Challenges from integration testing using interconnected hardware-in-the-loop test rigs at an automotive OEM – an industrial experience report

Developing automotive functions involves complex software to a growing extent while still following a consecutive waterfall-like development process: Integrating and testing software with other software and with hardware components is conducted towards the final phases during the development. For example, ambiguous requirements or unclear semantics in system interfaces show up very late and mostly not before integration testing. In this article, we are reporting about results from conducting interviews with integration and test engineers at a large automotive OEM about today's most resource-intense challenges when dealing with software integration testing tasks at interconnected hardware-in-the-loop test rig environments. Challenges in processes, communication, and implementation were mentioned most often as emerging topics to be tackled over and over again during this phase in a vehicle series development project.