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This research builds on three projects that aim to investigate how knowledge transfer takes place in new product development in the automotive industry. The study seeks to picture how product development teams frame and shape new product knowledge, how they interpret such knowledge, and how they apply knowledge to the product development process. From that perspective, product development activities can be seen as transactions that are integrated into an overall system of identifying, assessing, collecting and combining knowledge. Results of my research so far reveal that there are many factors that affect the successful management of knowledge transfer in new product development projects. Based on my first two projects, using the case study approach, it is evident that for successful knowledge transfer to occur, there is a need to distinguish between design knowledge that is embedded in the tacit knowledge domain and that embedded in the or explicit design knowledge domain. The results of project three, using a survey questionnaire approach, provide a powerful demonstration, that knowledge integration, combination and creation in product development need intensive interaction and collaboration. The enormous importance of interaction and collaboration to integrate and combine knowledge has its origin in the nature of design knowledge. For example engineers produced in the survey a 82 % rate of agreement with the statement that they use mainly knowledge that comes from their past work experience as product developers, in order to solve complex design tasks. The underlying assumption of this finding is, that engineers are therefore mostly forced to transfer tacit design knowledge to solve complex design tasks. The research showed that a remarkable under-performance exists in knowledge identification and knowledge articulation in new product development in the automotive industry. In vehicle development, non-routine tasks are highly complex. This requires team members to have an understanding of the complete product system architecture. To create such an understanding, engineers need to identify and articulate knowledge. These activities can be seen as a pre-knowledge creation. The result is a shared product knowledge base, which makes it possible for people engaged in the vehicle development process to use different kinds of knowledge to capture and link new technologies into innovative products. This may require a cultural shift by vehicle manufacturers in terms of how they steer and allocate resources to future vehicle development programmes. Building on four years engagement with knowledge transfer research, I conclude that organisations in the automotive sector still rely on methods and processes that were successful in the past and strictly directed at exploiting tangible assets. To integrate preknowledge creation, as a new found discipline in product development projects creates an enormous potential to integrate and combine knowledge in an efficient way for future product development projects.

This research builds on three projects that aim to investigate how knowledge transfer takes place in new product development in the automotive industry. The study seeks to picture how product development teams frame and shape new product knowledge, how they interpret such knowledge, and how they apply knowledge to the product development process. From that perspective, product development activities can be seen as transactions that are integrated into an overall system of identifying, assessing, collecting and combining knowledge. Results of my research so far reveal that there are many factors that affect the successful management of knowledge transfer in new product development projects. Based on my first two projects, using the case study approach, it is evident that for successful knowledge transfer to occur, there is a need to distinguish between design knowledge that is embedded in the tacit knowledge domain and that embedded in the or explicit design knowledge domain. The results of project three, using a survey questionnaire approach, provide a powerful demonstration, that knowledge integration, combination and creation in product development need intensive interaction and collaboration. The enormous importance of interaction and collaboration to integrate and combine knowledge has its origin in the nature of design knowledge. For example engineers produced in the survey a 82 % rate of agreement with the statement that they use mainly knowledge that comes from their past work experience as product developers, in order to solve complex design tasks. The underlying assumption of this finding is, that engineers are therefore mostly forced to transfer tacit design knowledge to solve complex design tasks. The research showed that a remarkable under-performance exists in knowledge identification and knowledge articulation in new product development in the automotive industry. In vehicle development, non-routine tasks are highly complex. This requires team members to have an understanding of the complete product system architecture. To create such an understanding, engineers need to identify and articulate knowledge. These activities can be seen as a pre-knowledge creation. The result is a shared product knowledge base, which makes it possible for people engaged in the vehicle development process to use different kinds of knowledge to capture and link new technologies into innovative products. This may require a cultural shift by vehicle manufacturers in terms of how they steer and allocate resources to future vehicle development programmes. Building on four years engagement with knowledge transfer research, I conclude that organisations in the automotive sector still rely on methods and processes that were successful in the past and strictly directed at exploiting tangible assets. To integrate preknowledge creation, as a new found discipline in product development projects creates an enormous potential to integrate and combine knowledge in an efficient way for future product development projects.

