled by a standardized control unit concept with a particularly powerful and real-time-capable computing platform. The system was developed as part of a feasibility study, tested on the test bench, and demonstrated in a vehicle.

Futurist and AI prophet Ray Kurzweil predicts that computers will soon reach human intelligence. After that, they are expected to merge with humans to form an immortal super-intelligence. Other AI researchers are much more skeptical—although GPT-4 just excelled at the Turing test.

Porsche Engineering has already demonstrated and verified the potential of AI for time and cost savings during the development process in several projects. In the field of passive safety, the first steps towards adoption in series development are now being taken.

Porsche Engineering is expanding its involvement in the field of driving simulators. The goal is to obtain subjective feedback on new digital functions at an early stage. Porsche AG is also currently enhancing its infrastructure and is planning a Virtual Validation Center in Weissach.

Driver assistance systems make road traffic safer, but so far mainly cover standard situations. Using artificial intelligence, Porsche Engineering is working to make identifying traffic situations that occur less frequently—known as corner cases— easier and more reliable. The aim is to improve ADAS.

Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), large language models (LLMs) can understand natural language and perform tasks such as text creation, answering questions or even translation. Porsche Engineering also uses LLMs in vehicle development, thereby increasing efficiency in the development process.

Artificial intelligence is bringing massive changes to all areas of life, including development. In this interview, Markus-Christian Eberl, CEO of Porsche Engineering, and Dr. Matthias Peissner, Head of the Human-Technology Interaction Research Unit at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO in Stuttgart, talk about the opportunities and limitations of the new technology.

Racing games and automotive development aim to replicate reality, but with different focuses—games emphasize visuals, while developers prioritize driving physics. Collaborations with Porsche allow game makers to use 3D models and laser-scanned vehicle data. Innovations like Porsche's "Virtual Roads" app open new possibilities for both industries.

Software plays a key role in modern life, but also in vehicles. For this reason, OEMs and suppliers use proven methods and tools to identify errors in programs as early as possible. Researchers are already working on new approaches, including ones based on artificial intelligence.

Digital ecosystems have grown at a rapid rate in China over the last few years. They are now an integral feature of everyday life. This has a corresponding impact on the expectations placed on vehicle infotainment systems. As part of model updates, Porsche and Porsche Engineering, in conjunction with a Chinese supplier, have therefore developed a new control unit for the infotainment system in the Boxster, Cayman, and Macan—in record time and ‘in China for China’.

The optimal integration of software into the vehicle is decisive in determining the performance and the customer experience. This is also the case with the new Porsche Cayenne, for which Porsche Engineering has developed large parts of the propulsion system and chassis in collaboration with Porsche and suppliers. Thanks to innovative hardware and customized software, the luxury SUV delivers a characteristic Porsche driving experience.

Virtual validation is becoming increasingly important, for example for testing during development and validating driver assistance systems or connected driving functions. The prerequisite for this are so-called scenes or track models that Porsche Engineering generates for customers using its own end-to-end tool chain. This involves a complex process for which conventional map data is in no way sufcient.

Batteries are crucial components of electric vehicles—not least because they significantly influence the residual value. OEMs and suppliers are therefore keen to understand the details of how battery cells and systems age and the impact that driving behavior / handling have on their service life. For this purpose, Porsche Engineering is developing a digital twin of a high-voltage battery.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous driving: Automotive development has never been so exciting. Federico Magno and Dirk Lappe discuss the major future trends and the role played by courage in development.

Developing automated or connected driving functions is a major challenge. In JUPITER test vehicles from Porsche Engineering, the Robot Operating System (ROS) speeds up development of new and innovative functions so that they can be experienced sooner.

Advanced driver assistance systems and automated driving functions increase convenience and safety. In this interview, Jürgen Bortolazzi (Director Driver Assistance and Automated Driving at Porsche) and Albrecht Böttiger (Director Advanced Driver Assistance Systems at Porsche Engineering) talk about the current state of technology and the future of driving.

