The Impact of Software-Defined Vehicles

𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱, 𝗶𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀—𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗲𝗱. —𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸; 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯. Two decades in embedded software—half of them deep inside ECUs—taught me a brutal truth: 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘥, 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴.  • A single thread-starved daemon can turn elegant code into a roadside assistance ticket.  • Integration blind spots inflate warranty costs faster than batteries charge.  • Shiny apps can’t mask an unstable boot chain or unsynced clocks. According to NHTSA, 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝟯𝟬 % 𝗼𝗳 𝘃𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲-𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱. The pattern is clear: great features built on shaky foundations end up on car carriers back to the dealership. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗱𝗼𝘁𝗲  1. Harden the handshake    RTOS ↔ hypervisor ↔ middleware must survive heat soak, voltage drops, and Murphy’s Law.  2. Automate brutality    Platform validation in every CI run—stress, fault-injection, timing. No green build, no merge.  3. Shift left & lock safety in    Treat safety, security, and performance as a single non-negotiable spec. Before your next sprint adds a voice assistant, run a ruthless platform health check. If the core trembles, your customer will feel the quake. #SoftwareDefinedVehicle #AutomotiveSoftware #PlatformFirst #ShiftLeft #QualityEngineering

The Real Revolution in Mobility? CI/CD Pipelines!! I’ve been doing some reading about the upcoming Tesla #RoboTaxi announcement () and thinking about the future of mobility. I’m going to make a few posts on the subject, combining my perspective of 25 years at Microsoft and 3+ years in automotive software leadership. The most important system in the future of mobility might be… your release pipeline. If you don’t believe me, go read the book “The Phoenix Project,” or maybe “The DevOps Handbook.” While these books focus on software development practices, they both draw massive parallels to the evolution of software development in manufacturing companies and mobility OEMs. As the industry pivots from machines to platforms, software delivery becomes the new battleground. The companies that win won’t just build better vehicles—they’ll ship better code, faster, and more often. The same thing we’ve done in the browser, app, and cloud wars. Recent reports confirm it: *Tietoevry’s 2025 analysis underscores how cloud-native CI/CD pipelines and virtualization are now core to Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) innovation—making software modular, testable, and deployable at scale. *September 2024 "DevOps in Automotive" article highlights how OEMs like Tesla, BMW, and Ford are leveraging DevOps and OTA frameworks to push secure updates and feature sets in real time. Why CI/CD matters more than ever in mobility: 1. OTA is the new factory floor. Over-the-air updates aren't just for maps and infotainment anymore. They're how safety features evolve, bugs get fixed, and entire product lines improve after delivery. If your pipeline isn’t robust, your fleet is aging the second it ships. 2. Every update is a trust moment. In mobility, bad software isn’t an inconvenience—it’s a safety issue. CI/CD must be paired with rigorous testing, observability, and rollback protocols. You’re not pushing code to a phone; you're updating a two-ton machine moving at 70 mph and with autonomy around the corner my former exec would say “Autonomous Death Machine.” 3. Speed is a differentiator. Stability is a requirement. Mobility brands are entering a space where features are expected to ship in days, not quarters. But rushing it means recalls, downgrades, or worse. The companies who master CI/CD with quality gates and telemetry feedback loops will outpace the competition. 4. Your release pipeline is now a customer touchpoint. The cadence and quality of updates shape the user experience just as much as design or performance. Tesla has trained drivers to expect new features overnight. That expectation is now industry-wide. The shift to software-defined vehicles isn’t just a tech upgrade—it’s a full operating model reset. The new P&L lever is your CI/CD pipeline. #Mobility #CI_CD #SoftwareDefinedVehicle #DevOps #DigitalTransformation #OTAupdates #AIinAuto #ProductEngineering #AI #Envorso Envorso

It’s a small club that Rivian, Tesla, and Volvo Cars are members of, but end-to-end software is crucial for auto OEMs to avoid extinction. 🪦 To be clear, BYD and other Chinese OEMs are in this club or are trying to, but as the auto industry races toward electrification and autonomy, one thing is becoming crystal clear: the future belongs to those who control the software stack. Without an end-to-end software platform, automakers risk becoming the Foxconn to someone else’s Apple—just a hardware assembler in a value chain dominated by those who own the operating system, user experience, and data. Why is owning the software platform so important? 1. User Experience = Brand Loyalty In a software-defined vehicle (SDV), it’s not just the ride quality—it’s the interface, the over-the-air updates, the seamless integration with your digital life. The UX is where customer loyalty is won or lost, and if you don’t own it, you can’t differentiate. 2. Data Ownership = Competitive Advantage - SDVs are rolling data centers. From driving behavior to battery health, the real value lies in the data. Without software control, you’re giving up the insights that drive smarter products, services, and monetization models. 3. Battery + Software = Core IP As Tesla has shown, vertical integration of battery tech and software enables control of cost, performance, and scalability. Let someone else own the OS or the BMS, and you’re forever dependent—and vulnerable. 4. Pace of Innovation- Software companies iterate weekly. Traditional auto cycles move in years. If you don’t own the platform, you’ll always be lagging behind the pace of innovation set by someone else. That’s why companies like BYD, NIO, GEELY, and of course Tesla and Rivian are betting big on building vertically integrated, end-to-end platforms. #SoftwareDefinedVehicles #EVs #AutomotiveInnovation #BatteryTech #OEMstrategy #FutureOfMobility #Autotech #DigitalChassis https://lnkd.in/gth5f2SU

