The ID.Polo stands out as the youngest member of the Volkswagen BEV family. This vehicle incorporates a range of innovative features, especially in its low voltage (LV) and high voltage (HV) wiring harness systems. Notably, electronic architecture has been carried over from other well-known vehicles in the ID.family, ensuring consistency in ECUs and software.

One of the key innovations is the introduction of a new nozzle that enables the LV wiring harness to be designed as a single, one-piece harness for both the interior and the front of the vehicle. This eliminates the need for interconnections and simplifies the process of threading the harness. The advantages of this design are significant. Beyond creating a one-piece harness, it delivers cost reductions in both logistics and manufacturing. Additionally, it offers clear benefits for harness routing, making it easier to accommodate both left- and right-hand driving cars.

For the high-voltage wire harness it was decided at a very early stage of development to design the wire harnesses for automated production. To achieve this goal, one of the key factors was the very close collaboration of all project partners and the strict adherence to design rules and specifications in every project stage. The wire harness design, in combination with innovative automation equipment, are the key points to realize this high-voltage wire harness production close to the Volkswagen plant in Spain with high quality standards, traceability and reproducibility.

The improvements shown extend beyond the ID.Polo itself. All brands within the Volkswagen Brand Group Core are set to benefit from the increased efficiency and innovations.

Sustainability considerations are an area of growing attention in the automotive industry, contributing to evolving discussions around operations, product development, and value chain management.

In parallel, evolving regulatory requirements, particularly within the European context, are contributing to transformation efforts while also introducing additional complexity and execution challenges.

Beyond regulatory and technological dimensions, the transition toward more sustainable mobility is unfolding within a broader market and economic landscape. Shifts in resource availability and market conditions may influence how companies assess risks, build resilience, and adapt within an evolving ecosystem.

At the same time, challenges such as supply chain visibility and the management of indirect emissions remain areas of ongoing focus across the industry. These factors highlight the need for new approaches to collaboration, transparency, and performance management.

Considering these uncertainties, this paper aims to provide a high-level perspective on key trends, exploring how sustainability can act as an enabler of transformation in the automotive sector.

The shift of car manufacturers toward Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs) significantly impacts the Electrical/Electronic (E/E) Architecture, which is moving from distributed to domain- and vehicle-centralized structures. Simultaneously, data rates are increasing, as described by Edholm’s law, add-ing complexity, raising security and safety due to autonomous driving functions. These factors will strongly influence wiring harnesses and ECU requirements.

To meet these new challenges for connector systems, standardized, scalable and robust integrated solutions are proposed that handle both high-frequency and mechanical functions while meeting installation space and competitive targets.

The presentation includes design approaches, simulations, validation and thermomechanical testing outcomes along with application examples of multi-hybrid connector systems.

Based on these findings a standardization strategy for connector system interfaces—utilizing existing high-speed data modules—will be introduced, highlighting their benefits in terms of modu-larity and scalability.

The introduction of a modular connection system provides Volkswagen with a scalable foundation for future E/E and wiring harness architectures. Today’s vehicle platforms rely on more than 1000 connector variants. Even with a high carry-over-part percentage, new requirements lead to new developments and therefore costs, long lead times, and limited flexibility. 

The modular connection system introduces a standardized, cross‑brand toolbox of unsealed power and data modules that can be combined into more than 200,000 configurations. This approach significantly reduces development time, investment costs, and complexity while enabling automated production processes and more compact ECU designs. 

Beyond cost efficiency, modularity supports quality improvements, platform consistency, and faster onboarding of new control units into SDV architectures. The presentation concludes by highlighting the future potential of modular connectors for next‑generation 48V systems, inline connectors, and expanded automation opportunities across the value chain.

moderated by the Conference Chair Dr. Rainer König

New E/E architectures, increasing functional integration within the vehicle, growing product diversity, and dynamic market volumes provide the wiring harness industry with significant opportunities to develop innovative production concepts, unlock automation potential, and rethink value creation—closer to the OEM than ever before.

