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

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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.