Gone are the days when automotive OEMs used to solely focus on the engine, design, and performance of vehicles; the industry is witnessing a transition from hardware-centric to software-centric vehicles, enabling OEMs to introduce new functionalities with over-the-air updates.
The automotive industry is undergoing a significant digital transformation with major OEMs and technology companies developing innovative and advanced automotive solutions to deliver an enriched user experience. Customers’ perceptions of the vehicle experience are changing, and they are increasingly demanding a hyper-personalised in-vehicle experience, autonomous driving functions, and enhanced comfort and convenience. This is being achieved primarily through a shift in approach to a vehicle’s electronic architecture, using high-performance compute, advanced sensors, IoT connectivity, advanced AI capabilities, and a combination of centralised, edge and cloud computing.
The core idea behind software-defined vehicles (SDVs) is to make a vehicle wholly connected, modular, and programmable. This effectively shifts the focus to be more software centric as it enables OEMs and automotive companies to decouple hardware from software, using standardised interfaces, centralised computing units, and modular compute hardware platform and software designs, allowing automakers to accelerate development and deepen user engagement.
However, the success of a software-defined vehicle depends on reliable, stable, and low latency in-vehicle connectivity, and a centralised computing capability that reduces the requirement for multiple distributed electronic control units, each developed for specific vehicle-related tasks, such as locking and unlocking doors, navigation systems, and in-vehicle entertainment.
In parallel, this will enable OEMs to translate their investments in SDV design into monetary benefits by selling subscription services to users for access to premium infotainment, or in-vehicle services, or advanced ADAS functionalities.
This report discusses what software-defined vehicles (SDVs) are, the SDV ecosystem, and the benefits and challenges of transitioning towards SDVs. The report provides insights into how automotive OEMs and technology businesses are embedding software into vehicles. It also highlights how connectivity plays a key role by binding together various elements of a vehicle and also remote capabilities to deliver required features. In addition, the report lists some of the major vendors that provide products and solutions in the SDV ecosystem.