The funded project Next2OEM, driven by ten partners from industry and academic sector, demonstrates for the first time a fully integrated approach to automating the wiring harness production process from the individual wire all the way to vehicle assembly, thereby enabling OEM‑proximate and highly resilient wiring harness manufacturing—both technically and economically.

Within the project, the entire process from wiring harness development through manufacturing to final assembly in the vehicle—was redesigned for the center console harness of a current Audi model and implemented in a linked demonstrator line at the Ingolstadt plant. Next2OEM thus demonstrates full automation across the entire value chain, covering all key process steps: the production of twisted data pairs, automated block loading, splice automation, automated taping, permanent wireless inline testing of the harness, robot‑assisted pre‑assembly, and automated installation into the vehicle body.

A central success factor is the consistent application of Design for Automation, implemented for the first time in the project at both harness and component level, providing the foundation for stable and reproducible automation processes. Equally crucial is the end‑to‑end digital information model: a semantic, graph‑based data ecosystem that interlinks all product and machine data and demonstrates how digitalization meets robotics to enable real‑time quality assurance, traceability, and future AI‑supported analysis capabilities. This clearly highlights that Design for Automation and a continuous digital ecosystem are key enabling technologies for the automated wiring harness production of the future.

The Next2OEM demonstrator provides compelling evidence of the technical feasibility of a largely automated wiring harness production system. At the same time, the project identifies the essential prerequisites for industrialization: automation‑ready product design, full digital continuity within a cross‑company data space, and close collaboration among all stakeholders along the wiring harness value chain. The results show that OEM‑proximate, highly automated wiring harness production is not only technically feasible but also economically viable, contributing to faster and more resilient supply chains.

The presentation introduces the Next2OEM demonstrator, explains the technological key innovations and the resulting design guidelines, and highlights the cross‑industry benefits of the digital ecosystem. Finally, it outlines perspectives for the transition to series production as well as future standardization approaches within the wiring harness industry.

As the automotive industry advances toward electrification, autonomous driving, and higher production automation, grommets are evolving into strategic components. This presentation introduces innovative grommet concepts that enhance sustainability, automation readiness, and overall system efficiency.

We will showcase an eco‑design approach supported by benchmarking, including a case study where a serial‑production part was redesigned to reduce both CO₂ footprint and cost. Sustainable material solutions—such as recycled and bio‑based polymers—will also be highlighted.

Finally, we present a new generation of smart grommets designed for automated wiring‑harness assembly, featuring extensible and modular solutions that address key automation bottlenecks. Attendees will gain a clear view of how material innovation, eco‑design, and automation‑oriented features converge in next‑generation grommets for future mobility.

We are amid a profound transformation of the automotive wiring harness and E/EDS industry. With the final breakthrough of electromobility in Europe, traditional wiring harness architectures and time-consuming, design-driven development processes are increasingly being replaced by agile methods driven by vehicle software. Suppliers thus face the key challenge of consistently aligning their development and manufacturing processes with new system architectures and establishing digitalization as a foundation essential for survival. What remains decisive for long-term reliability is not so much the choice of a specific material or joining technology, but rather the careful development and industrialization of complete contacting and joining systems. This can only be achieved through close cooperation between system and material suppliers, machine builders and wiring harness manufacturers.

In the field of ultrasonic metal welding, it is evident that most systematically induced defects can be controlled through appropriate preventive and detection measures. The greatest challenge, however, arises where multiple systematic influences overlap with random outliers - such as in surface conditions - and cause sporadic defects. Reliably detecting such effects without generating unnecessary scrap is a central development goal. A focus solely on individual process signals such as power, distance and force is not sufficient for this. Only a comprehensive analysis of all process data using specifically developed machine learning models provides the necessary flexibility and depth of detection, with every hour of production yielding valuable additional data.

