Experts aim to establish levels for software-defined vehicles

As automakers push forward in the quest for software-defined vehicles, analysts and software experts are suggesting a system to clarify the stages of the transition.

Stakeholders are seeking to create levels of software definition, echoing SAE International's five levels to describe different phases or types of driving automation.

"Everyone understands something different under 'SDV' in every discussion, and there's a lot of marketing hype around it," said Moritz Neukirchner, a senior director at Elektrobit, an automotive software company. "Perhaps it makes sense to actually look at this from a comparable perspective — where do we stand? Where do you want to set your ambitions?"

Generally, a software-defined vehicle would be one with easily updatable computer programs underlying its capabilities, so functions could be added and upgraded almost instantly.

Neukirchner advocates for imparting structure on the unwieldy world of software-defined vehicles. Right now, the term is buzzy, exciting and ambiguous. While analysts and engineers agree automakers have yet to release a true software-defined vehicle, the term is everywhere and used to describe functions from basic infotainment to over-the-air updates.

Meanwhile, the software-defined vehicle ventures continue.

General Motors has tapped two former Apple executives to lead its software team.

Karma Automotive is partnering with Intel to update its vehicle architecture.

Rivian's second-generation R1 models will have only seven electronic control units, down from 17.

Audi in June named Geoffrey Bouquot, most recently CTO at Valeo, as head of innovation and software-defined vehicles. The management board position is a new one at Audi, which said it reflects the "central role" of software.

But despite the investments, describing where automakers are in the transition is a challenge that Neukirchner wants to mitigate with a familiar playbook.

His idea, which he published in a LinkedIn post Aug. 15, traces the SAE levels of autonomy. He said that just as automakers have different goals for autonomy — not all are seeking to become driverless robotaxis, for example — automakers also have different goals for software definition.

The levels describe vehicles that get progressively more updatable, with more and more function-agnostic hardware. A Level 5 software-defined vehicle would have a platform open to third-party developers, and consumers would decide which software to install, while a Level 1 vehicle would be connected to the Internet but have static software capabilities. Automakers may also skip levels.

When third-party developers "can come up with their own business models around it, this is where really, that idea of an app ecosystem really can start to kick in," he said. "But of course, from a testing and security vetting perspective, it's way, way more challenging, and the business model for an OEM is completely different."

The global consulting firm SBD Automotive has been refining its software-defined vehicle levels since 2021, describing them partly in terms of their architecture evolutions. As they advance, vehicles can increasingly shift computing workloads between onboard hardware and offboard infrastructure such as the cloud.

Boston Consulting Group, as part of an initiative with the World Economic Forum, describes four stages for the software-defined vehicle, from "connected" vehicles, which have low-bandwidth services and isolated software features, to "immersive" vehicles, which rely on an ecosystem of companies that enable scaled software updates and a most custom experience.

The European Commission, enabled by the European Chips Act, is working off a schema from the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. that outlines five stages in the centralizing of vehicle architecture.

As with the automated driving levels, there will still be gray areas and confusion. That is the nature of these advanced vehicle technologies.

But Neukirchner hopes a common vocabulary will help firms "be clear on and honest on where am I in this transition as a company, and what's the next thing that I want to do?"