Growing globalisation, high-tech change and increasing competition are forcing a holistic approach to diagnostics in the automotive sector. Regardless of whether it is a car, truck, trailer or other commercial vehicle on or off the road, diagnostics must be practised even more consistently from development to after-sales in order to be able to take into account trends such as “over-the-air” (OTA) in connection with vehicle monitoring and maintenance.
ServiceXpert is an established automotive engineering service provider in development and acts as a diagnostic competence partner for various OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers with many years of experience, structured processes and its own tools. The ServiceXpert engineers see themselves as a “trusted system partner” at the diagnostic interface for topics such as diagnostic development and requirements engineering at UDS protocol level, automated diagnostic protocol tests (ECU Test Stand Alone) or automated system diagnostic tests (testing in a system network), network management conformance tests (NMCT) as well as continuous testing and debugging support in close cooperation with the software development teams.
ServiceXpert’s professionals often bring their distinctive know-how on OEM-specific processes and architectures and their established, dynamic processes to projects that are already in quality- and time-critical phases of diagnostic implementation. By flexibly adjusting the processes to the respective project situation, the engineers deliver the appropriate solution with good results for OEM and Tier 1, thus contributing to quality and value creation for both parties.
Once the vehicles are in use, continuous monitoring of vehicle health will allow predictive, preventive maintenance and thus demand-driven planning of workshop visits. Collecting and evaluating of vehicle data creates short-term benefits regarding fleet management and long-term benefits for the overall quality and efficiency of a vehicle type. These tasks are already in-use as “telematics” and the new drive for permanent OTA functionality in a vehicle will give a new boost to telematics.
Remote workshop diagnostics significantly reduce vehicle downtimes because neither the vehicle to the workshop technician nor the technician to the vehicle is required for fault analysis. Based on OTA diagnostics, new improved service scenarios will be possible, such as cooperative diagnostics or the diagnostic control centre. With over twenty years of experience and project references ranging from onboard diagnostics and diagnostic systems to online after-sales portals and its own diagnostic system DiaMon, ServiceXpert works daily with advanced deployment scenarios such as cooperative vehicle diagnostics and diagnostic control centre.
Cooperative diagnostics enables joint fault analysis by a technician on-site at the vehicle and an expert in the back office via remote connection to the vehicle. The diagnostic control centre combines continuous vehicle monitoring with cooperative diagnostics to monitor a vehicle fleet to achieve maximum vehicle availability.
Over-the-air updates of the software in the vehicle include both the flashing of ECUs and the parameterisation, configuration or activation of vehicle functions. These functions enable the improvement of the vehicle’s overall behaviour and the elimination of problems in a fast and reliable way. At the same time, new business models are created by adding new functions in the vehicle (“software as a product”) and activating them at the desired time and for a limited period of time.
With OTA, the provision of monitoring and maintenance for vehicles does not only affect the vehicle itself, but also the IT infrastructure and IT processes of vehicle manufacturers. New means of communication, of data exchange, of interfaces, of software, of servers and clouds must be provided.
ServiceXpert works together with vehicle manufacturers to analyse, define and implement new processes and systems and to integrate OTA into the manufacturer’s world. In doing so, the engineering service provider’s team is always characterized by flexible, solution-oriented work with a passion for technology and can look back on great success in meeting project goals, milestones and budgets, and not only in their diagnostic projects. With constantly emerging project challenges, ServiceXpert is constantly developing its portfolio in this environment and also acts in the current trend topics of the automotive industry such as autonomous driving, connected car, artificial intelligence (AI) and firmware over-the-air (FOTA, OTA) experienced engineering service provider.
Photo source: ServiceXpert