The goal of zero-defect production can only be achieved if every step in the process is consistently geared toward error prevention and process monitoring systems serve primarily as a safety net. At the same time, our generic modeling approach for generating a digital signature of the target welding process prevents the emergence of an unmanageable jungle of parameters: model data is calculated on an application-specific basis, continuously optimized with verified production data, and can be updated in a reproducible manner with minimal effort. This results in a scalable, robust solution for model-based quality monitoring.

Physical AI will open a new chapter for automated wire harness assembly. With the shift in robotics from teach-and-repeat to the novel learning-based paradigm, dexterous tasks like wire harness assembly are unlocked. For true end-to-end assembly automation, however, the factory itself must evolve. Currently, production is hindered by "communication taxes" - data silos and manual handovers at every interface, from initial quoting and supply ordering to final delivery.

Just as physical AI shifts the paradigm in robotics to learning, end-to-end automation requires that the same is applied to the entire value chain. We propose a framework where every single interface is empowered through AI agents. By initially serving as co-pilots in tasks such as wire harness refinements in the quoting stage, agents will learn from human expertise and the tribal knowledge in the factory. Through this learning-based process, agents become more and more autonomous and will resolve the communication bottlenecks for the true end-to-end autonomous factory of the future.

Premium automotive manufacturers have traditionally relied on highly individualized vehicle configurations as a core business model, driven by extensive option catalogues and customer-specific feature combinations. While this approach has been commercially successful, it imposes significant scalability challenges on emerging Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) architectures, particularly with respect to power distribution and safety concepts. As future architectures transition from conventional to electronic fusing, new constraints arise regarding diagnostic coverage, thermal management, latency, and functional safety. Existing partitioning principles for power and software domains - originally developed for classical fuse boxes and decentralized hardware - prove insufficient when applied to central electronic power distribution units.

This presentation analyzes the impact of unused content within electronic power distribution systems that must accommodate all potential customer options, regardless of actual vehicle configuration. By introducing a revised partitioning approach tailored to centralized architectures, it is possible to significantly reduce complexity, hardware overhead, and system cost. The work further outlines an optimized electrical energy distribution concept that maintains customer-specific flexibility while improving scalability and manufacturability. Finally, the talk provides an outlook on the transition toward 48-volt topologies, highlighting the associated challenges for scalable electronic protection and the implications for future migration strategies.

Customer functions and software define the requirements for future vehicle energy systems.

In software‑defined vehicles, rising power demand, safety‑critical functions and continuous feature updates can no longer be addressed by hardware scaling alone.

A software‑defined energy management orchestrates power generation, distribution and storage across a highly integrated high‑voltage system and a zonal low-voltage powernet. While hardware and software are architecturally decoupled, energy management software must explicitly account for physical limits, safety constraints, electromagnetic effects and aging behavior to ensure reliable operation over the entire vehicle lifecycle.

Clear electrical interfaces, consistent grounding and safety concepts, and intelligent operating strategies enable a shift from classical low‑voltage architectures toward scalable zonal power distribution. This includes redundant HV/LV conversion concepts, software‑controlled operating modes, and the replacement of large low‑voltage energy storage by minimized, function‑oriented “power storage” solutions for safety‑relevant loads and future SDV customer functions.

Comprehensive virtual development is a key enabler of this transition. Model‑based power net and harness optimization, high‑frequency interference and EMC simulation, and multi‑level virtual validation flows allow physical risks to be identified early and hardware to be right‑sized without compromising availability or safety.

Energy management thus becomes a core software capability in software‑defined vehicles, enabling cost‑efficient architecture, lifecycle resilience and continuous software‑driven innovation in future vehicle energy systems.

Modern electric vehicle HV wiring architectures are facing increasingly demanding requirements. Fast-paced developments in HV batteries and powertrains require a paradigm shift that addresses these developments at harness level as well.

Traditional approaches are no longer sufficient: physical limits are being exceeded, and subsystem management is becoming more complex. Active cooling of HV wiring systems becomes a key enabler for meeting modern architecture needs and avoiding system bottlenecks.

Early solutions often struggled due to unclear requirements, insufficient modeling, and a lack of system-level integration across domains such as thermal management, harness processing, and vehicle integration.

