Software-Defined Vehicle Platforms for Safety-Critical Control: Architecture, Updates, and Validation

Abstract

The current automobile technology is no longer hardware-oriented in designing vehicles but has become Software-Defined Vehicle platforms that have redefined the way cars are designed, built, and supported during their operational life. This change is no longer tied to feature development and inflexible hardware requirements, which allows dynamic over-the-air updates and seamless cross-domain functionality integration. The evolution is to deal with the increasing software complexity and cut down the cost of development, as well as accelerate the time-to-market delivery by having a single common platform across a variety of vehicle types and types of powertrain. Critical application of safety controls requires rigorous compliance with automotive safety standards, especially ISO standards of functional safety and cybersecurity, and it also includes systematized hazard identification and component-based development approaches. Time-Sensitive Networking protocols apply deterministic networking infrastructure offering tight timing control of safety-critical communications with the support of sophisticated encryption and network segmentation schemes. Higher over-the-air update functionalities offer revolutionary advantages, as they make available sophisticated orchestration and validation strategies, the use of digital twins technologies, and rollout strategies, to ensure system integrity and safety of operations throughout the vehicle lifecycle.