For the last few years I have been hearing about "Software Defined Vehicle" in automotive industry.. while the SDV paradigm may offer significant advantages in terms of connectivity, automation, and user experience, it has inadvertently slowed down the pace of innovation in powertrain and lightweighting by redirecting critical financial, human, and strategic resources away from these essential areas. ~ The strategic focus of many automotive companies has shifted towards becoming tech companies that emphasize software prowess. ~ This shift meant that R&D efforts are directed more towards developing new software features, cybersecurity measures, and user interface enhancements rather than pushing the boundaries in powertrain efficiency, lightweighting techniques, or alternative materials. ~ The opportunity costs of focusing on software rather than emissions-reducing technologies is high. Innovations in software are not directly translate to emissions reductions. By not investing sufficiently in powertrain and lightweighting innovations, the industry is missing out on substantial emissions reduction opportunities that are necessary to comply with evolving EPA standards.

According to BCG, software-defined vehicles could generate over $650 billion for the auto industry. This lofty projection raises a big question: where will these dollars come from? Money does not appear, but is reallocated. Here is where it might come from. ⬇ Hardware → Software: Tesla embodies the future of the automotive business – selling cars (hardware) at zero margin to maximize distribution, and making all of their profit dollars in software via Autopilot/FSD. The physical car will trend towards being a commoditized channel for software features and capabilities. Dealerships → Software OTA: As the physical cars get commoditized, and the majority of the features are delivered to the car as software over-the-air, the dealer’s role is greatly diminished. Not only in the sales process, but also in on-going service & maintenance. Tesla already goes direct to consumer – I suspect dealers will be squeezed as software products become the core of the product sale and an increasing number of features are delivered over-the-air. Cities/Suburbs → Autonomy + Exurbs: As autonomy reduces the burden of commuting, people may be willing to live farther away from work, friends and family. This may signal a boom for the exurbs, as consumers trade expensive urban or suburban real estate for a less expensive house and a car with advanced autonomous driving. #FutureofMobility #AV #autonomousvehicle #autonomousdriving #softwaredefinedvehicles https://lnkd.in/gEpx9Yut

📌 Tech Titans Are Reshaping the Tier-1 Automotive Landscape 🚗 As the automotive world races toward the software-defined vehicle (SDV) era, conventional value chains are being restructured. Companies like LG Electronics Vehicle Solution, Sony, Qualcomm, and NVIDIA are stepping into roles once dominated by legacy Tier-1s, areas traditionally known for OEMs, especially in North America. 🇺🇸 🔷 LG Electronics has transformed from consumer electronics giant to automotive innovator. With its AlphaWare platform, including modules like PlayWare (for 4K streaming) and MetaWare (AR HUDs), LG is powering next-gen in-vehicle infotainment. Their partnership with Magna led to a cross-domain cockpit running multiple vehicle systems on a single SoC. The Kia EV3 is just one example on the road today. 📺🎮 🔷 Sony, through its Sony Honda Mobility JV, is turning premium interiors into entertainment hubs. With partners like Qualcomm, Epic Games, and Elektrobit (Continental), the AFEELA concept brings cinematic visuals, spatial sound, and even AR navigation to the dashboard. For Sony, this isn’t just tech, it’s a lifestyle. 🎧🎮🚘 🔷 Qualcomm is pushing boundaries with its SnapDragon Digital Chassis, a full-stack platform combining infotainment, ADAS, and telematics. With cloud-based development tools (via AWS), OEMs can deploy AI copilots, real-time navigation, and OTA updates with ease. BMW, GM, and Stellantis are already onboard. 🧠📡 🔷 NVIDIA is no longer just about gaming GPUs — it’s powering fleets. GM is building its future EVs on NVIDIA’s DRIVE platform, with AI, simulation (Omniverse), and supercomputing baked into the architecture. Mercedes-Benz, JLR, and others are following suit. 🖥️🚀 🤝 Collaboration Beyond Code This transformation isn’t just about software and silicon — it’s also redefining the supply chain. Deep partnerships between tech firms, traditional Tier-1s, and logistics providers are enabling smoother module integration, shared testing frameworks, and joint validation processes. From sourcing chips to deploying secure OTA updates, collaboration across the value chain is becoming a strategic differentiator. 🌐📦🔧 💥 Why It Matters The shift to SDVs means compute power, software updates, and AI integration are more critical than ever — and tech firms are delivering faster, more scalable solutions. Traditional Tier-1s like Bosch, Continental, and Magna are adapting by forming alliances, acquiring software firms, and co-developing with the very companies that are redefining the landscape. 🤝 🏗️ Industry groups like OpenGMSL Association and Connected Vehicle Systems Alliance (COVESA) are working to create standards that ensure interoperability, reduce integration costs, and maintain safety. 👍🏻 Success in automotive requires deep know-how with consumer-grade software and AI. #SDV #AutomotiveTech #Infotainment #AutomotiveTransformation #SoftwareDefinedVehicles GAMUT Timuçin Kip Note: all public info, image Gemini

