Solving the challenges of automotive software deployment

With software having become an integral part of both car features and functionalities, consumers expect the seamless integration of their own digital accessories into the driving experience, as well as in-car software that is – and remains state-of-the-art.

This leads to a diverse set of challenges in software development, with longer product lifecycles making ongoing improvements both a necessity and revenue driver. Being able to act fast is important as well: Whenever a new trend comes up, how fast can you react and deliver solutions your consumers are satisfied with?

The keys to the next SDV evolution

Automotive software has already come a long way – however, the status quo of automotive software deployment is incompatible with what is needed to retain a competitive edge.

Static products that remain in the state they were deployed in for the entirety of the car lifecycle are a thing of the past.
Updateable / upgradeable products dominate today’s SDV landscape – severely limited by Monolithic software and complex update processes.
The future belongs to dynamic products, enabled by cloud-native DevOps processes. Microservice-based communication and modularized software work in tandem to streamline and improve the software deployment cycle.

Fast and frictionless deployment of dynamic software products will become one of the most important differentiators for OEMs.

Successfully tackling the challenges that come with this requires not only a performant and reliable hybrid cloud service backend, but also flexibility and fresh approaches.

“If a new trend emerges, how quickly can you react?”

Container for Cars

One such approach is our “Container for Cars” cloud-2-edge-architecture MvP which enabled us to deploy Apple Music to edge devices in under 30 days. It leverages:

IBM technology and partnerships with
OpenHorizon
OpenShift (RedHat)
Linux
podman
AWS and Azure

and enables deploying and updating any non-critical features, such as Apps, vehicle features and basic ADAS/AD functions.

Driving progress with Open Source

One important building block that makes the “Container for Cars” possible and effective, is its reliance on Open Source technology It comes with various advantages over closed systems regarding SDV deployment:

Interoperability
Adaptability
Vendor neutrality
Flexibility
Customizability

Co-creating novel SDV deployment solutions based on Open Source architecture with a strong task force of developers and experience designers in an agile working environment enables fast innovation – a promising approach on the road to the automotive future.