The growing adoption of Modeling and Simulation (M&S) across engineering disciplines has revolutionized the product development lifecycle, enabling faster iterations, cost reductions, and early-development stage decision support. Particularly in the automotive sector, increasing complexity of electric and autonomous vehicle systems demands robust simulation-assisted engineering to ensure safety, performance, and regulatory compliance. However, the shift from hardware-dependent testing to hardware-independent simulation-centric validation brings a critical question to the forefront: whether simulation outcomes can be trusted as a basis for high-stakes engineering decisions.

To address this, Robert Bosch has developed a domain-agnostic yet adaptable Simulation Credibility Framework, to build confidence in simulation-informed engineering outcomes. With a strong and comprehensive basis of best practices and quality standards (e.g., ISO 26262, ISO 9001, NAFEMS ESQMS), the framework provides a structured, standardized process for assessing the credibility of simulation models and results [1][5][8]. The main goal of the development of this framework is to establish an industry-wide accepted standard for credible M&S. Its core objectives are two-fold:

• To ensure that M&S outcomes are traceable, risk-aware, and technically credible
• To promote cross-domain standardization of simulation-based decision-making processes.

This article appeared in the April 2026 Issue of BENCHMARK.