Is Rethinking Car Software and Electronics Architecture by McKinsey Necessary?

Rethinking car software and electronics architecture is essential for modern automotive innovation, and CAR-REMOTE-REPAIR.EDU.VN can help you master these advancements. By focusing on key areas like software-defined vehicles, service-oriented architectures, and cybersecurity, you can stay ahead of the curve with comprehensive training and remote support services. Unlock your potential today and revolutionize your approach to automotive technology with cutting-edge courses, advanced diagnostic tools, and expert insights.
Keywords: Automotive electronics, software architecture, remote diagnostics, vehicle technology.

1. What Trends Are Driving the Need to Rethink Car Software and Electronics Architecture?

The automotive industry is rapidly evolving, and the increasing complexity of software and electronics necessitates a fundamental shift in how vehicles are designed and maintained. The industry is transitioning from hardware-centric to software-defined vehicles, increasing the relevance of software for core technology trends. Modern vehicles contain millions of lines of code, leading to significant software-related quality issues and recalls. McKinsey’s research highlights key trends driving this evolution:

• Data Explosion: New smart sensors and applications generate massive amounts of data requiring efficient processing and analysis.
• Modularized SOA: Service-oriented architecture and over-the-air (OTA) updates are crucial for maintaining complex software and enabling function-on-demand business models.
• Appification: Infotainment and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) are increasingly becoming “appified” with third-party app developers providing vehicle content.
• Digital Security: Enhanced digital security requirements shift focus to integrated security concepts to anticipate and defend against cyberattacks.
• Highly Automated Driving (HAD): The advent of HAD capabilities requires functionality convergence, superior computing power, and a high degree of integration.

These trends demand a more robust, flexible, and secure approach to car software and electronics, emphasizing the need for continuous learning and adaptation in the automotive repair industry.

2. How Can Consolidating Electronic Control Units (ECUs) Benefit Automotive Architecture?

Consolidating Electronic Control Units (ECUs) streamlines vehicle architecture, reduces costs, and enhances performance, which can benefit automotive architecture significantly. Instead of using numerous specific ECUs for each function, the industry is moving toward a consolidated vehicle ECU architecture. This consolidation is driven by:

• Cost Reduction: Lowering development and hardware costs, including communication hardware.
• Market Disruption: New market entrants bring software-oriented approaches to vehicle architecture.
• HAD Demand: Increased demand for Highly Automated Driving (HAD) features and redundancy requires greater ECU consolidation.

Several premium automakers and suppliers are actively upgrading their electronic architecture to embrace ECU consolidation, laying the groundwork for more efficient and advanced vehicle systems.

3. What Are the Key Stacks Used with Specific Hardware in Modern Automotive Systems?

In modern automotive systems, limited stacks with specific hardware enable the separation of vehicle functions and ECU hardware, increasing virtualization. These stacks are crucial for a service-oriented architecture, allowing for flexible and efficient vehicle functions. Key stacks include:

• Time-Driven Stack: Directly connected to sensors or actuators, supporting hard real-time requirements and low latency, like the classical Automotive Open System Architecture (AUTOSAR).
• Event- and Time-Driven Stack: A hybrid stack supporting high-performance safety applications, such as ADAS and HAD, with applications scheduled on a time base, like adaptive AUTOSAR.
• Event-Driven Stack: Centers on infotainment systems, separating applications from peripherals and using best-effort or event-based scheduling, including Android, Automotive Grade Linux, GENIVI, and QNX.
• Cloud-Based (Off-Board) Stack: Coordinates access to car data and functions from outside the car, responsible for communication, safety, and security checks, including remote diagnostics.

Automotive suppliers and technology players are specializing in these stacks, leading to innovations in areas like infotainment and artificial intelligence for high-performance applications.

4. Why Is an Expanded Middleware Layer Important for Modern Vehicles?

An expanded middleware layer in modern vehicles is crucial for reconfiguring cars and enabling software installation and upgrades, making vehicles more adaptable and efficient. Unlike current systems where middleware facilitates communication across ECUs, the next generation will link the domain controller to access functions. Operating on top of ECU hardware, this layer enables:

• Abstraction and Virtualization: Separating software from hardware for greater flexibility.
• Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): Facilitating communication between different vehicle systems.
• Distributed Computing: Allowing for more efficient processing and resource allocation.

Automotive players are moving towards flexible architectures with overarching middleware, such as AUTOSAR’s adaptive platform, which supports complex operating systems and multicore microprocessors.

5. What Role Will Sensors Play in the Evolution of Automotive Technology?

Sensors are playing an increasingly vital role in automotive technology, providing critical data for safety, automation, and enhanced functionality. In the next two to three vehicle generations, automakers will install multiple sensors with similar functions to ensure safety-related redundancies. Configurations for SAE International L4 (high automation) autonomous driving will likely require multiple lidar sensors for object analysis and localization.