PERL, the virtual calibration software from Porsche Engineering, shifts the majority of ECU data entry to AI. This reduces the need for bench tests and test drives in the calibration phase of the vehicle. The results of initial customer projects demonstrate the huge potential offered by the new methodology.

Researchers and engineers around the world are already working hard on the next generation of mobile communications, 6G, which should be available by around 2030. Vehicles in particular could benefit from the high data rates and from the fusion of communications and environment detection.

Smartphones have shorter development and update cycles for their software than vehicles do. To ensure that both ecosystems nevertheless work together for new vehicle-related app functions, Porsche Engineering uses the agile software development method. This ensures that a wide variety of smartphones are compatible with the vehicle in all sorts of conditions.

Visionaries see potential for digital twins, virtual testing, and new brand experiences. Vehicles could be developed in virtual spaces, tested in simulated environments, and even sold as NFTs. But how much of this vision will become reality?

Information technology is the basis for innovations in a wide range of industries. At the same time, however, IT energy consumption could lead to major challenges in the future. That’s why computer -scientists aim to use green coding to significantly reduce the CO₂ emissions of IT.

Functions for highly automated driving must be intensively validated by means of simulations. In the AVEAS research project, Porsche Engineering is working on automated detection of critical traffic situations from sensor data using AI and storing the situations in a database. The route models and traffic situations generated in this way are also varied in order to generate more test cases for virtual validation.

Massive volumes of data in vehicles are opening up new possibilities in engineering.

In this interview, Dr. Michael Steiner, Member of the Executive Board for Research and Development at Porsche AG, and Markus-Christian Eberl, Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche Engineering, discuss the most important topics in automotive development.

In international validation, development engineers and testing and quality staff ensure that the entire vehicle meets expectations in real-world operation in the context of market-specific function validation. They combine their in-depth technical understanding with detailed knowledge of the respective markets to deliver a high quality and first-class customer experience.

A new concept from Porsche Engineering enables complete automation of bench tests for new digital functions. Continuous integration automates not only the tests, but also the accompanying processes. This increases the efficiency of functional testing for Porsche Connect services.

Porsche Engineering uses the ever-increasing volumes of data from test benches, simulations and test vehicles to significantly accelerate development and place it on a broader empirical basis. Cloud technology plays a crucial role in this, while at the same time leading to more effective use of the IT infrastructure.

In the future, chips will be built from smaller units. These chiplets, as they are called, promise a higher yield in production and more flexibility in system configuration. The automotive industry can also benefit from this development, as highly automated and autonomous driving requires powerful and flexible solutions.

In the future, XR—a fusion of virtual, augmented and mixed reality—will blur the lines between the virtual and the real worlds. Our guest authors describe what this means both for individuals and society as a whole. The text is based on excerpts from the book ‘AI 2041’ (Publisher: Campus).

Porsche Engineering has been developing high-performance battery system solutions for motor racing and series production for more than 20 years. The battery management system (BMS) has the task of assessing the condition of the battery, defining the current operating limits and ensuring operation within those limits.

Powerful batteries are the central element of electric vehicles. The technology continues to evolve and is expected to make further progress when it comes to capacity, charging capacity, safety, and service life. Porsche is directly involved in current developments through the Cellforce Group and Group 14 Technologies.

Neodymium and other rare earths make electric motors with high power and torque densities possible. Fortunately, these important raw materials are not quite as rare as their name suggests. Research is also being conducted into new recycling processes in order to meet rising demand in the future.

Tomorrow’s vehicles will communicate with each other and their environment. This vehicle-to-X communication (V2X) helps prevent accidents and traffic jams—and advance autonomous driving. Porsche Engineering develops V2X functions ready for series production and is already working on the AI-based functions of tomorrow.

The unassuming pile invented by physicist Alessandro Volta has since evolved into huge energy storage facilities like the one at the Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility in California.

The transformation of the automotive industry will also change the role of procurement. Barbara Frenkel, Member of the Executive Board for Procurement at Porsche AG, explains in an interview with Dr. Peter Schäfer, CEO of Porsche Engineering, the role that collaboration with development plays and how supply chains should become more resilient.

