10116550VCU AdvancementClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKSRTI has developed a Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) that has been design in house to meet the needs of the electric and hybrid vehicles. We adopted an novel approach in providing low voltage power distribution for vehicle components and the electronic control needed for vehicles in the same units. This reduced the need for additional fusing and power distribution within the vehicles. This has the advantage of reducing the design time and component count in vehicle electrical systems. It provides additional flexibility in power managements and great diagnostic information on faults. The unit has been design with functional safety in mind, providing redundancy, multi-core locked step processing and enhanced fault diagnostics. The VCU development was undertaken as part of a collaborative project to develop a hybrid electric tractor with CNHi. This project aims to advance the development of the tractor transmission with the aim of completing testing that will allow CNHi to justify building the transmission into a full tractor. The project will also allow SRTI to accelerate the adoption of its VCU in other market sector by completing necessary EMC compliance testing.