This study describes the development of the Propulsion Supervisory Controller for an independent axle All-Wheel Drive Electric Vehicle, using a model-based approach. The vehicle has a main rear motor and a smaller front motor. Features like power moding, transmission range selection and torque architecture are discussed. For the torque architecture, different torque distribution strategies are explored in detail. Initially, a comparison of torque distribution strategies considering positive torques only, is used to assess the impact on the vehicle's energy consumption. Firstly, an optimal strategy with and without power-rate penalties is explored, which distributes the torque request to minimize the losses in both drive-units. Secondly, a fixed-ratio strategy is considered where both axles contribute with a predetermined torque ratio to meet the total torque demand. Thirdly, a torque-assist approach is examined, wherein only the rear motor contributes to the torque demand till it is operating at instantaneous maximum torque, after which the front motor starts contributing. Similar evaluations are then performed including regenerative braking or negative torque domain. Additionally, the performance of the penalized optimal strategy (PO) for positive torques is evaluated when combined with the torque assist regenerative braking strategy, where the front motor is primarily used for regenerative braking. The performance of PO combined with the ideal regenerative braking strategy is also assessed. This study aims to provide an overview of the controller development approach and an insight of the feasibility of deploying sophisticated computational algorithms for enhanced efficiency on it. / Master of Science / This study focuses on the development of a propulsion controller for a modified all-electric 2023 Cadillac LYRIQ. The Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) is equipped with a main rear motor and a smaller front motor. Functional features such as the power-up and power-down sequence and vehicle range selection are discussed along with performance features like torque control. The objective is to enable safe vehicle functionality and enhance the vehicle's powertrain efficiency through the development of software for its Propulsion Supervisory Controller (PSC). The study initially evaluates various strategies for distributing torque during forward acceleration. Three primary strategies are analyzed: an optimal approach aimed at minimizing overall energy losses, a fixed-ratio strategy where torque ratios are predetermined to meet the total demand, and a torque-assist method where the front motor provides torque only after the rear motor reaches its instantaneous maximum torque, triggered by the accelerator pedal input exceeding a threshold. Similarly, these strategies are examined within the context of regenerative braking to assess their impact on range. Finally, the penalized optimal torque distribution strategy is combined with a torque assist regenerative braking strategy as well as a strategy that adheres to the ideal braking distribution. This study provides an overview of the vehicle controller development and demonstrates the feasibility and benefits of employing advanced computational algorithms in the propulsion controller to achieve enhanced efficiency and an improved range in electric vehicles.

Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, die Entscheidungsfindung mittels virtueller Methoden im Fahrzeugentwicklungsprozess zu unterstützen. Es wurde ein Interaktionssystem entwickelt, welches auf Propriozeption und taktilem Feedback als multimodale Komponente in Verbindung mit visueller Wahrnehmung beruht. Zur sinnvollen Nutzung der Propriozeption wurde eine Freihandinteraktion basierend auf Fingertracking in der CAVE eingesetzt, welche die Abbildung einer Bedienmetapher sehr ähnlich der eines Bewegungsablaufes im realen Fahrzeug ermöglicht. Das System wurde in Probandenstudien evaluiert. Es wurde gezeigt, dass eine individuelle Anpassung des virtuellen Augenabstandes deutliche Verbesserungen in der virtuellen Raumwahrnehmung erzielt. Zudem wurde eine Kalibriermethodik entwickelt, welche es über eine Integration von visuellem und taktilem Sinn ermöglicht, die konsistente Wahrnehmung des Nutzers zu verbessern. Das visuelltaktile Feedback wurde im Vergleich verschiedener Interaktionsfeedbacks für Aufgaben der virtuellen Interieurbewertung als am besten geeignet verifiziert. Mittels des visuelltaktilen Feedbacks konnte sowohl die Leistung, als auch die Genauigkeit der Aufgabenausführung gesteigert werden. Darauf basierend konnte gezeigt werden, dass sowohl die Präsenz in virtuellen Umgebungen, als auch die Intuitivität signifikant durch das Fingertrackingsystem im Vergleich zur bisher eingesetzten Interaktionsmethode externer Operator gesteigert werden. Obwohl sich die virtuelle Raumwahrnehmung nicht signifikant verbesserte, liegt die Einschätzung unter Betrachtung aller Ergebnisse nahe, dass eine Verortung im virtuellen Fahrzeug deutlich positiv durch das Fingertrackingsystem unterstützt wird. Insgesamt konnte eine Erhöhung der Benutzerakzeptanz und Entscheidungskompetenz realisiert werden.

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