‘Software-defined vehicles’ are one of the buzzwords these days in the automotive industry. It is still unclear for many what a Software-defined vehicle means. Software-defined vehicles are those vehicles where the software controls the vehicle’s value to its end users or customers. It can also be defined as those vehicles where the software defines the functionalities and capabilities that provide users with safer, more secure, and more comfortable experiences. Users can have multiple features and experiences in their vehicle based on the software capabilities in various vehicle components. Many organizations, especially vehicle manufacturers, are now focusing on building their next-generation software-defined vehicles. This section will explain an overview of the systems engineering approach in building software-defined vehicles that help the readers to approach such projects with some fundamental understanding.
Many organizations are in the concept and development phase of software-defined vehicles. There is a huge demand for designing and developing such vehicles in the market along with the electrification of the vehicles. Like the classical systems engineering lifecycle phases, the system development of software-defined vehicles also follows the concept, development, production, operation, maintenance, and retirement phase. This section considers the systems engineering phases of a vehicle manufacturer for a better understanding. In the concept phase, the overall vehicle needs to be considered. The goal is to add value to the overall vehicle using the software in various components. There needs to be a mechanism to provide frequent software updates and the vehicle platform, and the infrastructure needs to handle huge amounts of data and frequent software updates.
The vehicle system or System of Systems (SoS) can be partitioned into various layers, as shown in Figure below while considering the concept of a software-defined vehicle.
These layers are
i) Vehicle Platform
ii) Electrical & Electronics (E/E) Architecture
iii) Vehicle Software Platform
iv) Data Platform
v) Connectivity.
The software-defined vehicles are still in the initial concept and development phase, and you cannot directly find them in the market. You can find out the transition of vehicles from the present market to software-defined vehicles through the technological growth and the products that are evolving in the automotive industry.
The vehicle level concept should involve the identification of all these partitions and their lifecycle over the complete life cycle of the vehicle. The vehicle platform can be modular chassis with a wheel system and the energy system with controls. The vehicle’s Electrical and Electronics architecture and the topology can be of a zonal or centralized domain-based architecture with zonal controllers or centralized domain controllers with huge capacity for data storage and high processing power connected with various sensors and actuators via high-speed networks. This layer also plays the primary role in providing the required power to each component in the overall vehicle.
Then comes the vehicle software platform, which acts as a layer above the overall E/E architecture which helps in the easy transmission of information and processing of the data in the centralized domain controllers. The data platform layer covers the data input and output terminals and the data processing centers for the considerable amount of data collected, generated, and processed in the overall vehicle infrastructure. The topmost layer is the connectivity layer, which connects the vehicle with the external infrastructure and facilitates communication and data transfer using high-speed network connections. The connectivity to the external infrastructure includes the communication between a smart infrastructure of an intelligent transportation system or dedicated data servers or nodes. That can be the dedicated data servers of the vehicle manufacturer or any other third-party organization. This can be wired or wireless connectivity, such as high-speed ethernet connections, wireless, such as satellite communication, WiFi, 5G networks, etc.
As a system engineer, while developing software-defined vehicles, the lifecycle phases of all these partitions should also be considered from its development to the retirement phase. The iterative and incremental development model that can be considered for Software-defined vehicles is the most feasible. This development model helps consider incorporating the changes mainly driven by the technology, the infrastructure development associated with these vehicles, and the environment where these vehicles are to be deployed. The operational and maintenance phase of the software-defined vehicles will be of great importance and differ entirely from the classical vehicles we see today. The main concept is to have the software-defined vehicles provide the value proposition to its end users via various software capabilities during the operational phase using software updates like any mobile device we use today. This will help extend the system’s lifetime to be in the operational phase for a longer duration. The maintenance phase can be remote maintenance with the help of high-speed connectivity, and the data platform available in the vehicle will help with remote diagnostics and error fixing.
Unlike today, software-defined vehicles are less likely to undergo physical service and maintenance in a service center. The remote maintenance and modular design can even allow the end users to replace systems, and the service and maintenance of the vehicle can be organized remotely.
The development phase of these vehicles is expected to be more complex and time-consuming. The design should consider modular approaches and have a strong definition of various layers in the overall vehicle architecture. It is still challenging for any system engineer who works on these vehicles and applies various systems engineering methods and associated processes in various phases in its lifecycle. Along with the design and development, the safety and security of these vehicles will be of great importance.
*This is an excerpt from my next book on systems engineering in ADAS and Automated Driving
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