The variety of transmissions available in the market today is continuing to grow exponentially in the last 15 years, all while increasing in complexity. The result is usually that we are now dealing with a varied amount of transmission types including manual, regular automatic, automatic manual, dual clutch, constantly variable, split power and pure EV.
Until extremely recently, automotive vehicle producers largely had two types of transmitting to pick from: planetary automated with torque converter or conventional manual. Today, nevertheless, the volume of choices available demonstrates the adjustments seen across the industry.

This is also illustrated by the many various kinds of vehicles now being manufactured for the market. And not merely conventional vehicles, but also all electric and hybrid vehicles, with each type requiring different driveline architectures.

The traditional development process involved designing a transmission in isolation from the engine and all of those other powertrain and vehicle. However, that is changing, with the limitations and complications of this method becoming more more popular, and the constant drive among manufacturers and designers to provide optimal efficiency at decreased weight and cost.

New powertrains feature close integration of components like the primary mover, recovery systems and the gearbox, and in addition rely on highly advanced control systems. This is to assure that the very best degree of efficiency and overall performance is delivered all the time. Manufacturers are under increased pressure to create powertrains that are brand new, different from and much better than the last version-a proposition that’s made more complex by the necessity to integrate brand elements, differentiate within the marketplace and do everything on a shorter timescale. Engineering groups are on Driveline gearboxes deadline, and the advancement process must be better and fast-paced than previously.
Until now, the usage of computer-aided engineering (CAE) has been the most typical way to develop drivelines. This process involves components and subsystems designed in isolation by silos within the organization that lean toward verified component-level analysis equipment. While these are highly advanced tools that enable users to extract extremely reliable and accurate data, they are still presenting data that is collected without factor of the whole system.

While this may produce components that work nicely individually, putting them together without prior concern of the entire system can create designs that don’t work, resulting in issues in the driveline that are difficult and expensive to improve.