Long term, the number of sensors in vehicles may vary based on regulation, technical maturity, and the ability to use multiple sensors for different use cases. Consumer-electronics sensors for motion and health monitoring, face recognition, and iris tracking may become more common. Advanced algorithms and machine learning can enhance sensor performance, potentially reducing the need for redundant sensors. Intelligent sensors will supervise their own functionality, and new sensor-cleaning applications will ensure correct operation in all conditions.

6. How Will Sensors Become More Intelligent in Future Automotive Systems?

Future automotive systems will integrate more intelligent sensors to handle the massive amounts of data required for highly automated driving. While high-level functions like sensor fusion and 3-D positioning will run on centralized computing platforms, preprocessing, filtering, and fast reaction cycles will reside in the edge or directly in the sensor.

• Edge Computing: Sensors will conduct basic preprocessing, reducing latency and computing performance needs.
• Redundancy: Intelligent sensors will supervise their own functionality, increasing the reliability and safety of the sensor network.
• Sensor Cleaning: New applications will ensure correct sensor operation in all conditions, such as deicing and dust removal.

This shift will ensure that autonomous driving decisions are based on reliable, preprocessed data, enhancing the overall performance and safety of the vehicle.

7. Why Is Full Power and Data-Network Redundancy Necessary for Modern Cars?

Full power and data-network redundancy are crucial for safety-critical applications and other key functions in modern cars, ensuring high reliability and operational integrity. The introduction of electric-vehicle technologies, central computers, and power-hungry distributed computing networks require new redundant power-management networks.

• Fail-Operational Systems: Support steer-by-wire and other HAD functions, improving on today’s fail-safe monitoring implementations.
• Redundant Circles: Applications requiring high reliability will utilize fully redundant circles for data transmission and power supply.

This redundancy ensures that vital systems continue to operate safely even in the event of component failure, enhancing overall vehicle safety and performance.

8. How Will Automotive Ethernet Become the Backbone of Future Cars?

Automotive Ethernet is poised to become the backbone of future cars, addressing the limitations of today’s vehicle networks. Increased data rates, redundancy requirements for HAD, safety and security in connected environments, and the need for interindustry standardized protocols necessitate the adoption of Ethernet.

• Key Enabler: Automotive Ethernet facilitates reliable interdomain communication, especially for the redundant central data bus.
• Real-Time Requirements: Ethernet extensions like audio-video bridging (AVB) and time-sensitive networks (TSN) ensure real-time performance.
• Industry Support: Industry players and the OPEN Alliance support the adoption of Ethernet technology, with many automakers already making the transition.

Traditional networks will continue to be used for closed lower-level networks, while technologies like FlexRay and MOST are likely to be replaced by automotive Ethernet and its extensions.

9. What Level of Control Will OEMs Maintain over Data Connectivity?

Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) will maintain tight control over data connectivity for functional safety and HAD, but will open interfaces for third parties to access data, balancing security and innovation. Central connectivity gateways transmitting safety-critical data will always connect directly and exclusively to an OEM back end.

• Infotainment: Emerging open interfaces will allow content and app providers to deploy content, while OEMs will maintain tight standards.
• Connected Telematic Solutions: Will replace today’s on-board diagnostics port, allowing physical maintenance access through the OEMs’ back ends.
• Data Ports: OEMs will provide data ports in their vehicle back end for specific use cases like lost-vehicle tracking and individualized insurance.

This approach allows OEMs to ensure security and safety while fostering innovation and collaboration in the automotive ecosystem.

10. How Will Cars Use the Cloud to Enhance Onboard Information?

Cars will increasingly use the cloud to combine onboard information with offboard data, deriving additional insights and enhancing vehicle functionality. Nonsensitive data will be processed in the cloud to enable autonomous driving and other digital innovations.

• Data Analytics: Growing data volumes necessitate effective data analytics for processing information and turning it into actionable insights.
• Data Sharing: The effectiveness of data usage will depend on data sharing among multiple players, requiring integrated automotive platforms capable of handling vast amounts of data.

This cloud-based approach enables more sophisticated data processing, leading to improved vehicle performance, safety, and user experience.

11. How Will Updateable Components and Bidirectional Communication Transform Cars?

Updateable components and bidirectional communication will transform cars by enabling life-cycle management, enhancing aftersales features, and ensuring continuous improvement. Onboard test systems will allow cars to check function and integration updates automatically.

• OTA Updates: Over-the-air (OTA) update capabilities are essential for HAD, enabling new features, ensuring cybersecurity, and allowing automakers to deploy software quickly.
• End-to-End Security: OTA updates require an end-to-end security solution across all layers of the stack to protect ECUs in the vehicle.
• New Business Models: The obligation to update and maintain software will lead to new business models for vehicle maintenance and operations.

