While both new car manufacturers and traditional OEMs are embracing software updates as revenue generation tool, there could still be some bumps in the road ahead. There's no doubt that adding additional features and upgrades to a car after the initial sale can drive new revenue streams (see part one of this blog series) for carmakers, but all great opportunities come with their share of challenges.

Currently, the cost and complexity involved in overhauling legacy plated processes mean some OEMs have forms been slow to adopt OTA updates as a method of delivering feature and firmware upgrades. However, legislation, new regulations, and maintaining the user experience could present an equally sizeable barrier.

Cost

As vehicles become more sophisticated, the cost to keep them up-to-date with the latest features could easily spiral out of control. Some methods of updating a vehicle require huge amounts of data to be stored and transmitted for every update. Both full-image and binary updates could see costs run into the millions for cloud storage alone. To provide the type of updates demanded by consumers, OEMs need to look for ways to reduce these costs.

One method is through Line-of-Code Intelligence, which doesn't fully overwrite the flash storage in a vehicle. Instead, it just updates what is necessary and writes to the next available space on the chip. This can help to reduce costs (as there's less data to store and transmit), as well as improve the experience for the end-user.

User experience

As a driver, there's nothing more frustrating than jumping in your car only to find out you have to wait for the vehicle to update before you can use its core functionalities. If manufacturers are to deliver new features to a vehicle in order to increase revenue, the experience needs to be seamless.

Because, full-image and binary updates erase the previous code, the driver would need to wait while the car is being updated. In most cases, this shouldn't take too long, but it's far from convenient. Line-of-code updates are a little different, however, and allow the driver to continue on as normal with no break in how they use their vehicle. This is because the previous code isn't erased, so the old version of the software can continue to run while the update is being delivered.

Safety concerns

While many manufacturers are currently able to make updates as needed to their vehicles, some experts have safety concerns, arguing that novelty and performance features could cause problems. Even where OTA updates are delivered to improve safety, the argument is that these may not have been adequately tested in the same way they would be at the point of manufacture.

Legislation is coming into place that references OTA updates, how they're tested, and the impact of new safety features. This is on top of insurance validity concerns around changing the functionalities of a vehicle, especially when manufacturers offer free trials of different services or those on a subscription.

The UN has already established a set of rules around cybersecurity and software updates. The WP.29 rules (R155 and R156) will come into force in the EU in July 2022 and will be mandatory for all vehicles by 2024. While many of these rules surround cybersecurity, they're also focused on "providing safe and secure software updates and ensuring vehicle safety is not compromised."

As well as safety and security around software updates, WP.29 will also cover these areas:

• Managing vehicle cyber risks
• Securing vehicles by design to mitigate risks along the value chain
• Detecting and responding to security incidents across a vehicle fleet

Manufacturers will need to comply with these regulations for all features delivered with the vehicle, as well as those delivered via an update. While it will take time for these regulations to come into force fully, it's important that manufacturers take steps to ensure they are fully and satisfactorily adopted.

Insurance increases

Many insurers consider new features delivered via an OTA update to be a modification to the vehicle. This could lead to an increase in insurance prices or, at worst, render the cover invalid. We all know to report modifications to our insurer, but the rules around new features delivered over the air aren't quite so clear.

Recently, UK insurer LV did a U-turn on its policies after charging Tesla owners a premium following routine software updates. It told the consumer association Which?: "We now recognize that it isn't fair to expect customers to contact us for every update, so as a result of this valid challenge, we are changing our approach."

With no existing set of rules for insurers, each will decide its own approach to these updates. This could make life difficult for consumers and could impact how car manufacturers deliver updates in the future.

Vehicle Software Intelligence as a solution

While there may be challenges ahead for OEMs, the opportunities for revenue generation are too good to ignore -- especially in this rapidly evolving market. One solution that could ease the pain of these safety and regulatory challenges is artificial intelligence, specifically Vehicle Software Intelligence. This makes the update process more straightforward for car manufacturers by minimizing the size of update files, reducing costs, and giving accurate visibility of a vehicle’s entire software system -- supporting auditing and compliance efforts.

While software-defined vehicle manufacturers are leading the way when it comes to delivering OTA updates, legacy OEMs are catching up. In fact, more than 20% of industry experts expect software sales to account for at least 10% of carmakers' sales by 2027. The road may not be as smooth as some may hope but it's the early adopters that will reap the rewards in the years to come.

