Software-Defined Vehicles Loom Closer Every Year

Vehicles long ago began to incorporate electronics and software, to the point that modern vehicles increasingly have a sort of architecture problem. The software end of things evolves ever more rapidly, but vehicles and their centralized architecture are poorly-suited to continuous updates. As a result, the automotive industry is moving away from static, hardware-defined designs and more toward dynamic, software-defined platforms. In short, the era of software-defined vehicles looms nearer every year.

There are very good reasons vehicles are the way they are, however inconvenient it may be for pushing updates. A vehicle may be in service for decades, with safety and reliability a prime concern over that lifetime. Reflecting this, automobiles are built around centralized SoCs (System-on-a-Chip) supported by tried and true components and assemblies. As mentioned, this architecture isn’t terribly well suited to meshing with a rapidly evolving software world that may also have changing computing needs. How can one accommodate this without increasing safety risks?

Some new designs are moving away from monolithic SoCs to more modular systems; ones that can support and optimize safety-critical functions and other workloads independently. Computing requirements are chosen to prioritize consistent performance and low-latency sensor fusion over raw processing power, and modern design focuses less on individual components and more on integrated hardware and software assemblies that ease manufacture and reduce design complexity.

The main goal is to design vehicles in a way that can more easily take advantage of rapid developments in software and allow easy updates, without compromising safety or reliability. Automakers haven’t completely settled on what architecture will do this best, but the era of software-defined vehicles is certainly coming closer.