Automotive Engineering - February 2024 - 18

SDVs
redefine OEM,
supplier
relationships
and deliver
new features
LG Display brought new
automotive display solutions
optimized for SDVs to CES 2024.
CES 2024 offers a busy look at the software-definied-vehicle future.
by Sebastian Blanco
F
or a technology set to define our automotive future for years
to come, it's surprising that not everyone in the industry can
agree on what a software-defined vehicle actually is.
It's not controversial to say that SDVs need to be able to adjust
- or define - some aspect of a vehicle's performance through
software. It's the outer limits of how this works that can prove challenging
to define.
In early January 2024, global consulting firm AlixPartners released
a survey of 180 senior automotive and tech executives regarding
SDVs. For the survey, AlixPartners Managing Directors Mark
Wakefield and Himanshu Khandelwal defined an SDV as a vehicle
" whose features can be controlled and altered by modifiable software
rather than hardcoded or mechanical, like safety, security, convenience,
and vehicle performance. Can be upgraded over the air and
enable new user experiences and personalized features after production/sale
during the lifecycle. "
Moritz Neukirchner, senior director of strategic product management
for software-defined vehicles at Elektrobit, said the various
SDV definitions all have one thing in common.
" There are many definitions of SDV, but there is really one end
goal: to deliver value through software quickly, " Neukirchner told
SAE Media. This requires three key transformations, he said: decoupling
of the software and hardware lifecycles, being able to deliver
new value through software, and the ability to capture value.
" All three of these go hand in hand, " Neukirchner said. " Apple
would likely not be able to maintain the ecosystem of iOS apps if
each were bound to a specific iPhone generation. A new iPhone today
would not achieve market success if it dropped the app store, as
the capability for value delivery would be missing. Google would
have certainly not developed Android if it couldn't monetize the investment
via data or the app store. "
The industry is also misaligned about when SDVs might arrive.
18 February 2024
More than 70% of the respondents to the AlixPartners
survey said they expect " true SDVs " to be on the market
within four years. The details reveal a potential
challenge, though. Breaking down the responses by
company type reveals that between 60 and 66% of all
automotive and tech companies expect SDVs to arrive
in 3-4 years. But tech companies think things could
move faster, with 31% expecting SDVs to be available
for sale in 1-2 years. A quarter (25%) of auto companies
expect this to be true, but only 9% of automotive
Tier 1 suppliers agree. Notably, 22% of suppliers expect
it to take 5-7 years for SDVs to arrive, compared to just
9% for automakers and 8% for tech companies.
In November 2023, a study by Wind River product
line manager Brenton Murray found that 70% of new
vehicles will utilize software-defined architectures by
2030. These " Full SVA " vehicles will offer " complex,
continuously updateable features and fail-operational
support for higher levels of autonomy, " Murray said,
and are the precursors to cloud-native vehicles that
will arrive after 2030.
CES = SDVs
Whatever the exact definition or timeline, SDVs were
front and center at CES 2024. OEMs and suppliers
used the show to unveil or update a long list of SDV
technologies that touch both consumer-focused features
like in-vehicle personalization as well as powertrain
and safety components.
Supplier Marelli focused on the former with its CES
display, specifically the " Software-Defined Interior
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
LG DISPLAY
Automotive Engineering - February 2024

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