E/E architecture research: 14 key technologies, and innovative layout of 24 OEMs
Key technologies of next-generation electronic and electrical architectures (EEA)
The definition of next-generation E/E architectures involves: high computing power HPC for vehicle-cloud architecture integration; high-bandwidth, high-speed backbone network for inter-domain cooperative computing; service-oriented architecture (SOA) that enables software and hardware decoupling, generalized software/hardware architecture and standardized interfaces; complete development tool chain that uses the V-model development process; support for L4 advanced driving assistance; intelligent low-voltage power supply architecture.

For the development of next-generation E/E architectures, we have summarized 14 key technologies. The following lists and analyzes the progress in some key technologies:
Key technologies of EEA: complete development tool chain, advanced architecture standards, and V-model-based EEA development process.
Currently there is no global automotive EEA standard. ISO 26262 Road Vehicles-Functional Safety, ISO/SAE 21434 Road Vehicles-Cybersecurity Engineering, and GB/T 34590 Road Vehicles-Functional Safety among others provide a reference for design and optimization of automotive EEAs.
In China, in April 2021 Automotive Electronic and Electrical Architecture Working Group was reviewed and established at the second council of the third session of China Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance for Electric Vehicle. At present, experts from over 35 companies including OEMs, architecture solution providers, software firms, communication companies, and testing tools and services providers have participated.
In China, the formulation of automotive EEA standards forges ahead very rapidly. There have been several group or organization standards filed or released, including:
?Data Distribution Service (DDS) Test Methods for Intelligent Connected Vehicles
?Technical Requirements for Security of Automotive Ethernet Switch Equipment
?Technical Requirements for Vehicle Time Sensitive Network Middleware
?Software-Defined Vehicle Service API Reference Specification 2.0
?11 Group Standards in SparkLink Release 1.0
?Technical Requirements and Test Methods for Vehicle Dedicated Short-distance Wireless Transmission System
Key technologies of EEA: computing power tends to be centralized and cluster in cloud, enabling vehicle-cloud architecture integration.
Vehicles are heading in the direction of brain-inspired intelligence + central nerves + terminal nerves. At present, semiconductor vendors inside and outside China are developing and designing vehicle computing center chips with strong computing power for intelligent vehicles. These chips use multi-core parallel CPUs, GPUs for graphics and image processing, and AI computing accelerators. A typical example is NVIDIA ORIN which boasts multi-task parallel computing capabilities for powering cockpits, autonomous driving, AI and more.

In the future, as vehicle high-speed network and 5G technologies mature, vehicles will eventually tend to be based on central computers and centralized EEA, and evolve towards cooperative vehicle-cloud control; and computing power will be centralized and cluster in cloud to avoid the unlimited expansion of computing power of vehicle terminals.

Key technologies of EEA: CP+AP AUTOSAR, SOA software, generalized software/hardware architecture and interface standards.
Vehicle software architectures evolve towards CP+AP AUTOSAR hybrid software architecture. CP AUTOSAR is oriented to the vehicle control domain that requires high reliability and high real-time performance. AP AUTOSAR targets intelligent driving and entertainment domains that need parallel processing of massive data. It also allows standardized design according to functional characteristics of interfaces, and integrates interface designs to build a general interface platform.
With SOA software, automakers enable open ecosystems for development of application services (interfaces are open to the outside), differentiation of scene function development (combination and splicing of any sub-service), and rapid iteration of single scene-based functions (only requiring the reconfiguration of sub-services). In the X-EEA 3.0 architecture of Xpeng Motors, SOA software is primarily applied to cockpit platforms.

Key technologies of EEA: cross-domain communication protocols (SOME/IP and DDS), Gigabit Ethernet backbone network + TSN + Switch, and high-bandwidth/high-speed communication network, combine to achieve inter-domain high-speed communication and cooperative computing.
Body networks need to meet the performance requirements for the sheer volume of data, high-speed transmission, low latency and high real-time performance. Backbone networks have been Ethernet + CAN-FD high-speed networks, providing the foundation for the cross-domain communication protocol SOME/IP + DDS. The mainstream communication middleware SOME/IP and DDS have their own advantages.
As well as communication middleware, vehicle cloud platforms currently prefer to use MQTT, a communication protocol that allows devices to easily and flexibly connect to IoT cloud services, such as real-time online vehicle data analysis and monitoring, OTA, HD map applications, vehicle big data, and Al analysis.