Intelligent platform strategies reduce the time and costs involved in developing electric vehicles. Porsche Engineering has extensive expertise in platform development and supports its customers from the initial concept idea all the way to the production-maturity vehicle. The result is platforms that are flexible and positioned for the future.

Big-wave world champion Sebastian Steudtner has high ambitions. The 30-year-old surfer already holds the world record. Now, as part of his long-term partnership with Porsche, he is aiming to take his sport to a whole new level together with Porsche Engineering.

Porsche Engineering uses state-of-the-art testing procedures for the development of electric drives, which include both real-life tests and tests conducted in a virtual environment. Their use can significantly shorten the development time and reduce the number of test vehicles needed.

Markus-Christian Eberl (49) becomes Chairman of the Executive Board of Por-sche Engineering (CEO) from 1 June 2023. The current Vice President Tech-nical Conformity at Porsche AG succeeds Peter Schäfer (63). Schäfer will retire effective 31 May 2023.In addition, Dirk Philipp (53) is appointed to the Execu-tive Board of Porsche Engineering effective 1 January 2023. He takes over the position of Managing Director of Commerce/Chief Operating Officer (CFO/COO). Dirk Lappe (59) remains Managing Director of Technology (CTO). He has held this position since 2009.

Battery electric vehicles place new demands on the chassis, particularly when it comes to braking and recuperation. Developers at the Porsche Group are working on new concepts for brake force distribution which will enable better recuperation without compromising comfort.

The ongoing evolution of driver assistance systems is continuing apace and will soon open up new markets for autonomous transport solutions. We explain what all this has to do with the SAE levels of driving automation.

The vehicles of the future will be constantly connected, and satellites could play an important role in this. In addition to US providers, a European consortium also intends to build a network in space for this purpose. The first OEMs are already looking into collaborative ventures or satellites of their own.

Which technical innovations yield human progress? And how can we find better solutions to the great challenges of our time? A guest article by Rafael Laguna de la Vera and Thomas Ramge.

There are many different facets to sustainability for the Nardò Technical Center (NTC) in Apulia. The range of measures to this end reflects this diversity—from climate protection to regional educational cooperation and voluntary work by employees.

Cars in the shape of a teardrop or penguin would be particularly aerodynamic. Alas, they would have to fly to achieve a perfect airflow around them.

Manufacturers have been optimizing the aerodynamics of their vehicles for decades. With the transition to e-mobility, the latest models are making huge progress in Cd values. And the potential has yet to be exhausted: Active aerodynamic measures and new development methods promise even more improvements in the future.

The Chinese automotive market forms a stark contrast to the European market – in terms of its legal framework, traffic management, customer requirements and its digital ecosystems with providers such as Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. To cater to this market, Porsche Engineering is continuously expanding its local presence: Around 130 employees develop, test, and validate China-specific functions for the intelligent and connected vehicle. When it comes to connectivity, infotainment, and assistance systems in particular, localization is essential.

In a study, Porsche Engineering has examined the potential of hydrogen combustion engines. The result is a high-performance powertrain with emissions at the same level as ambient air.

The Porsche Engineering Data Service (PEDS) facilitates wireless provision of measurement data after a test drive, and allows it to be evaluated quickly. Analyses can be available just minutes after the drive—or indeed during it. And the share of measurement data evaluated live can be increased before any archiving occurs.

With more and more electronic control functions, new driver assistance systems and automated driving functions, along with continued advances in system connectivity, the work involved in calibration and validation continues to increase for the chassis as well. To be able to implement development projects with a high level of efficiency, Porsche Engineering is establishing new digital development methods.

With his electrically powered Blizz Primatist, the Italian entrepreneur Gianmaria Aghem set seven world records on the circuit of the Nardò Technical Center, impressively demonstrating the potential of electric mobility. He dispensed with an eighth record attempt out of respect for his great role model, the Z.E.R. from Bertone.

Porsche Engineering has designed a new multifunctional lever for reach trucks for Linde Material Handling. The result is an innovative solution that perfectly combines functionality and ergonomic design.

