Automotive
ACCELERATING CHANGE: OPEN SOURCE IS DRIVING A WORLD OF SOFTWARE- DEFINED CARS
Bertrand Boisseau, automotive sector lead at Canonical gives us a glimpse into the future of automotive software.
I
nside every car are hundreds of millions of lines of code – and increasingly, the technological functions they enable, give the car its value. For a century, consumers have coveted cars because
of their paintwork, their leather interiors and the speeds they can reach – but now their real and perceived value comes increasingly from features enabled by technology. Technologies such as vehicle electrification, autonomous driving and other soſtware-defined services are what drive the value of the car – and it’s no longer absurd to describe cars as ‘soſtware-defined’.
The road to the future For car companies and their suppliers, the challenges of the soſtware-defined car are already very real. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are already hiring new workers and re-skilling existing ones to navigate these challenges, such as cybersecurity and connected technologies. Ten years ago, OEMs such as Renault and Volkswagen had very few in-house soſtware engineers. Now, both have numerous entities focusing on soſtware. Looking into the near future, it is clear that soſtware will become
ever more central to the vehicles we drive and that will soon drive us, as vehicles become more ‘connected, autonomous, shared and electric’ (CASE). In the next few years, autonomous vehicles will soon be handling tens of terabytes of data per day, gathered by
30 | June 2023
sensors such as LIDAR and cameras. Customers are increasingly expecting smartphone-esque features, which involves keeping pace with the very latest apps and technologies. Combined with features such as passenger entertainment systems
and remote diagnostics, the requirement for soſtware and processing power in vehicles is going to grow at an ever-increasing pace. Open source soſtware can provide car-makers with the power to keep up.
Shifting up a gear Inevitably, these processing power requirements will require a seismic shiſt in the way OEMs work. Currently, OEMs are struggling to maintain existing systems ‒ while at the same time attempting to develop new platforms. It’s a hangover from years in which vehicles were not connected, or had extremely basic connected services. Tis has led to a situation where it’s difficult to upgrade the soſtware at pace, due to the requirements and constraints of the hardware. Tere are lessons for car-makers in the smartphone world. Tink
about how a soſtware update can be applied across multiple different smartphones. An iOS update works just as well across a new device, or a device from four years ago. One iPhone will see multiple updates, adding new features and boosting security. For car manufacturers, this won’t be an easy shiſt – the industry needs more defined standards to allow an easier interface between
www.pcr-online.biz
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
