QUESTION OF THE MONTH: What Design work have you done for the Automotive Industry?

I helped design a large industrial robot system to be deployed on automotive assembly lines.

I designed the electronics to run automotive safety compliance testing systems, including data collection and safety interlock systems. These systems tested brakes, seats, seat belts, and various types of vehicle crashes.

I designed systems to test and monitor automotive fuel economy under various driving and environmental conditions.

I designed a system to generate simulated OBD2 data or playback recorded OBD2 data so the system would look like a running vehicle to an OBD2 monitor. 

I designed the electronics and firmware to monitor the rolling resistance of truck tires under any real road conditions, any loading conditions and any tire pressure scenarios.

I did a little work for one of the DARPA autonomous vehicle challenges.

I designed the electronics for a couple of fairly large autonomous all-terrain vehicles ~ 40 horsepower.

I initially checked the "I don't work in the automotive industry" item, but in reading dougw replied, I remembered a similar experience.  I designed a test and data collection product that was installed in assembly lines to test and document airbag components. The testers would record test data into EEPROMs on certain assemblies and also reported to the network for site-wide record keeping.

I did a lot of automotive work between about 1980 and 2000 when I was Technical Director of Lamerholm Fleming Ltd.

Designed a piezo electric knock sensor (sold mainly to Austin Rover - about 2.5e6 made altogether).

Then an adaptive suspension controller for Rolls Royce Motors (before they were sold off by Vickers to BMW and VW).

We did a little fun side job for RRM: it was a bidirectional CAN spoofer that enabled a BMW air con control system to talk to a Mercedes rear air conditioning module which was fitted to a stretched Limo type car that they made about 100 a year of.  The translation box was way smarter than either of the controllers because it didn't just need to translate messages but also to warp the data to fool the two boxes into doing the right thing. It had a graphical control interface (written in Visual Basic) that allowed you to tune the data warping while it was running.

We also did a lot of development work with Ford in the UK and designed an LF piezo electric accelerometer for them as well as sundry data collection systems and experimental suspension controllers.

On the left, VP50 piezo electric knock sensor, Lamerholm Fleming's first (and only) million+ selling product. On the right, the LF piezo electric accelerometer made for FMC (had built in amplifiers and filters).

By 2000 the reluctance of the big auto companies to work with small companies meant that we had pretty much moved out of that business altogether.

After I left in 2001 I did do a bit of automotive work for a company that made production test systems for a variety of automotive components.

I don't do any automotive stuff now and I don't much like the way the industry has evolved - I suspect the opportunities for things like our spoofing box are long gone

MK

They never paid us as much as $675 for one !

MK

Fresh out of college I worked at Chrysler in powertrain electronics and software, then body control and special modules including variable damped suspension and speed proportional steering electronic controls.  After that I worked for Allied Signal and Bosch for 16 years mostly in ABS brake systems.

i ticked other because there was no option for REPAIRS.

i was doing cemb and hunter wheel alienment and balencer repair and calibration with support.

repair of Hartridge diesel injector test bench AVM1,AVM2 

i have always done car stereo repairs all brands. nothing really these days 

on a weekly event HMI (human machine interface) panel used in industrial workshops and agriculture

occasional ECU repair (toyota,mitsubushi,bmw,nissan,denso)

then during covid started repairing robot welding arms

I voted Other. In the late 1980s, I worked as a University Research Fellow on a project modeling a network of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) within a General Motors car factory. This research utilized Petri nets for system analysis and was implemented in LISP on a VAX computer running the VMS operating system. Concurrently, I was also developing control algorithms incorporating artificial vision for PUMA robots employed in assembly tasks within the same factory. Then, in my first job as an employee, I worked providing support to EDS, then a GM subsidiary in IT, on terminal connectivity and IBM networks. I haven't had any involvement with the automotive industry for decades.

If the question of the month had to do with aviation design work, I could answer that. Just sent off another data package this afternoon for the FAA to review.

I voted for other because I support a wide variety of design features (adhesion, potting, encapsulation, gap-filling coating, optical bonding, and heat dissipation) that enable either "freedom design" or last minute recovery of a design depending on where in the process the designer sits.  Relative to other industries, Automotive requires a heavy load of industry-unique documentation (PPAP, IATF16949 etc) which enable all parties to agree and commit to work together.  Right now the larger % of interest is in heat-dissipation for gap-fillers.