The Software-Defined Vehicle

Chapter 3. Vehicle OS and Enabling Technologies

Almost all OEMs—and many of their suppliers—have been working on creating a modern vehicle operating system (OS) for some time now. There is still no comprehensive and widely accepted definition of what comprises a vehicle OS. However, most definitions contain the following key components: specialized software runtimes for different functional domains, hardware and software decoupling via standardized APIs, and over-the-air (OTA) software updates.

When following this definition, an SDV is a key part of the vehicle OS—or maybe even synonymous with it. SDVs are enabled by a set of technologies that are efficient and continuous, even after the start of production (SOP) delivery of new, digital vehicle features, combining on-board and off-board components into an integrated end-to-end software architecture. We will start by looking at emerging electrical and electronic (E/E) architecture and how it can work with a service-oriented architecture (SOA). Key elements of E/E and SOA are hardware abstraction, vehicle APIs, and the SDV tech stack. Modern vehicles use OTA updates to support post-SOP updates, which will eventually be the foundation for vehicle app stores. Finally, we will look at how artificial intelligence (AI) can augment the software-centric vehicle.

Foundation: E/E Architecture

Today, so-called E/E architecture describes the overall design and layout of electrical and electronic systems in a vehicle. This architecture encompasses ...