Automotive Data and Cloud Working together give rise to Software Defined Vehicle SDV

In the yesteryears, a car buying decision used to be based on its engine potential, fuel efficiency and space besides the highly subjective factor of looks. Nowadays however, a car is purchased depending on the number of convenience features and connectivity it provides. These 4-wheeled machines have almost transformed their purpose of existence from convenient transportation to making our lives way easier to live through specially designed gismos which are the output of a vast array of software and hardware applications. More expensive the car, or higher the segment, more sophisticated they become. As we advance towards a sustainable future, automakers and all the ancillaries associated with them in the automobile industry have taken a leap forward by coalescing Automotive, Data and Cloud Working to create cars which remember all our important perfunctory functions and execute them in a demeanour, much higher than what the human brain can afford to work out.

Delving further into the topic, vehicle manufacturers and Tier-1 suppliers are making use of cloud-based neoteric data programs, scalable Internet of Things (IoT) and platforms where algorithms can be exploited to synthesize creativity and new knowledge. To procure such software, automotive manufacturers are coupling with Amazon Web Services to curate programs for car which frequently keep themselves updated in a time-bound manner.

To ensure this, automakers now see vehicles as holistic, full-fledged and sinuous systems of software-based microservices and data driven functions that provide uninterrupted interplay with cloud processing software to bring new services to motorists and passengers keeping safety in mind. 

In an ever-evolving environment, Smart Vehicle approach has been laid emphasis on and focuses on applications such as Smart City, Autonomous Driving, effortless communication between home and workplace, HD map projection, usage-based insurance cover saving money and other product innovations from mobility service facilitators. 

The fact that some hardware and software can’t be integrated, a new process of individually producing both has been started by OEMs so that it doesn’t happen to be a tedious process. Arm’s latest announcement, SOAFEE reference implementation, is the end product of automakers, system integrators, semiconductors, software and cloud technology leaders who come forth united to roll out novel open yardsticks-based infrastructure for the Software Defined Vehicle (SDV). SDV decouples hardware and software to aid OEMs and suppliers scaffold developer-friendly portals to twaddle through data, tools and Machine Learning (ML) capabilities with full life-cycle MLOps to contrive, ascertain and disburse ML models in production with the vehicle dependably and effectively.

The aforementioned techniques will help to maximise cost benefits, better developer productivity and achieve a higher rate of progress of innovation. A rounded manner of looking at SDV also enables cloud native capabilities to be enforced on new joint, high-performance computing in-vehicle (HPC) domain controllers. Vehicle functions run on top of these HPC units and can be described by software that is evaluated, simulated and delivered from the cloud facilitating collaboration and escalating inventiveness. 

Some examples of SDV innovation are:

1. The QNX (Blackberry) Intelligent Vehicle Data Platform (IVY)- a scalable, cloud-connected

software platform that permits carmakers to offer a consistent and secure way to read

vehicle sensor data in real time, normalize it, and gather decision-making insights both in the vehicle and in the cloud. IVY backs up a plethora of vehicle operating systems and multi-cloud deployments in order to ensure compatibility across vehicle models and brands. The platform also supports IoT sensing and applies machine learning to generate anticipative insights that allow developers to curate and deliver new features, functionality, and performance over the vehicle’s lifetime.  

1. Marrying edge and cloud services with NXP Semiconductor’s new S32G vehicle network

processor for service-oriented gateways - to offer a safe, edge-to-cloud compute solution

for modern generation vehicles that can enable new cloud-powered services.

1. DXC Luxoft’s new platforms are being responsive to end-to-end vehicle data flow  which allows data created by automotive software to be transmitted to the cloud and spewed to approved third parties. The vehicle user can then conceptualise car data through a mobile application, as well as control basic vehicle functionality.

Partnership between automotive, cloud, edge and data experts to contrive universally adaptable platforms and will provide equitable ground for software development habitats which will better vehicle functionality and augment customer experience and lifestyle. Progress in this direction is only going to provide ease with new applications, services and untapped segments of the industry while providing better safety, security and privacy to the beneficiary.

Source credits: Automotive, Data and Cloud Working Together Give Rise to the Software Defined Vehicle 

Dean Phillips Worldwide Technical Leader for Automotive, Amazon