The Software-Defined Vehicle: How to Verify and Validate Software Functions

The software industry has shown that DevOps approaches offer many advantages: faster value chain, shorter time-to-market, and fast and frequent updates. The current vehicle architecture is powertrain-centric, and the software is distributed via bus systems. With digitization, a redesign is taking place. The vehicle is becoming an intelligent and digital ecosystem – “a smartphone on wheels!” But unlike a smartphone, a vehicle is a safety-critical environment. Therefore, a robust validation, verification, and optimization process is required. The automotive industry has a very well-established development process. This change makes the new architecture software-oriented, with a central vehicle operating system and a hierarchical structure of ECUs. And with that, the DevOps approach is gaining dominance. The key is to integrate the DevOps process with the V-model for the validation and verification of software. Both approaches will work together to ensure speed, a faster value chain, and risk mitigation on critical aspects such as safety, durability, etc. Continuous release and deployment of software functions require intensive functional testing of the software, as well as cybersecurity testing. Our vision allows executing and reporting tests automatically while adding test intelligence and adaptive tests that reduce testing effort and increase the robustness of results.