Every way you look at it, the software-defined vehicle (SDV) is a conundrum.
Dismissing it as a mere “hype,” or a “marketing ploy,” is an oversimplification of issues that are in the forefront of the automotive industry’s current thinking,
SDV is a platform of innovation.
Jeffrey Chou
Clearly, technology suppliers see SDVs as an opportunity to redefine next-generation vehicle architecture. They believe their SDV endeavors will bring fundamental changes in consumer behavior and to automakers, in terms of how a vehicle is designed, how it behaves, and what value it can offer.
Jeffrey Chou, CEO & co-founder of Sonatus, for example, calls SDV “a platform of innovation.” What anyone means by innovation, however, varies depending on which vendors are pitching their own SDV solutions.
In the recent SDV panel organized by the Ojo-Yoshida Report, entitled “Anatomy of Software,” the discussion zoomed in on the “S” in “SDV”.
Indeed, a whole host of software layers lie beneath the application layer (infotainment/instrumental cluster facing consumers) visible to consumers. Among these are a cloud component, an orchestration layer (how the car interacts with the cloud: Control Plane), middleware (including, hardware abstraction: Infrastructure Services layer), and the operating system layer, Chou explained.
I see each group of software demands different update frequency cycles and automotive grade qualifications.
Moritz Neukirchner
But as Elektrobit’s senior director Moritz Neukirchner pointed out, what’s happening today is the “changing grouping of software.” On the one hand, there is customer-driven software for digital cockpit. On the other hand, software for next-gen ADAS is designed to run on a powerful SoC. There is software for next-gen sensors running on real time controllers in zonal architecture. This is complicated. Neukirchner stressed, “Each group of software demands different update frequency cycles and automotive grade qualifications.”
Robert Day, director of Automotive Solutions at Arm, suggests that the issue comes down to how software in mixed criticality can run on one piece of hardware. “The traditional software stack, and even ECU, hasn’t changed.” But he noted, “What’s changing now is the need for different types of technologies or methodologies to allow for the updatability of software … enabling software to run at different criticalities on the same hardware system.”
In SOAFEE, we’re bringing in concepts like containers, orchestrators, virtualization.
Robert Day
Referring to SOAFEE (Scalable Open Architecture for Embedded Edge), an Arm-led industry SDV coalition, Day explained, “In SOAFEE, we’re bringing in concepts like containers, orchestrators, virtualization, which basically allows your software still doing its particular function, but to reside in an environment next to something that’s doing a different function on the same piece of hardware.”
What different software can be provided to consumers at the application layer is interesting. But Ray Cornyn, senior vice president and general manager for automotive processors at NXP Semiconductors, noted, “The really interesting bit I see is when [SDV’s software] starts to go further into the functioning of the vehicle so that you can add the new capabilities by being software defined.”
Today’s cars are based around organically grown architectures that started maybe 30 years ago…they are not easy to update and upgrade.
Ray Cornyn,
Looking back, Cornyn explained, “The problem that we have in the industry today is that today’s cars are based around organically grown architectures that started maybe 30 years ago.” Noting the difficulty of updating this stuff, he said, “A lot of the work we’re doing is on the new architectures … so that they can be easily updatable and upgradable.”
Although he loves the idea of software defined vehicles, Cornyn acknowledged that it is embryonic. “I think we’re really just at the beginning … I think over the next five to 10 years, we’re going to really see what SDVs can deliver to both the customer experience, but also the economics of the whole car industry.”
Panelists
- Jeffrey Chou, CEO & co-founder, Sonatus
- Robert Day, director of Automotive Solutions, Arm
- Moritz Neukirchner, senior director, strategic product management, SDV, Elektrobit
- Ray Cornyn, senior viceo president & general manager, Automotive Processors, NXP Semiconductors
YOUTUBE video:
We broke down the 48-minute long SDV panel by the segments below, for your convenience.
03:37 Your definition of SDV
12:31 Software Components inside SDV
Different types of software used inside SDV, and what roles each plays.
28:43 Software Updates on SDV
How’s software updates on iPhone and Software-Defined Vehicle are different?
39:17 When OTA goes wrong…
Any lessons learned from the Crowdstrike OTA strike?
42:34 What’s the Endgame of SDV?
What pot of gold are you seeing in SDV?
Junko Yoshida is the editor in chief of The Ojo-Yoshida Report. She can be reached at [email protected].
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