The development of vehicle software is accelerating, but the rate of testing is unable to keep pace. Growing software volumes, rising quality expectations and fixed release cycles are widening the gap between required and achievable test coverage – making test efficiency a decisive factor. As vehicles evolve toward software-defined architectures, testing is shaped by three competing objectives:
- Increasing software volume driven by variants and electrification
- Higher software quality requirements for safety, compliance and customer satisfaction
- Faster iteration and release cycles defined by agile development and market pressure
Balancing these objectives across the entire vehicle lifecycle has become a fundamental challenge for OEMs and suppliers.
AVL Copper Car TS™ provides a dedicated test environment for efficient validation of vehicle electrical systems and software across the entire vehicle lifecycle. It enables close-to-reality testing while maintaining the execution speed of HiL-based environments, allowing high test coverage within fixed development and sprint cycles.
By combining realism with automation, the system supports fast test preparation, reproducible execution and continuous validation under controlled laboratory conditions.
The Copper Car approach rebuilds the vehicle’s electrical system using real ECUs, the original cable harness and a conductive ground plane that replicates the electrical behavior of the chassis. Batteries and e-motors are replaced by precise emulators, enabling full-power operation without mechanical components.
This setup applies correct voltage, current and power behavior while enabling fast, fully automated testing under realistic electrical conditions across the entire vehicle lifecycle.
Electric System Integration Testing
AVL Copper Car TS™ enables full-power integration testing of electric propulsion and charging systems under close-to-reality electrical conditions. By using real ECUs, the original cable harness and a conductive ground plane, system-level effects such as resonance, electromagnetic coupling and grounding behavior can be analyzed early and systematically. This allows design risks to be identified and mitigated before they propagate into later development phases.
Software Regression Testing
Software regression testing is required throughout the entire vehicle service life and before every software update. Operating at HiL speed while applying full electrical power, AVL Copper Car TS™ enables large regression test scopes to be executed within fixed sprint cycles. This significantly reduces the need for time-consuming chassis-dynamometer or on-road testing, while ensuring meaningful and reproducible validation results.
In the future, every OEM will have at least one AVL Copper Car TS™ to replicate the electrical propulsion system for each vehicle variant throughout the vehicle's lifetime.
– Horst Hammerer, Director Electric System Testing, AVL List GmbH
- High test coverage with reduced effort
Maximizes meaningful test coverage while keeping time and cost under control. - Full-power, close-to-reality testing
Applies correct voltage, current and power to reveal critical system-level effects. - HiL-speed execution
Enables fast test preparation and execution aligned with agile sprint cycles.
- Reliable and reproducible results
Ensures consistent validation through automation and stable test conditions. - No mechanical wear or battery risks
Emulated batteries and e-motors enable safe operation without rotating parts. - Lifecycle-wide applicability
Supports system integration and continuous software validation from development to service life.
AVL Powertrain TS™ is designed to help you manage the complex validation of ICE-driven vehicles and electric vehicles (EVs) – hybrid EVs, plug-in hybrid EVs, battery EVs, and fuel cell EVs – throughout the development process.
The inverter is very complex, and its behavior and handling influence the driving experience significantly. It needs to be tested and developed without further influences of other components. Learn more about our test system (TS) for inverter.
AVL PUMA 2™ is the global industry standard for testbed automation. It is suitable for electrified testbed types as well as for conventional test environments.
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