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Over the last decade the electronic content in cars has increased dramatically. Today's cars employ a large number of control units that are networked to provide advanced functionality. One of the most difficult issues is the seamless integration of heterogeneous electronic subsystems-typically developed by different suppliers-into an integrated computer system. Consequently, system integrators have a pressing need for a composable system architecture and tool support that facilitates the painless integration of subsystems. During the system design phase this requires a two level design approach. At the cluster or overall system design level the system integrator defines the properties and interactions of the overall systems precisely in the value and time domain. The cluster design serves as a requirements definition for the node level design where node local details can be defined independently.

The new generation of drive-by-wire systems currently under development has demanding requirements on the electronic architecture. Functions such as brake-by-wire or steer-by-wire require continued operation even in the presence of component failures. The electronic architecture must therefore provide fault-tolerance and real-time response. This in turn requires the operating system and the communication layer to be predictable, dependable and composable. It is well known that this properties are best supported by a time-triggered approach. A consortium consisting of German and French car manufacturers and suppliers, which aims at becoming a working group within the OSEK/VDX initiative, the OSEKtime consortium, is currently defining a specification for a time-triggered operating system and a fault-tolerant communication layer.1 The operating system and the communication layer are based on applicable interfaces of the OSEK/VDX standard.