Developing a Fully Automated Prototype for Scaling Automotive Software Tests in the Cloud

High-tech vehicles of the future need more and increasingly complex software. Testing these numerous software functions is always associated with high-cost factors such as time, effort and money. In order to minimize these factors, it is necessary to automate tests right at the beginning of the development process in MiL and SiL environments. Moving these tests to the cloud offers advantages in terms of scalability, flexibility and short-term availability of computing power without the need for additional hardware. In order to gain more testing experience in cloud environments and to advance the tool development towards Linux, a prototype for scalable cloud testing was created. It utilizes a Kubernetes cluster, which manages multiple pods with suitable software tools for test planning, test execution and report handling. The integration of this prototype into a cloud infrastructure offers various new opportunities, but also reveals critical obstacles, like security aspects and the need for well-functioning backup strategies. In addition to the presentation of the prototype itself, different aspects are discussed: how fully automated software testing can be realized in the cloud, how the necessary resources are handled and if software testing in the cloud can reduce time and costs.