Mazda Embraces Cutting-Edge Design with Mentor Capital Software
Mazda Motor has started using Mentor’s Capital electrical design software suite to boost innovation in their automotive electrical system designs. They’re employing Capital to handle model-based generative design for the whole vehicle platform’s electrical and electronic systems. This software helps their design teams manage complexity and changes across the vehicle, which reduces mistakes and cuts costs.
As the automotive industry moves toward bigger developments like electric powertrains and self-driving cars, creating safe and efficient electrical designs has become crucial. These new systems are often based on entirely new architectures and are quite complex, making advanced software tools essential for development.
Capital’s tools offer real-time feedback on key metrics like cost, weight, and network bandwidth, letting engineers experiment with different design approaches. This flexibility is particularly important for developing large-scale systems like electric and autonomous vehicles. The software also provides Mazda with simulation and verification capabilities.
At Mazda, the design process—from system design to manufacturing and service documentation—typically involves translating between different stages, which can be tricky. Kazuichi Fujisaka, technical leader at Mazda, explained that they aim to remove any confusion while keeping the variety of expressions characteristic of natural languages. They’re using formal methods to retain information during transfer and striving to create a consistent development environment from design through manufacturing.
Fujisaka mentioned that they need a comprehensive development environment to visualize the entire vehicle’s circuitry and standardize language, tools, and processes without compromise. “Mentor’s Capital technologies provide this environment, making Mazda’s electric development much more efficient,” he said.
In addition to Mentor’s Capital software, Mazda also uses Siemens’ NX software and Teamcenter portfolio for collaboration across the enterprise.
Martin O’Brien, senior vice president at Siemens, noted Mazda’s long history of innovation. “Mazda is a fast adopter of new capabilities like platform-level architecture optimization. Their forward-thinking approach and use of our advanced technologies show their commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction,” he said.