OEMs will standardize their fleets on OTA platforms, working closely with technology providers to ensure vehicles receive software and feature upgrades throughout their lifespan.

12. How Can Automotive Companies Decouple Vehicle and Vehicle-Functions Development Cycles?

To thrive in the evolving automotive landscape, companies must decouple vehicle and vehicle-functions development cycles to manage innovations in software more effectively.

• Identify Development Processes: OEMs and tier-one suppliers need to develop, offer, and deploy features largely apart from vehicle-development cycles, both technically and organizationally.
• Create Retrofitting Solutions: Companies should explore options for creating retrofitting and upgrade solutions for existing fleets.

This decoupling allows for more agile software development and deployment, ensuring that vehicles remain up-to-date with the latest features and improvements.

13. How Can OEMs Define the Target Value Add for Software and Electronics Development?

OEMs must clearly define the differentiating features for which they can establish control points to optimize their software and electronics development efforts.

• Identify Differentiating Features: Focus on features that set their vehicles apart from competitors.
• Define Target Value Add: Clearly define the target value add for their own software and electronics development.
• Identify Commodity Areas: Recognize areas that can be delivered with a supplier or partner to streamline development efforts.

This targeted approach allows OEMs to focus on innovation and differentiation, while leveraging partnerships for commodity components.

14. What Is the Importance of Attaching a Clear Price Tag to Software in the Automotive Industry?

Attaching a clear price tag to software is crucial for OEMs to rethink their internal processes and mechanisms for buying software independently.

• Agile Approach: Analyze how an agile approach to software development can be integrated into procurement processes.
• Supplier Role: Tier one, tier two, and tier three suppliers need to attach a clear business value to their software and system offerings.
• Larger Revenue Share: Enable suppliers to capture a larger revenue share by clearly defining the value of their software contributions.

This clarity in pricing allows for more efficient procurement and fosters innovation by ensuring that software developers are properly compensated for their contributions.

15. How Can Automotive Companies Design an Effective Organizational Setup for New Electronics Architecture?

Automotive players should consider a different organizational setup for vehicle-related electronics topics to effectively manage the new “layered” architecture.

• Break Up Vertical Setup: Potentially break up the current “vertical” setup and introduce new “horizontal” organizational units.
• Ramp Up Dedicated Capabilities: Build dedicated capabilities and skills for their own software and electronics development teams.

This organizational restructuring ensures that companies have the expertise and resources needed to develop and manage advanced electronics and software systems.

16. How Can Suppliers Design a Business Model Around Automotive Features as a Product?

To remain competitive, automotive suppliers need to analyze which features add real value to the future architecture and can be monetized.

• Monetize Valuable Features: Identify features that add significant value to the future architecture.
• New Business Models: Develop new business models for selling software and electronics systems, be it as a product, a service, or something completely new.

This strategic approach allows suppliers to capture a fair share of value in the field of automotive electronics and adapt to the evolving needs of the industry.

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FAQ Section

1. Why is car software and electronics architecture so important now?

Car software and electronics architecture is crucial due to the increasing reliance on software for vehicle functionality, from efficiency to autonomous driving.

2. What is a service-oriented architecture (SOA) in automotive context?

In automotive, SOA is an architecture based on generalized computing platforms that allows developers to add new connectivity solutions, applications, and AI elements.

3. How do over-the-air (OTA) updates impact car software?

OTA updates enable new features, ensure cybersecurity, and allow automakers to deploy software quicker, driving significant changes in vehicle architecture.

4. What are the main challenges in mastering automotive software?

Challenges include the increasing complexity of software, the need for cybersecurity, and the integration of hardware and software components.

5. What is the role of middleware in modern vehicle architecture?

Middleware facilitates communication across ECUs, enables abstraction and virtualization, supports SOA, and allows for distributed computing.

6. How will the number of sensors in cars evolve in the future?

The number of sensors may increase, stabilize, or decrease based on regulation, technical maturity, and the ability to use multiple sensors for different use cases.

7. Why is automotive Ethernet becoming the backbone of cars?

Automotive Ethernet offers increased data rates, redundancy, and standardized protocols necessary for HAD, safety, and security in connected environments.

8. How can cloud computing enhance onboard car information?

Cloud computing allows for processing nonsensitive data to derive additional insights, enabling autonomous driving and other digital innovations.

9. What are the benefits of updateable components in cars?

Updateable components enable life-cycle management, enhance aftersales features, and ensure continuous improvement through OTA updates.

10. How can CAR-REMOTE-REPAIR.EDU.VN help technicians adapt to these changes?

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