Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), a subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG, has opened a new Mechatronics Laboratory at its Oragadam factory. The efficacy of the lab in terms of cost saving is higher than normal labs, which range from 70 to 80 per cent. It does this by greatly increasing the efficiency of software architecture verification and validation. The implementation of agile approaches in the lab greatly enhances the effectiveness of quality and testing operations by enabling the quick detection and correction of software defects through a closed-loop feedback mechanism.
DICV’s Mechatronics Lab verifies and validates software feature functionality for trucks and buses, meeting current safety standards and helping Daimler Truck products manufactured in DICV stay ahead of the curve in meeting future global safety regulations.
According to Dilip Shrivastava, Head of Mechatronics and Software Technology, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, indicated that the lab can validate and check about 300 features; more than one thousand signals in 10 days; and verify 600 fault code in a developing product in a few weeks, which under normal circumstances could take months.
The Mechatronics Lab will play a crucial role in the research aspect of DICV, especially in upgrading the efficiency, safety and performance of DICV trucks and buses as well as accelerating the development time for new generations of vehicles. It also permits the replication and validation of unusual fault conditions for rigorous tests and analysis.
The lab’s infrastructure includes a flashing station for pre-production verification of all ECUs, ADAS setup for on-road data reproduction, and safe verification of Driver State Monitoring (DSM), avoiding risky in-vehicle trials. Over the last decade, DICV has set high standards for safety and efficiency in the commercial vehicle industry, with the new Mechatronics Lab driving this legacy forward with advanced safety features like AEBS, Blind Spot Assist, Driver Drowsiness Alert, and Lane Departure Warning.