Key technologies of EEA: vehicle dedicated short-range wireless communication.
In China, SparkLink Alliance was founded in September 2020. Following the launch of SparkLink Release 1.0 in late 2021, the Alliance introduced test instruments and also started the filing of SparkLink Release 2.0 2022H1. Several chip members in the organization have created specific chip-based road signs and plan to launch commercial chips in 2022H2. Based on commercial chips, bellwethers in major industries have formulated development plans for commercial terminals which are projected to come out in 2023.
“SparkLink” short-range wireless communication technology is often used in: immersive vehicle sound zone and noise reduction, wireless interactive mirroring, in-vehicle wireless ambient lighting, 360-degree panoramic surround view, and wireless BMS (battery management system).

Cadillac LYRIQ is the world’s first one to introduce the wireless battery management system (wBMS), a disruptive technology which reduces 90% battery pack wiring harnesses, and corresponding connectors and plug-ins, fundamentally avoiding the problem of wiring harness aging. Meanwhile, the internal space saved by fewer battery pack wiring harnesses enables more flexible layout and configuration and accommodates more chips to increase the cruising range.
Cadillac uses the wireless battery management system (wBMS) solutions from Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI).

OEMs are stepping up their pace of evolving EEA
- Stage 1: domain centralized architecture
Such architectures as Volkswagen E3, Great Wall Motor’s GEEP3.0 Architecture, BYD's E Platform 3.0, Geely's Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) and Xpeng's EE 2.0 are all typical domain centralized architectures.
In Volkswagen E3’s case, this architecture is composed of three domain controllers: vehicle control (ICAS1), intelligent driving (ICAS2), and intelligent cockpit (ICAS3). ICAS1 and ICAS3 have been developed and mounted on models like ID.3 and ID.4, while ICAS2 has not been developed yet. The driving assistance functions are currently called via distributed ECUs and ICAS1.

The MEB architecture passes through two stages: E3 1.1 and E3 1.2. The platform offers continuously evolving and optimized functions. Starting from 2025, all the three automakers Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche will use the E3 2.0 SSP (Scalable Systems Platform), a central computing platform which may be first available to the Audi Artemis project.

- Stage 2: quasi-central computing architecture, to enable multi-domain integration (e.g., cockpit and driving integration).
Z-ONE’s E/E architecture Galaxy Full Stack 3.0 uses two master-slave high-performance computing units, namely, HPC1 and HPC2, to enable the capabilities of intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, intelligent computing, and intelligent driving backup, and plus 4 zone controllers, realizes related functions in each zone to fully support L4+ intelligent driving technologies. The architecture will integrate different network communication technologies like CAN FD, Gigabit Ethernet, and 5G, ensuring that a vehicle has powerful enough brain pathways.

- Stage 3: central computing architecture, with computing power centralized in a supercomputing platform, and the pace of mass production possibly faster than expected.
The framework of the central computing architecture consists of a central computing unit, zone controllers and high-speed Ethernet. The cooperation of the three builds an adaptive and self-learning system to realize intelligent connectivity and high-level autonomous driving.
NIO's central computing unit boasts computing power of more than 1000TOPS, and over 1GHz master frequency. It may use NVIDIA Adam supercomputing platform;
NIO's zone controllers highlight the following functions: distributed edge computing, vehicle control arbitration center, information communication network for SOA service communication, zonal centralized data center, vehicle power distribution hub, and sensor and actuator data exchange. Considering the limited computing resources in zone controllers, NIO uses AMP multi-core architecture in zone controllers for integration and isolation of cross-domain functions, and the RTOS in the AMP mode runs one operating system case on each CPU.

Through the lens of development trends, automotive EEA will eventually evolve to central computing architectures with functional logics centralized in one central controller. OEMs become ever more radical in EEA planning. For emerging carmakers and conventional OEMs, the year of 2023 will be a key time node to mass-produce the next-generation “central computing + zone controller” architectures.
Moreover, as computing platforms with ultra-high computing power are production-ready and software technology iterates rapidly, central computing architectures may even be spawned in the five years to come at the earliest.

