The Terminology of Automotive Product-Structuring Concepts: A Systematic Mapping Study

The automotive industry is undergoing a significant transformation, with vehicles evolving into complex, interconnected cyber-physical systems. This transformation is caused by new customer demands, legal standards, and technological innovations, which lead to an increasing amount of electronic control units, software, and features. To address the consequent software-related challenges, automotive manufacturers are adopting methodologies like software product-line engineering, electrics/electronics platforms, and product generation engineering. However, each of these methodologies relies on an own vocabulary, necessitating a unification of the divergent understandings and interpretations of key terms and definitions. In this article, we investigate and discuss a terminological framework that provides a common ground for specifying a unified product-structuring concept. For this purpose, we conducted a systematic mapping study to develop a framework of existing terms and definitions used to describe product-structuring concepts in software, electrics/electronics, as well as mechanical engineering. We discuss the differences and commonalities of the terminologies to help practitioners in integrating and applying product-structuring concepts as well as to guide future research.