Find out more about how Vehicle Software Intelligence could help your business here.

For 10 years, I have been writing about and taking the bullhorn to the mountain to talk about automotive software and the benefits of over-the-air updates. For three years, I have been writing about and taking the bullhorn to the mountain to talk about automotive software and the benefits of validating what happens when there is an over-the-air update.

This week, I experienced what happens when an update is not validated and found myself at the epicenter of the unknown. I have a swanky new 2021 SUV. This model is no longer a boxy vehicle like previous models - it is sleek and fun and has many of the infotainment, ADAS and connectivity features we talk about on a daily basis in the automotive industry.

When I first bought the car, I could say, "Call Mike," and Mike was soon on the line. Now, I say "Call Mike," and I get the response - "Ok, let me help you with that. I need some more information. Look at the notification on your device."

"Looking at my device," forces distracted driving and is obviously not recommended. This prompt goes against every goal of bringing voice assistance into the car. I went to an online consumer OEM support group and read posts noting that this problem started in November 2021. With yes - an over-the-air update.

I'm sure the update did fix some things - or add some things - I don't know. I do know that the update screwed up my ability to call out by contact name (I can call out by dictating the phone number, but out of my 210 contacts, I know three phone numbers by heart.)

So, after going through many menus, I finally went to the dealer for help.

I met with a super nice support person. He tried - but his conclusion was that it was an Android Auto and phone problem and I had to go to AT&T.

I went to the AT&T store and met with a super nice sales person. He told me he wasn't certified to help me - he cannot give advice or guidance for anything in the car for liability reasons. He did give me a phone number for the AT&T Advanced Technology Group.

I called the AT&T Advanced Technology Group and another really nice support person told me that her group only works on networking issues to the car - hotspots and things. This AT&T person told me I had to talk to the car manufacturer and sent me to a really nice support person at the OEM who also told me I was again not talking to the right group and he forwarded me to another support group within the OEM.

Here is the kicker - I don't know if the next support person is really nice. My next conversation was with a phone recording repeating, "My name is Joe. I can't hear you. Please call back later."

I do love my new swanky, new SUV. This is my third purchase from this OEM.

I also come from phone company parents - so I'm sure the phone company helped to put me through college.

All of this really nice support and sales people are doing the best they can with the information they have.

I know that we are in the early days of 100 million lines of automotive software code. I also know that validating software behavior throughout the entire car resulting from an over-the-air update is paramount and that the really nice sales and support people from both the automotive companies and the service providers - need to be educated on how to help consumers navigate to success.

For now, I am still at the Epicenter of the Unknown. Please comment if you have any insights or fixes to this 'call by contact name' problem.

Vehicle Software Intelligence (VSI) is a category of solutions based on sophisticated AI algorithms that garner insight into the condition of, and interaction between, vehicle software assets. These solutions will be used throughout the entire lifecycle of the vehicle -- from the software development stage, through QA, production and on-the-road with over-the-air updates.

Vehicle Software Intelligence solutions help all who touch the software - from engineers developing the software to those running over-the-air software update campaigns - understand and act on software behaviour.

There are many use cases for Vehicle Software Intelligence solutions. Below are examples of the most pertinent use cases where VSI can help auto manufacturers today.

Understand software dependencies

According to a study conducted by Andreas Vogelsang of the Institut fur Informatik, Technische Universitat Munchen and Steffen Fuhrmann of the BMW Group, 1,451 dependencies were found between 94 vehicle features. With VSI, not only will you know which dependencies exist but more importantly, VSI analyzes the behaviour of the software functions and allows the OEM to know in real-time which connections and dependencies are active, which are not, where new dependencies have been created, and where existing dependencies are broken. Maintaining visibility into and a deep understanding of software dependencies is crucial for ongoing tracking, maintenance, regulations, security and new feature introductions.

AI-based Vehicle Software Intelligence solutions are required to understand the complex vehicle software systems and provide car makers with a clear, consistent and visible map of all software relations and dependencies.

Unused code detection

Automotive engineers that have been with their companies for more than 15 years often talk about how they find code they wrote 15 years ago still present in today's vehicles. In addition to this scenario, automotive software comes from multiple software Tier-1 vendors and the open-source community. This causes a major problem for a car manufacturer to obtain the Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL-D) certification which states that there can be no unused code in a vehicle.

