Automotive suppliers such as Bosch, Continental, Arm and Amazon Web Services are optimistic about the future of software-defined vehicles (SDV). Leading IC design company Qualcomm recently announced that it will join Eclipse Foundation's SDV working group and Scalable Open Architecture for Embedded Edge (SOAFEE) to accelerate the development of SDV.
Qualcomm said it becomes a member of the two consortiums to support setting up interoperable open-standards-based software modules, laying the foundation for global automakers to build their SDV platform.
Eclipse's SDV working group focuses on open-sourced software collaboration and innovation to speed up SDV realization. SOAFFE is a special interest group (SIG) established by global carmakers, semiconductor suppliers, open-source and independent software vendors and cloud-based technology companies. The group aims to lead and define the cloud-native development paradigm required for a new era of efficient edge workloads.
The automotive electronics market is important for leading smartphone IC designers Qualcomm and MediaTek. MediaTek has said they will partner with Nvidia in the segment. The former will develop the chips, while the latter will take care of the center console in a car and other critical software.
Qualcomm said as the automotive industry rapidly pivots to a cloud-native software development model, software is becoming the key mechanism for differentiating vehicle functionality and passenger experiences.
The support for open-sourced software will help Qualcomm launch rapidly more mature and standardized software functions that can be updated continuously. The company can enable automakers to maintain long-term customer relationships and create new revenue sources within a vehicle's lifecycle.
Bill Pinnell, vice president of product management at Qualcomm, said the company looks forward to developing the interoperable, modular, open standards-based software stacks, middleware and cloud components with other leading companies. The collaboration is critical for the whole car ecosystem to take advantage of the growing SDV market.