Invisible bugs that kill. We just entered the age of the Software Defined Vehicle, and I don’t mean a big center display instead of buttons. Cybertruck is the first consumer product produced at scale to use steer by wire. Essentially driver controls are converted to electrical impulses, shaped/mixed by a computer and then sent to actuators that convert analog signal to pneumatic movement (hydraulics) which then move a mechanical system. This tech has been around for a long time, specifically in aviation. My first encounter with it was as a pilot in the MV-22 Osprey which has very complex shaping laws in the software due to different flight regimes. The very unique thing about any software defined system is that code changes can change the any characteristic of any system in a meaningful way. In the Osprey, it meant that a new JASS update allowed a higher top air speed of a full 20 knots which changed our capabilities significantly for things like casualty evacuation. Typically though it was more optimized control layouts, and other enhancements. The challenge with this for the Pilots, Aircrew, and Maintainers of that system was  1) having to re-learn a config, procedure, or system because it changed overnight 2) More importantly, the downstream implications and unintended consequences that were not explicitly called out. The unknown unknowns. The “invisible bugs” that kill. If an aircraft engine can burn hotter to produce a new higher airspeed, what does that do to different soil compositions as they pass through an air filter and then cool ever so slightly through stages in a jet engine compressor during a vertical landing? Was the engine tested to withstand these new, higher temperature limits to fly faster? Yes. Were all the downstream implications worked through such as hotter soil particles passing through the air filter and cooling slightly, changing the angle of attack on the 8th stage turbine, which causes a compressor stall, complete loss of power and an aircraft crash during a critical phase of flight, like landing vertically? Less likely. Up until this point if a software defined consumer system like the iPhone had an update or had malware that caused an unexpected impact the severity was extremely low. The stakes are higher now. An update in code of a consumer product now has the propensity to kill you, someone you know, or a complete stranger because the system was tested to 100% of the known situations at the time but inevitably can not account for all of the downstream factors both external and internal and the changes that occur over time. Friends in cybersecurity like Maria Graham or Chris Roberts can opine on the cybersecurity issues. I am not proposing a solution. But how many people seriously read all of the updates pushed for any iOS update or 3rd party app ? We are now in a world where this stuff really matters and until there are safeguards in place it is 100% on the consumer.

The advent of the new E/E vehicle architecture is creating a profound transformation throughout the entire automotive supply chain. Historically, the industry has a well-defined hierarchy that cascades down from OEMs to Tier. Looking specifically to the electronic control units – ECUs – OEMs buy their ECUs from the Tiers 1 suppliers, who source components like chips and microcontrollers from Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers, and so forth. Today's vehicles have over 100 ECUs with several million lines of code, each responsible for various functions scattered throughout the vehicle. Many of these ECUs present no differentiation between OEMs, Tiers, vehicles as they primarily aim to perform correctly rather than differently from each other (think about intermittent windscreen wipers, ABS, anti-lock braking systems, seats adjustments, etc.) The emergence of software-defined vehicles has elevated software to a pivotal differentiating factor, decoupling it from hardware. Therefore, this transformation necessitates a complete restructuring of the automotive supply chain. In this new landscape, OEMs are compelled to collaborate and interface with a broader spectrum of companies that extend beyond the traditional automotive sector. This includes cloud data centers, consumer electronics, medical, and IT companies, in addition to the conventional Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 suppliers. This shift exemplifies the automotive industry's transition towards a highly interconnected and collaborative ecosystem, where software innovation emerges as the driving force driving the future of mobility. #ENERGYDM #softwaredefinedvehicles #newmobility #innovation #Bosch #Cruise #nxpsemiconductor #Renesas #Tesla Image: Cadence Design Systems