AI-based Vehicle Software Intelligence solutions are required to help track unused code for increased safety and for auto manufacturers to obtain Automotive Safety Integrity Level certification.

Evidence of software updates

By 2025, software is expected to reach 40 percent of the car value and based on a recent Automotive Software Survey, by the same year, it is expected that every vehicle will receive between 2 and 6 over-the-air annual software updates. Based on UNECE WP.29, in order for a vehicle to remain compliant with Type Approval regulations, the automotive manufacturer must document if the update is fixing bugs or a security patch, nullifying the need for additional certification testing. Another scenario is if the software update only affects a sub-section of installed vehicle software - limiting the amount of tests that need to be run to receive amended Type Approval.

AI-based Vehicle Software Intelligence solutions give automotive companies the solutions needed to prove what lines of code, and what features and functionality, have been affected by the software update making the process of remaining Type Approval certified streamlined and less expensive.

We have witnessed many industries go through disruption based on new technologies. Software is disrupting the automotive industry. It is changing the make-up of the required workforce, vehicle time-to-market and lifecycles, driver experiences, vehicle maintenance and the list goes on.

Vehicle Software Intelligence solutions are needed for the use cases mentioned above, in addition to cybersecurity simulations, memory and battery endurance and understanding and testing unpredicted scenarios. AI-based Vehicle Software Intelligence solutions will help the vehicle manufacturer obtain deep understanding of software behaviour to enhance the processes, reduce the cost and speed up software development, quality control, certification and over-the-air updates.

Vehicle Software Intelligence solutions are the key to the software-driven disruption of the automotive industry.

When most drivers think of artificial intelligence in their vehicles, they think of the sensors and cameras feeding automatic safety systems or allowing for some level of autonomous capability. There is, however, a use for AI throughout the entire vehicle software architecture.

Modern cars have evolved significantly in the last few years and it's not unusual for a car to run on 100 million lines of code over 100 or more ECUs. All the safety systems, entertainment features, drivetrain, and interior have a raft of inter-dependencies. This means that if something goes wrong in one system, it could have a ripple effect of errors throughout the vehicle - something that's hard to predict during the development stage.

Enter Vehicle Software Intelligence

To solve this problem, Vehicle Software Intelligence (VSI) uses AI to better understand and map these complex systems. This gives developers a better understanding of how the different software elements in a car link together and behave but it also provides a wealth of opportunities when it comes to over-the-air (OTA) updates and continuous development.

The Guidehouse Insights' whitepaper Vehicle Software Intelligence - Adopting the Artificial Intelligence Required to Create a Software Defined Vehicle, explores how the automotive market has changed and how VSI is needed to drive new innovation within the industry.

One area the report explores is the web of dependencies within a vehicle. It states: "With the vastly more complex interactions of today's vehicle systems and what is yet to come, VSI tools that can see across all of the domains and run AI algorithms to map the software functionality and behaviour will detect potential conflicts."

Unlike traditional methods, Vehicle Software Intelligenceunderstands the intent of the software, the intricacies of systems that vary widely in function, their behaviour in real-time, and their interdependencies - something it's near-impossible for developers to do manually with static code analysis tools. On top of this, VSI also sets the groundwork for a new way of working in the industry, with many manufacturers moving to a cycle of continuous development, continuous integration, continuous testing, and continuous deployment, aka CI/CD.

Future-Proofing

Consumers are coming to expect a certain level of OTA updates from manufacturers and the demand for this is only set to grow. Vehicle Software Intelligence enables a continuous development cycle because it allows developers in different domains to work at their own pace, without waiting for hardware upgrades to deploy their updates.

It also simplifies the update process. "Unlike existing update technologies that compare binary files," states the whitepaper, "Line-of-Code updates that are based on VSI algorithms can take advantage of the intimate understanding of the vehicle software code." This makes updates less costly to the manufacturer compared to other update methods and enables a far superior user experience with zero-downtime updates.

Beyond this, it also sets the vehicle architecture up for the future. As domain-level software is combined and consolidated into more powerful platforms, segments of code from multiple sources will need to be integrated. Using Vehicle Software Intelligence can speed up this process, even if that code comes from third parties or has been written for different platforms.

Utilizing AI in this way is changing the way manufacturers approach their vehicles and will usher in a new era of software-defined vehicles. To dive deeper into Vehicle Software Intelligence and how it works, take a look at the full whitepaper here.