Establishment of a Consortium for a New On-Board Network Standard in Motor Vehicles

Audi, BMW, Infineon, Yamar Electronics and iQ POWER are initiators of the
Consortium / Powerline communications technology serves to simplify cable
networks within the car.

Munich. The two car makers Audi and BMW, the German manufacturer of
semiconductors Infineon Technologies, as well as YAMAR Electronics from Israel
and the Munich high-tech company iQ POWER have announced the start of their
common initiative in the DC-BUS Consortium. The objective of the companies
cooperating within the Consortium named DCBA (DC-BUS Alliance) is to use the
power lines in a motor vehicle also for internal on-board communication,
seeking in this way to avoid an increase in cost, weight and complexity caused
by the on-board cable system becoming increasingly sophisticated and
comprehensive. Following the body of a car and its engine, the wiring harness
is already the third-heaviest and the most expensive component in a modern
vehicle. The name of the Consortium incidentally comes from the English term
Direct Current (DC), that is the technology used in motor vehicles.

In the words of Peter Braun, the CEO of iQ POWER (http://www.iqpower.com), the
DCBA Consortium will soon include additional car makers and system suppliers.
iQ Power has been entrusted with the management of the new initiative, and car
makers such as DaimlerChrysler, Fiat, General Motors, Renault, Volkswagen as
well as truck manufacturers MAN and Mack Trucks have already expressed their
interest in joining the Consortium. The Consortium has also received written
commitments for membership inter alia from French car maker PSA Peugeot-Citroën.

According to the timetable, semiconductor manufacturer Infineon will be
providing the Consortium with the first pre-series specimens (B specimens) of
DC-BUS electronics by the end of 2001. To reach the ambitious objectives the
Consortium has set itself, a "core group of five or six car makers plus one
manufacturer of semiconductors will promote the technology and specifications
involved together with YAMAR and iQ POWER all the way to pre-series level",
says Braun. The decision will be taken in early February which companies are to
join the core group of the initiative over and above the current founding
members, and which companies will be accepted as associated members. The period
for taking this decision will expire by the end of January.

The objective of the initiative is to establish a new standard compatible with
the data protocols used in motor vehicles today such as CAN (Controller Area
Network) and LIN (Local Interconnect Network), operating properly both in
current 14-volt and future 42-volt on-board networks. Forming an open standard,
the new DC-BUS technology will later be made available to all companies in the
automotive industry such as vehicle manufacturers, suppliers and partners in
development.

The core group and the associated partners in the initiative will be gaining a
substantial lead in the market in terms of both time and know-how, says Braun.
There is furthermore an exclusive agreement between YAMAR and iQ POWER stating
that iQ POWER will be the only company entitled to use the DC-BUS in
conjunction with its intelligent car battery (iQ battery).

The basic technology for the new standard is the patented DC databus developed
by YAMAR Electronics (http://www.yamar.com) in Israel. The DC-BUS allows a data
transfer rate of 250 kilobits per second and more via the existing power lines.

Comprehensive and detailed tests conducted by car makers confirm the technical
and economic benefits provided by this technology.

"BMW sees the DC-BUS and the Alliance established in this way as another
significant step towards 'open systems' in the motor vehicle. Precisely this is
why we attach great significance to the technical implementation of DC-BUS
technology and the establishment of the DC-BUS Consortium", states Dr Germar
Triftshäuser, BMW's Powerline Communication Project Manager.

Audi also sees the introduction of the DC-BUS Alliance as a major step towards
the standardisation of transmission technologies in the motor vehicle. In
addition, says Stefan Brunner, responsible at Audi for diagnostic concepts, the
DC-BUS provides the option in both technological and economic terms to be
integrated in future vehicle concepts as a redundant bus system or for the
transmission of vehicle data important for diagnostic purposes.

"As one of the leading manufacturers of semiconductors for automotive
electronics and as a founding member of the DC-BUS Consortium, Infineon is
particularly interested in playing an active, leading role in this innovative
technology, offering our partners in the automotive industry solutions for
systems to be introduced in future", states Claus Geisler, Infineon's Vice
President & General Manager Automotive Power.

iQ POWER Technology:
Administrator for the DC-BUS Consortium
Peter E Braun
Tel: ++49/89/614483-23
E-mail: peter.braun@iqpower.com

For questions please contact:

Corporate Communications

Rudolf-Andreas Probst, AK-20, Manager Product
Telephone: (49) 089 382-22088, Fax: (49) 089 382-20626

Thomas Gubitz, AK-2, Manager Product and Engineering
Telephone: (49) 089 382-23504, Fax: (49) 089 382-25965

Media Website: www.press.bmwgroup.com
e-mail: presse@bmw.de