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 can be that we are actually dealing with a varied quantity of transmission types including manual, conventional automatic, automatic manual, dual clutch, consistently adjustable, split power and genuine EV.
Until extremely recently, automotive vehicle producers largely had two types of transmitting to choose from: planetary automated with torque converter or conventional manual. Today, however, the volume of options avaiable demonstrates the changes seen over the industry.

That is also illustrated by the countless various kinds of vehicles now being produced for the market. And not merely conventional vehicles, but also all electric and hybrid vehicles, with each type needing different driveline architectures.

The traditional advancement process involved designing a transmission in isolation from the engine and all of those other powertrain and vehicle. However, this is changing, with the restrictions and complications of the method becoming more more popular, and the continuous drive among manufacturers and designers to deliver optimal Driveline gearboxes efficiency at decreased weight and cost.

New powertrains feature close integration of components like the primary mover, recovery systems and the gearbox, and also rely on highly sophisticated control systems. That is to ensure that the very best degree of efficiency and performance is delivered all the time. Manufacturers are under improved pressure to create powertrains that are completely new, different from and much better than the last version-a proposition that’s made more complex by the necessity to integrate brand components, differentiate within the marketplace and do it all on a shorter timescale. Engineering groups are on deadline, and the advancement process must be better and fast-paced than ever before.
Until now, the use of computer-aided engineering (CAE) has been the most common way to build up drivelines. This process involves components and subsystems designed in isolation by silos within the business that lean toward tested component-level analysis tools. While they are highly advanced equipment that enable users to extract very dependable and accurate data, they are still presenting data that’s collected without thought of the whole system.

While this may produce components that work very well individually, putting them with each other without prior thought of the entire system can create designs that don’t work, leading to issues in the driveline that are difficult and expensive to correct.