A method for operating a vehicle electrical system of a vehicle, configured in an architecture in which at least one central vehicle computer is assigned to a computational layer, intermediate control devices are assigned to an intermediate layer, and execution units are assigned to an execution layer. The at least one central vehicle computer contains datasets of at least the intermediate control devices linked to the relevant central vehicle computer. Each dataset interfaces are described for all execution units which are connected communicatively indirectly or directly via the second communication system with the relevant intermediate control device. In each central vehicle computer, an intermediate application is executed via which, using a relevant dataset, access is configured of applications executed on the relevant central vehicle computer via the relevant intermediate control device to execution units linked thereto.