The automotive industry is undergoing profound change. Advances in areas such as autonomous driving, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), infotainment and vehicle connectivity require powerful and reliable in-vehicle communication networks. Automotive Ethernet is establishing itself as a key technology to meet these requirements. This blog post looks at the development of automotive Ethernet standards and their role in modern vehicles.
Origin and Motivation
Traditional vehicle networks such as CAN (Controller Area Network), LIN (Local Interconnect Network) and FlexRay met the requirements of the automotive industry for a long time. However, they only offered limited data transfer rates of a maximum of 10 Mbit/s, which became problematic with the increasing number of sensors, cameras and control units in modern vehicles. Ethernet, a standard originally developed for local networks in IT, promised the necessary bandwidth and flexibility to meet the increasing demands of the automotive sector.
BroadR-Reach, 10BASE-T1S and the introduction of 100BASE-T1
The decisive door opener for Automotive Ethernet was the development of the 10BASE-T1S standard, which was introduced long before 100BASE-T1. This standard provided a convincing proof of concept that Ethernet is practicable in the automotive environment. Although 10BASE-T1S offered relatively low transmission speeds compared to today’s standards, it nevertheless demonstrated the suitability of Ethernet to replace existing standards such as CAN and LIN.
The next important step was standardization by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), which introduced the 100BASE-T1 standard in 2015. This standard enabled a data transmission rate of 100 Mbit/s via single twisted pair and met the automotive industry’s strict requirements for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and reliability. At the time, 100BASE-T1 proved to be ideal for networking sensors, cameras and ECUs in modern vehicles. The standard became commonly known as BroadR-Reach (initially invented and trademarked by Broadcom).
The step to 1000BASE-T1 and Multi-Gigabit Ethernet
With the advent of ADAS and autonomous driving functions, the bandwidth requirements in vehicle networks continued to grow rapidly. This led to the development of 1000BASE-T1, a standard that enables transmission rates of up to 1 Gbit/s. 1000BASE-T1 was standardized by the IEEE in 2016 and meets the requirements of systems that need to process large amounts of data in real time, such as camera systems and LiDAR systems.
Given the rapidly growing data volumes in future vehicles, the technology continues to evolve towards Multi-Gigabit Ethernet, with standards such as 2.5GBASE-T1 and 10GBASE-T1 offering transmission rates of up to 10 Gbit/s. These standards are crucial for the operation of complex sensor and control systems in autonomous vehicles, for example. In order to guarantee the requirements and real-time capability of these increasingly complex systems, the above-mentioned developments are essential. This applies not only to the vehicle’s comfort functions, but also to functional safety.
The future of Automotive Ethernet
Automotive Ethernet will continue to form the technical basis for the development of autonomous and connected vehicles. With the increasing spread of V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) communication systems, which enable vehicles to be networked with each other and with the infrastructure, Ethernet will continue to play a central role in intelligent transportation systems.
The integration of technologies such as TSN and Multi-Gigabit Ethernet will also help to meet the growing requirements. The future of connected driving and autonomous transport therefore depends crucially on the further development of these standards.



dissecto HydraLink: THE solution for Automotive Ethernet
The automotive sector is undergoing a paradigm shift from Controller Area Network (CAN)-based systems to advanced automotive Ethernet networks such as BroadR-Reach. The solutions currently available on the market are often bulky, expensive and limited in their functionality. This is where dissecto HydraLink comes in: a versatile USB-to-Automotive Ethernet adapter that does not require an additional media converter and does not need a separate power supply.
HydraLink supports the most important Ethernet standards, making it a lean, powerful and cost-effective solution for testing, diagnostics and development environments. With Gigabit Automotive Ethernet, HydraLink enables a reliable, seamless and above all fast connection to networked vehicles and embedded systems. The simple handling and plug-and-play functionality make integration into existing working environments child’s play.
With dissecto HydraLink, Gigabit Automotive Ethernet becomes simple and efficient! With this interface, you can avoid complicated setups, optimize your workflows and connect quickly and smoothly to modern vehicle networks.
Example from our Knowledge-Base script covering DoIP connectivity (see here):
#PYTHON
from scapy.all import *
from scapy.contrib.automotive.doip import DoIPSocket
from scapy.contrib.automotive.uds import UDS, UDS_RDBI
load_contrib("automotive.doip")
sock = DoIPSocket("169.254.117.238")
pkt = DoIP(source_address=0xe80, target_address=0x4010)/UDS()/UDS_RDBI(identifiers=[0x1000])
resp = sock.sr1(pkt, timeout=1)
resp.show()

Conclusion
The development of Automotive Ethernet is one of the most significant technological advances in the modern vehicle industry. From its early beginnings through to Gigabit and Multigigabit Ethernet standards, this technology has proven essential to meet the growing demands for data transfer rates and connectivity. Solutions such as dissecto HydraLink are an example of how innovative products can help make the transition to these new technologies more efficient and accessible.
Do you have questions or need support?
We’re here to help! Reach out to us if you have and questions regarding dissecto HydraVision or our other services: