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Software Defined Vehicle

Discover how innovative approaches to automotive software development can supercharge your ability to deliver and refine SDVs.

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An picture depicting the concept of a Software-Defined Vehicle.

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?

An image showcasing a futuristic car dashboard with intricate software interfaces and digital displays, illustrating the concept of Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs).

The keys to the next SDV evolution

Text displaying "90% of all vehicle-related innovations will consist of sotware in 2030"

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.

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
  • Red Hat OpenShift & Enterprise Linux
  • Podman
  • AWS & 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.

* The Software Defined Vehicle. IBM Blog. https://de.newsroom.ibm.com/think-blog-dach/.

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Explore how End-to-End DevOps transforms Software-Defined Vehicles
Learn about the key hardware and software concepts and the related architectural changes.

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An illustration showing a futuristic vehicle surrounded by digital code, symbolizing the concept of Software-Defined Vehicles.

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Talk to our experts about SDV and start co-create today

Stefanie Eibl
Director Digital Strategy, IBM iX Berlin
Gregor Resing
Executive IT Architect, IBM Germany
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