Automotive Digital Key Industry Trend Report, 2026
Digital Key Research: Automotive BLE, UWB and SLE Hardware Layout
The Automotive Digital Key Industry Trend Report, 2026, released by ResearchInChina, analyzes and predicts the digital key market, co...
Monthly Report on Automotive New Technology (May 2026)
UHD gaze technology, full-color LiDAR, UWB, etc. promote the upgrade of intelligent driving perception capabilities
This report is published once a month and is available for annual subscription.The...
In-Cabin Monitoring Systems (DMS, OMS, etc.) Research Report, 2026
In-Cabin Monitoring System Research: DMS to Become Mandatory in 2027, Expected to be Installed in Over 14 Million Vehicles
ResearchInChina released the In-Cabin Monitoring Systems (DMS, OMS, etc.) Re...
Automotive Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Cross-Domain Middleware Industry Report, 2026
Research on automotive SOA and cross-domain middleware: The era of AI atomic services and AI cross-domain fusion agents is coming.
Automotive SOA evolves towards AI + full SOA servitization Driv...
Automotive Display, Center Console and Cluster Industry Report, 2026
Automotive Display Research: Multi-Screen Application Slows Down, While OLED and MiniLED Are Introduced in Vehicles Quickly
In 2026, automotive displays will no longer excessively pursue the number a...
Global and China Intelligent Vehicle Standard System Construction and Certification Research Report, 2026
Intelligent Driving Standards and Certification: With the Maturing Standardization System, China Will Participate in Formulation of Global Standards
China's automotive industry is transforming from ...
Automotive Intelligent Diagnosis Industry Report, 2026
Automotive Intelligent Diagnosis Research: Powered by AI, Remote Diagnosis Is Being Upgraded towards Intelligence.
ResearchInChina released the Automotive Intelligent Diagnosis Industry Report, 2026....
Automotive Cloud Service Platform Research Report, 2026
Research on automotive cloud service platform: with architecture upgrade and computing power improvement, cloud services enter a new stage
In 2026, the Internet of Vehicles industry generates petaby...
Integrated Battery and Innovative Battery Technology Research Report, 2026
Power Battery Research: Sales of High-Capacity Vehicles Keep Rising, and Solid-State Batteries Begin to Be Installed in Vehicles
I. Sales of High-Capacity Vehicles Sustain Growth, and Those with A C...
Chinese Independent OEMs’ ADAS and Autonomous Driving Report, 2026
Research on OEMs' Intelligent Driving: Era of Physical AI, Standard Configuration of D2D, and Initial Exploration of L3 Commercial Pilot Projects
From 2023 to 2025, the intelligent driving installati...
Intelligent Vehicle New Technology Application Analysis Report, 2025-2026
New Technology Research: Innovative Products such as Bionic Cameras, Vision-LiDAR Fusion Sensors, Auditory Sensors Further Enhance Vehicle Perception Capabilities
ForewordResearchInChina released th...
Automotive Optical Fiber Communication (Optical Fiber Ethernet, PON) and Supply Chain Research Report, 2026
Research on Automotive Optical Fiber Communication: Introduction of Optical Fiber in Vehicles Accelerates, with Priority Deployment in High-Speed Communication Link (10+Gbps) Scenarios
Automotive opt...
Automotive Intelligent Cockpit SoC Research Report, 2026
Automotive Cockpit SoC Research: Passenger Cars in the Price Range of RMB100,000–200,000 Account for Nearly 50% of Total Sales, and New-Generation Cockpit SoC Products Largely Enter Mass Production
P...
LiDAR (Automotive, Pan-Robotics, etc.) Application Research Report, 2025-2026
LiDAR research: hardware competition shifts to combined sensing capabilities from "point cloud" to "images” and from automotive to robots The "LiDAR (Automotive, Pan-Robotics, ...
Global and China Passenger Car T-Box Market Report, 2026
Based on 2025 market data and the latest business layouts of OEMs and suppliers from 2025 to 2026, this report analyzes the development status quo and future trends of China’s passenger car T-Box mark...
Global and China Range Extended Electric Vehicle (REEV) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) Research Report, 2026
Research on REEVs and PHEVs: Foreign OEMs are considering extended-range technology as an important strategic option and will launch a series of new vehicles
Global PHEVs & REEVs tend to be domin...
Automotive Voice Industry Report, 2026
Automotive Voice Research: Explosive Growth in Features Like "See and Speak", 35-Fold Increase in External Voice Interaction in Two Years
ResearchInChina has released the Automotive Voice Industry R...
China Passenger Car Digital Chassis Research Report, 2026
Research on Digital Chassis: Leading OEMs Have Completed Configuration of Version 2.0 1. Leading OEMs Have Completed Configuration of Digital Chassis 2.0
By the degree of wired control of each c...