{"id":49818,"date":"2026-07-07T08:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T08:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/49818\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T08:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T08:59:09","slug":"mercedes-benz-hosts-open-source-hardware-automotive-rapid-development-platform-ardep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/49818\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercedes-Benz hosts open-source hardware Automotive Rapid DEvelopment Platform (ARDEP)"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARDEP (Automotive Rapid DEvelopment Platform) is an open-source hardware and software platform hosted on Mercedes-Benz\u2019s GitHub account<\/a> and released under an Apache 2.0 license.<\/p>\n

The ARDEP V2 main board is based on an STMicroelectronics STM32G474VE Arm Cortex-M4F microcontroller for motor control<\/a> with CORDIC and FMAC hardware math accelerators, and features CAN-FD and LIN transceivers, while the PowerIO Shield features 6 outputs and 6 inputs supporting up to 48V and 3A per channel.<\/p>\n

\"Mercedes<\/a><\/p>\n

ARDEP V2 specifications:<\/p>\n

MCU \u2013 STMicroelectronics STM32G474VE<\/p>\n

Arm Cortex-M4 with FPU at up to 170 MHz
\nMath accelerators\u00a0 \u2013 CORDIC for trigonometric functions and Filter Mathematical ACcelerator (FMAC)
\nMemory \u2013 128 KB SRAM
\nStorage \u2013 256 KB single-bank flash<\/p>\n

USB<\/p>\n

1x USB Type-C \u201cARDEP\u201d port
\n1x USB Type-C \u201cDebugger\u201d port<\/p>\n

Transceivers<\/p>\n

2x CAN-FD capable transceivers, each with a common mode choke, ESD protection, and hardware-configurable 120 Ohm termination
\n1x LIN transceiver, software-selectable master or slave mode<\/p>\n

I\/Os<\/p>\n

DB-9 connector following the \u201cVector pinout\u201d commonly used by Vector Informatik tools such as CANalyzer and VN series interfaces<\/p>\n

Note:\u00a0 A hardware switch (SW1) routes either CAN-A to DB-9 pins 2 and 7, or LIN to DB-9 pin 7<\/p>\n

12-pole spring contact terminal for CAN-A and LIN
\n6-pole spring contact terminal with 2x UART
\nArduino-compatible headers<\/p>\n

6-pin header with 6x analog input, SPI interfaces
\n8-pin + 10-pin headers for digital inputs, USART, SPI, I2C<\/p>\n

32-pin header with GPIOs, LPUART, SPI, DAC, I2C, USART\u2026<\/p>\n

Debugger \u2013 On-board debugger with UART connection
\nPower Supply<\/p>\n

Input voltage \u2013 5 V to 48 V via main terminals, protected by a 51 V TVS diode and a 1 A slow-blow fuse
\nUSB power \u2013 4.75 V to 5.25 V via USB Type-C (ARDEP or Debug port)
\nInternal 5 V rail \u2013 500 mA maximum total, shared across the 5 V and 3.3 V outputs and the MCU
\n3.3 V output \u2013 Available on the Arduino header and 32-pin connector, 200 mA poly fuse per group
\nLIN supply input (VLIN) \u2013 0 V to 24 V external, extendable to 36 V with different ESD protection
\nGPIO logic level: 3.3 V
\nProtection \u2013 Overvoltage, reverse current, and ESD protection on the supply path<\/p>\n

Dimensions \u2013 109 x\u00a0 69 x 16 mm
\nWeight \u2013 About 60 grams<\/p>\n

\n\"ARDEP<\/a>ARDEP V2 pinout diagram\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Power IO Shield specifications:<\/p>\n

Outputs \u2013 6x high-side drivers based on the IPS2050HQ-32 smart high-side switch, 3 A continuous per channel, 10 A total across all six
\nInputs \u2013 6x 48 V-capable digital inputs
\nDiagnostics \u2013 Per-channel overcurrent and overtemperature fault indication via onboard LEDs, plus I2C fault feedback to the main board that identifies which driver IC has faulted
\nSupply voltage \u2013 Up to 48 V DC
\nDimensions \u2013 61 x 99 x 23 mm
\nWeight \u2013 ~70 g (2.47 oz)<\/p>\n

\"Power\"Power<\/a><\/p>\n

The firmware is based on Zephyr RTOS and supports UDS (Unified Diagnostic Services, ISO 14229).\u00a0 Firmware update (DFU) is supported over both CAN and USB, a bootloader and firmware loader are pre-installed, and the company also provides a library with samples and demos for CAN, LIN, ADC, DAC, GPIO, UDS, and a CAN-to-USB bridge.<\/p>\n

As mentioned in the introduction, the open-source hardware project is hosted on a GitHub repository<\/a> owned by Mercedes-Benz, and you\u2019ll find the KiCad and Alitum hardware design files, PDF schematics, source code for the firmware, library, and samples, as well as documentation. The work is marked as \u201cCopyright: Mercedes-Benz AG\u201d and released under the Apache 2.0 license.<\/p>\n

\"Mercedes\"Mercedes<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s everything for you to build your own, but when I searched for a place to purchase the ARDEP V2 board, I ended up on Crowd Supply<\/a> by Frickly Systems GmbH, which is preparing a crowdfunding campaign for the board (so no price yet). What is going on?<\/p>\n

It turns out the ARDEP V2 is a collaboration between Frickly Systems GmbH (a Stuttgart-based engineering firm) and Mercedes-Benz, with the car maker hosting the project and using it in its \u201cFlexCAR Rolling Chassis\u201d open research vehicle<\/a>, while Frickly handles all\/most of the engineering work for the project itself.<\/p>\n

\n\"Mercedes-Benz\"Mercedes-Benz<\/a>Mercedes-Benz FlexCAR Rolling Chassis
\n\"ARDEP\"ARDEP<\/a>ARDEP platform in FlexCAR Rolling Chassis\n<\/p>\n

Via Cursed Connector on X<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Jean\"Jean<\/p>\n

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.<\/p>\n

Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies<\/a>, become a Patron<\/a> on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon<\/a> or Aliexpress<\/a>. We also use affiliate links in articles to earn commissions if you make a purchase after clicking on those links.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARDEP (Automotive Rapid DEvelopment Platform) is an open-source hardware and software platform hosted on Mercedes-Benz\u2019s GitHub account and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20951],"tags":[20474,40956,40957,40958,3622,40959,23293,40960,40961],"class_list":["post-49818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mercedes-benz","tag-automotive","tag-crowd-supply","tag-development-board","tag-kicad","tag-mercedes-benz","tag-motor-control","tag-open-source","tag-stm32","tag-zephyr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}