The transition from isolated component-level optimization to a holistic system perspective is therefore essential. With our major innovation Power2Flow® serving as core backbone, aligning electrical and thermal/fluidic principles, leveraging full-system analysis, and defining suitable interfaces, technical risks can be reduced while ensuring maximum scalability and seamless integration. 

Targeted cooling minimizes system overhead, while modular, validated designs accelerate adoption across platforms. This combination of focused thermal management, standardization, and collaborative development enables sustainable, scalable, and series-ready solutions that meet the increasing performance demands of e-mobility.

GG Group, VOSS Automotive and Amphenol Tuchel Electronics, joining forces in a unique partnership model, provide insights into how to fulfil all these system-integration requirements. Robust integration principles, transparent roles, and standardization ensure that increasing performance demands can be met without uncontrolled complexity, laying the foundation for reliable HV wiring in the era of electrified mobility.

The automotive industry is rapidly transitioning toward highly complex, software‑defined vehicles, demanding new methods for efficient and reliable wiring harness development. Today’s environment is characterized by distributed data across diverse tools, fragmented responsibilities, and a multitude of inconsistent data formats—all of which disrupt data continuity and hinder collaboration across the value chain.

This presentation demonstrates how establishing data continuity across technical disciplines and organizational boundaries—from architecture to wiring harness design, between ECAD and MCAD, and across OEM–TIER1 interfaces—prevents information loss and enables consistent, model‑based engineering. Consolidating distributed data into a single model‑based approach supports horizontal and vertical traceability, automated wiring synthesis, and the propagation of design variations from system architecture down to wiring and harness engineering.

OEMs face the challenge of managing variants within one unified platform, requiring a mindset shift from predefined hardware variants to feature‑centric, generic variation descriptions. This aligns with the industry‑wide move from pre‑build hardware configurations toward post‑build software activation.

TIER1 suppliers must evaluate and validate wiring and harness designs under continuous change, managing thousands of updates during production. Their tasks include concept evaluation, architecture studies, harness topology optimization, and the counting and costing activities required for RFQ processes.

Together, these advancements illustrate how data continuity serves as a critical enabler for handling complexity, improving collaboration, and accelerating development across the complete wiring harness ecosystem.

As vehicles become more electrified and increasingly automated, the stability of low-voltage power distribution gains strategic importance, especially for safety-relevant systems such as steering systems. Today’s dominant approaches, centered on advanced eFuses and rearchitected energy distribution networks, deliver the required protection performance but often at the cost of significant integration effort, tooling changes, and wiring harness redesign. This creates a growing challenge for OEMs and Tier1 suppliers aiming to upgrade existing platforms efficiently. 

This presentation introduces a Smart Safety Adapter that offers a streamlined, cost-sensitive  alternative. Installed directly in front of a safety-relevant load, the adapter provides an energy buffer during undervoltage events, isolating the protected system only when needed and without altering the surrounding wiring harness. Its ability to maintain bidirectional current flow, also for recuperation scenarios, helps avoid critical voltage deviations while preserving compatibility with established component interfaces. 

For wiring harness engineers and platform architects, the concept enables high safety levels without rewiring major parts of the harness. For OEMs, it offers a cost-sensitive path to integrate new safety-relevant functions into midcycle updates or derivative models. And for Tier1 suppliers, it opens opportunities to deliver value-added, safety-aligned modules with minimal impact on architectures. 

Overall, the Smart Safety Adapter presents a scalable, integration-friendly alternative to complex eFuse solutions, supporting fail-operational behavior while reducing redesign effort across the value chain.

Until recently the off-state of safety critical systems in cars could always assumed to be a safe state. However, with the advent of ADAS and especially autonomous driving functionality this is no longer the case. The electrification of other functionalities like the introduction of steer or break by wire systems also negates the off-state as a safe state. 

This fact leads to new design considerations in the architecture of the on-board power supply of cars and its wiring harness. New architectures have to be implemented to ensure the continuous power supply of safety critical items in case of a fault. 

