AUTOSAR(AUTomotiveOpen System ARchitecture) is an open and standardized automotive software architecture, jointly developed by automobile manufacturers, suppliers and tool developers. The AUTOSAR standard will serve as a platform upon which future vehicle applications will be implemented and will also serve to minimize the current barriers between functional domains. To improve cost-efficiency and reusability, AUTOSAR separates application software from the associated hardware. This stage, AUTOSAR is still in the promotion phase, and many countries are committed to its applications, including Japan and South Korea. It will widespread in automotive industry. This paper showed the basic concepts of AUTOSAR and comparisons of some confusing concepts for future in-depth study.