Design, implementation and validation of a Level 2 automated driving vehicle reference architecture

Automated vehicles represent a rapidly expanding global market, drawing significant attention from both industry and academia. However, existing solutions often lack transparency, particularly in the disclosure of architectural designs, resulting in fragmented development approaches. To address these gaps, this paper introduces a novel, modular reference architecture tailored for Level 2 Automated Driving Systems (ADS). The proposed architecture ensures safety, scalability, and adaptability across diverse vehicle platforms. A comprehensive validation is conducted using OpenPilot, an open-source Level 2 ADS implementation, demonstrating the architecture's practical feasibility in achieving reliable control tasks under real-time constraints. This work bridges the gap between industrial and academic contributions, offering actionable insights and a robust foundation for future advancements in ADS development.