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The Transparent Prototype (German: Gläserner Prototyp) is a project in the automotive industry to track & trace test vehicles and prototype parts using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.

Objectives of the project
The objective of the project "Transparent Prototype" is the tracking & tracing of test vehicles and prototype parts via Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). During the development phase, prototype vehicles are subject to continuous change and reassembly. Currently, these changes are still documented by using barcodes or data matrix codes. The "Transparent Prototype" aims to substitute these manual procedures with RFID. This is done with so called RFID gates (see figure). Apart from RFID the project “Transparent Prototype” also addresses enhanced electronical data interchange (EDI) among automotive manufacturers. Due to the use of new technologies and the digitalization of the supply chain, the "Transparent Prototype" project is one of the showcases of the Industry 4.0 initiative.

Methodological approach
In 2012 the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) established the cross-company working group “Transparent Prototype”. The working group developed the industry recommendation VDA 5509, which describes the process and technical solutions for tracking & tracing test vehicles and prototype parts with RFID. Both have also been described in many practice-orientated and scientific publications.

Prevalence in the automotive industry
The RFID-based tracking & tracing of test vehicles and prototype parts with RFID has been implemented in practice extensively since 2013/2014. Known users are the Volkswagen, Porsche, and Audi brands of Volkswagen Group. Currently, around 150 suppliers of the automotive industry are part of the "Transparent Prototype" network. About 150 additional companies are lined up to be integrated in 2016. For this reason, the project currently ranks among the most significant RFID initiatives within the automotive industry and is therefore a driver for cross-company RFID standardization in the context of Industry 4.0.