Vector and Wind River Transform Autonomous Driving

Wind River, a global enabler in delivering software for the intelligent edge, is collaborating with Vector, a specialist for software and automotive technology, to deliver service-oriented architecture (SOA) capabilities for the development of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving based on the AUTOSAR Adaptive standard to continuously enhance vehicle functionality and value over time.

The joint solution comprises Vector’s AUTOSAR Adaptive technologies and the new Wind River Studio, which includes the VxWorks® real-time operating system (RTOS). Wind River Studio is the industry’s first cloud-native platform for the development, deployment, operations, and servicing of mission-critical intelligent systems. The combined solution will support safety-critical applications that require hard real-time, deterministic performance and allow auto manufacturers to deliver SOA components to address a mixed-criticality environment.

The accelerated innovation cycles of the consumer electronics industry have reset automotive consumer expectations, putting demands on the vehicle beyond its traditional electrical/electronic architecture. Projections hold that electrified vehicles (xEVs) such as hybrid and pure electric vehicles and ADAS systems will add to this pressure, with xEVs predicted to take 51% of the automotive market by 2030.1 This is driving the industry to evolve from the fixed function, physical electronic control unit (ECU) to the intelligent serviceable ECU.

Intelligent serviceable ECUs merge domain functions and features that are currently decentralized, allowing auto makers to reduce ECU complexity and extend the value and life of the vehicle with communication to connected cloud services, offer software-as-a-service, increase automated operations, and use machine-generated data to accelerate data-driven decision-making. This profound change to the ECU will be powered by SOA, a key technology enabler that defines a way to make software components reusable via service interfaces that use common communication standards.

“The auto industry is shifting toward a digital transformation to solve the technical challenges that stand in the way of delivering new outcomes for consumers. With SOA approaches, carmakers can reduce complexity and maximize software reuse for greater speed and efficiency in the development, deployment, and management of a vehicle’s entire lifecycle,” said Cyra Richardson, chief product officer at Wind River. “By working with Vector, we are providing automakers with a validated, market-ready solution for building intelligent serviceable edge systems that help accelerate delivery and deployment of autonomous vehicles.”

“Secure and reliable solutions based on standards such as AUTOSAR Adaptive enable companies to more rapidly create autonomous systems, as well as helping technologies to be more interoperable within the supply chain,” said Dr. Markus Oertel, manager of Business Development and Sales at Vector. “Together with a strong partner like Wind River, we can address many of the challenging needs of autonomous vehicle systems and get our common customers to market faster.”

SOA allows automotive software developers to extend their activities to address the full lifecycle of the intelligent serviceable ECU. The lifecycle includes design and development, verification, software deployment, and ongoing function upgrades and software updates. In the future, enterprise operations can use SOA as an adjacent technology for the digital feedback loop, stay connected with the vehicle, monitor ECU telemetry information enabling real-time actions, and deliver new services to the customer in a dynamic way.