Conformance test plan for police cars and taxis

The CiA 447-5 conformance test plan allows testing special-purpose car add-on devices.

The German and British police use CANopen networks in their cars to connect specific devices including blue lights, digital radio, etc. Several carmakers provide a CiA 447-compliant gateway to the in-vehicle networks. These electronic control units (ECU) feature firewalls and enable a standardized access to data available in the car independent of the brand. Audi, BMW, Daimler, Opel/Vauxhall, and Volkswagen offer optionally such gateways. The CiA 447 gateway can also be used for connecting taxi-specific devices such as taximeter, printers, and credit-card readers. Other applications include ambulances and cars for disabled drivers requiring specific equipment to conduct the vehicle.

The CiA 447-5 conformance test plan can be implemented in a tool, which also may support the conformance test plan for the CANopen protocols. The nonprofit organization CAN in Automation (CiA) is going to provide independent testing services for devices compliant to the CiA 447 CANopen profile. The CiA testers will use a CiA 447-5 test tool provided by Esacademy. Additionally, the tested devices have to pass the relevant tests for CANopen communication parameters and protocols as defined in CiA 310-1.