Porsche Engineering has combined two artificial intelligence methods to efficiently optimize a side skirt: A reinforcement learning agent finds the best variant of the component—supported by a neural network that greatly accelerates the individual optimization loops. This process could also point the way forward in other areas of vehicle development.

More and more vehicle functions are based on artificial intelligence. However, conventional processors and even graphics chips are increasingly reaching their limits when it comes to calculations required for neural networks. Now an extremely large computer chip, optical computers, and quantum computers are set to remedy the situation.

The closer highly automated driving functions come to series introduction, the more important system validation becomes. By closely linking digital and real tests, Porsche Engineering creates the basis for an efficient and reliable validation process—across national borders in its international network of development locations in places such as Bietigheim-Bissingen, Cluj-Napoca, Nardò, Ostrava, and Shanghai.

Autonomous vehicles have been the secret stars of feature films for decades. We present five well-known examples and do a reality check: What has come true? And where did Hollywood get it completely wrong?

Highly automated driving functions must work safely and reliably in every situation—be it on the highway or in a multi-story car park. One of the ways developers achieve this is through redundancy; parallel systems observe the environment and decide what to do in critical situations.

The on-board diagnostics system detects whether the emissions-related systems in the vehicle are working properly. Compliance with legal requirements is checked before the start of production and later verified during ongoing series production. In the process, Porsche Engineering increases efficiency with testing and simulation tools developed in-house.

As the scope of functions in modern vehicles expands, so too does the calibration work involved. This is why Porsche Engineering has developed PERL: the innovative calibration methodology is based on deep reinforcement learning and considerably reduces the time and cost of the calibration.

In 1931, Ferdinand Porsche founded his engineering office in Stuttgart. Since then, the Porsche name has been closely associated with engineering services projects. A journey through nine decades of automotive history.

New situations are challenging for autonomous vehicles. As things stand today, if traffic signs or rules change the vehicles have to be completely retrained. The AI Delta Learning research project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy aims to solve this problem and thereby reduce the effort involved substantially.

China is on track to take a leading role in many developments. In this interview, Dr. Jens Puttfarcken (President & CEO of Porsche China), Dr. Peter Schäfer (Managing Director of Porsche Engineering), and Kurt Schwaiger (Managing Director of the Porsche Engineering branch in Shanghai) report on the latest trends and their collaboration in the country.

With hardware-in-the-loop (Hil), developers can use electronic control units (ECUs) almost as they would in a vehicle. this can reduce the number of prototypes in early development phases, and functions can be developed more efficiently and tested earlier. Porsche engineering uses Hil systems at various locations worldwide—including to adapt vehicle functions to local requirements. In the future, the cloud and artificial intelligence will play an important role in this.

Norway is one of the world’s pioneers in the field of e-mobility. More than half of the new vehicles registered there in 2020 had an all-electric powertrain. In addition to modern design and innovative technology, Norwegian customers also want vehicles that offer a long range and sufficient space for the family. Ideal conditions for the Porsche Taycan and the new Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo.

Software is increasingly becoming the determining factor in automotive development. In his article, Marius Mihailovici, Managing Director of Porsche Engineering Romania, takes a look into the future of software development and explains why the job of a programmer could change completely in the next 20 years.

In Ostrava, Czech Republic, three Porsche Engineering teams are working on the interface between the vehicle and its electronics. Software development, vehicle integration, and HiL testing are among the specialties of the location, which has just significantly expanded its capacities.

In this interview, Joachim Bischoff, Director Intelligent Connected Vehicle at Porsche Engineering, explains what role the Big Data Loop plays for the automotive industry and the customer experience in the vehicle.

The vehicles of the future will feature many systems that are constantly improving themselves. In the “Big Data Loop” proof of concept, Porsche Engineering has successfully demonstrated the principle using the example of an adaptive cruise control system. However, automatic feedback loops are also interesting for other functions. CARIAD is actively advancing the development of the Big Data Loop for a wide variety of complex application purposes.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is about to enter a new era: researchers around the world are working on the “third wave” and want to make AI even more human-like. In his guest article, Kristian Kersting, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at TU Darmstadt and co-speaker of the Hessian Center for Artificial Intelligence, explains what computers will be able to do in the future—and how we will benefit from them in everyday life.

