Vehicle active network with fault tolerant devices

摘要

A vehicle active network (12) communicatively couples devices (14-20) within a vehicle (10). Device operation is independent of the interface (22-28) of the device (14-20) with the active network (12). Additionally, the architecture of the active network (12) provides one or more levels of communication redundancy. The architecture provides for the total integration of vehicle systems and functions, and permits plug-and-play device integration and upgradeability.