To facilitate a quicker design optimization the preliminary safety verification of a large number of possible architecture layouts has to be automated. New, more innovative designs can be tried and cost reduction at the same safety integrity level can be achieved. 

Automation is facilitated with a model-based systems engineering approach. Architecture variations are automatically built from a base architecture, automatically simulated, verified with fault injection simulations and evaluates according to safety, quality and price criteria. 

Our example architecture for the wiring harness was defined by the Arbeitskreis 30 Elektrische Energie of the Forschungsvereinigung Automobiltechnik. It consists of four Power Distribution Units (PDUs) with up to four loads attached to each. Two of those are safety-critical and the rest are non-safety-critical. The PDUs can be connected by the main connection and an energy backbone as backup. They are protected by eFuses. The methodology for simulation, safety verification and evaluation is shown.

Aluminum is already a cornerstone material in modern automotive engineering — from body structures to chassis components — yet copper still dominates electrical contact technology. This contrast raises an timely question for the future of vehicle electrical systems: can aluminum become a reliable, scalable alternative for terminals and interfaces in wiring harnesses? When is a electrical contact reliable?

Our contribution explores a aluminum concept that integrates conductor, contact, and vehicle interface (if possible) into a consistent material system. By reducing material diversity, such an approach simplifies system architecture, minimizes galvanic interactions, and opens new opportunities for lightweight and sustainable design. The focus is not merely on replacing copper, but on understanding the functional, material, and process requirements that aluminum contacts must fulfill to be a valid option.

Through a combination of application insights, material comparisons, and design considerations, we discuss how aluminum terminals can achieve robust electrical and mechanical performance. The presentation highlights key factors such as plating strategies, connection reliability, manufacturability, and system integration. Ultimately, we aim to challenge established conventions and demonstrate how aluminum-based connection systems can support the electrical architectures.

Corrosion of grounding eyelets remains a major durability risk in automotive wire harnesses exposed to moisture, salt spray, temperature cycling, and vibration. Field experience shows that conventional sealing solutions, particularly adhesive-lined heat shrink tubing, can fail to provide robust protection when applied to complex eyelet geometries, high wire counts, or designs with extended side walls. These limitations allow water ingress through capillary pathways between wire strands, leading to corrosion, increased electrical resistance, and potential system malfunction.

This presentation examines the dominant root causes of grounding eyelet corrosion and evaluates the practical limits of traditional sealing concepts against current OEM requirements. Dip soldering is introduced as an intrinsic sealing method that fills internal voids between wire strands, effectively eliminating capillary leakage paths rather than relying solely on external barriers. Key process parameters, common failure modes, and the importance of automation for repeatability are discussed. The approach is compared with alternative sealing technologies, with validation considerations based on vehicle-level corrosion testing. The objective is to provide guidance for selecting robust, geometry-tolerant sealing strategies to improve long-term electrical reliability.

Key Contribution

This work systematically correlates grounding eyelet geometry, process parameters, and sealing technologies to demonstrate why conventional external sealing methods fail under complex harness conditions and how internal, capillary‑driven and hybrid sealing strategies can significantly improve long‑term corrosion resistance and electrical reliability.

As electric vehicles (EVs) evolve, busbar insulation materials face increasing performance and sustainability requirements, driven by emerging international standards and stakeholders’ expectations. ARKEMA, as a polymer material supplier, is actively developing innovative solutions to address these challenges. This presentation introduces two advancements in polyamide technology for high-voltage busbar applications. First, a biobased PA11 material designed to achieve temperature class 125 °C, overcoming limitations of conventional PA12 while reducing carbon footprint. Second, a partially biobased polyamide offering enhanced electrical properties to meet new demands. Comparative data and material characteristics will be discussed, highlighting how these solutions combine technical performance with sustainability. Additionally, insights from participation in the ISO committee shaping future busbar standards will illustrate how evolving requirements influence material development strategies, enabling safer, more efficient, and environmentally responsible EV technologies.