Nvidia made its name with graphics cards for PCs. But the US company’s processors can do more—enable AI applications in vehicles, for instance. This is why the company is now an important partner of the automotive industry.

Game engines generate the images of computer game hits like Fortnite and Cyberpunk 2077. In the meantime, however, these software packages have also become an integral part of automotive development. For example, game engines generate the images used to train driver assistance systems or enable customers to configure their new vehicle on the computer or with VR glasses.

For decades, transistors in integrated circuits have been shrinking, resulting in ever more powerful chips. Now this process is reaching its end. For this reason, in addition to completely new types of transistors, other chip and computer architectures should also enable a further increase in computing power in the future. The automotive industry will also benefit from this in the long term.

With its off-road vehicles, Polaris has gained a loyal fan base. In just a few months, Porsche Engineering built a demonstrator for the US company for a racetrack version of an off-road vehicle. In the process, engineers used their experience from sports car development.

At the Nardò Technical Center (NTC) of Porsche Engineering, the mobility solutions of tomorrow are put through their paces. The NTC itself is also preparing for the future of automotive development—with a modernized infrastructure, expanded capabilities, and a growing team of specialists.

New functional scopes are increasingly represented by the overall system networking within the electrics/electronics (E/E) architecture of the vehicle. Dr. Oliver Seifert, Vice President Electrics/Electronics Development at Porsche AG, and Dirk Lappe, Managing Director of Porsche Engineering, will discuss the effects this has on E/E development, the opportunities it offers, and what the E/E platform of the future will look like.

The large Chinese digital companies have discovered the automotive market for themselves. In areas such as autonomous driving, connected cars, and mobility services, they cooperate with established OEMs and other technology companies.

In vehicle development, the concept and package design assumes a central role in the early phase, as this is where the technical foundations for the later products are laid. For a customer from China, Porsche Engineering used an existing vehicle architecture to verify the feasibility of a comprehensive platform concept with different body variants and drive systems in a relatively short time, and gathered valuable information for further development activities in the process.

The Chinese technology group Tencent is driving forward the development of new forms of mobility and services related to vehicles. In an interview, Cham Zhong, Vice President of the company, talks about the automotive market in China and Tencent’s collaboration with classic OEMs.

Only when batteries are at the optimum temperature can they charge at maximum power. The forward-looking thermal management from Porsche Engineering predicts the course of the trip and thereby ensures that the energy storage devices are in the best possible temperature range at the charging station.

For a Chinese customer, Porsche Engineering developed a chassis platform with a variable damper system and skyhook feature. The challenge: to design a smart and cost-optimized chassis for a two-model electric vehicle series—in only 18 months. Mass production kicked off on time in March, 2020.

In Anting near Shanghai, around 75 Porsche Engineering staff work for Chinese car manufacturers and customers from the VW Group. The site has cutting-edge test facilities and investigates the latest trends in the automotive industry as well as automated driving and e-mobility.

Porsche Engineering has developed a new method of modeling the current internal resistance of vehicle batteries. The AI-based approach benefits drivers and OEMs in equal measure.

Modern vehicle batteries already enable long ranges and convenient charging times. Nevertheless, researchers are working on even better energy storage systems based on proven lithium-ion technology and using new approaches.

Lateral thinking is the origin of Porsche Engineering. Without an unconventional idea there are no innovations—and no responsible use of new technologies. That’s why we like to think outside the box and regularly draw inspiration from other sources. For example from Yuval Noah Harari. The Israeli historian and bestselling author is one of most sought-after thinkers of the present moment. His book Homo Deus examines the question of the future of humanity. The following excerpt is about the new “data religion,” in which animals, people, and societies are regarded as nothing more than different forms of data processing.

Mate Rimac builds electrically powered supercars in Croatia. OEMs know him as a supplier of reliable, high-performance battery systems. Porsche, too, holds shares in Rimac Automobili and works on battery technology together with the company.