Race for the Car Made of Bits and Bytes

Software-Defined Vehicles Race for the Car Made of Bits and Bytes

2026-03-19 From Dirk Kunde | Translated by AI 6 min Reading Time

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Open source initiatives and AI platforms are set to accelerate the development of software-defined vehicles. What do you need in the race for the best digital car?

The switch to SDV is the most complex transformation the industry has ever had to master. The end consumer gets a vehicle that gains rather than loses value over its lifetime.(Image: Sonatus) — The switch to SDV is the most complex transformation the industry has ever had to master. The end consumer gets a vehicle that gains rather than loses value over its lifetime.
(Image: Sonatus)

When the engineer looks out of his window, he sees green fields. Somewhere in the rolling hills of Bedfordshire, the test vehicle is on the move, constantly sending data to its monitor.

Diagnostic systems as well as sensors and control units in the vehicle provide the development engineer with data in real time. This is made possible by the AI Technician and the Collector AI. Both are components of the software platform from the US company Sonatus. The programs run at the Nissan Technical Centre Europe (NTCS) in Cranfield, around 80 kilometers north of London. The partnership between the two companies is intended to prove that vehicle development can be accelerated with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). Even before a prototype has been built, the software could deliver results from driving simulations.

AI Helps SDV

"The role of AI is clear: it serves as a tool for our engineers and is not a replacement. By working together, we can create an improved customer experience and maintain our competitiveness in a rapidly evolving market," emphasizes David Moss, Senior Vice President Research and Development at Nissan Europe. Upcoming versions of the Nissan Juke and Leaf will thus fall under the category of software-defined vehicles (SDV). This is the big paradigm shift in the automotive industry. It is no longer individual hardware that determines a function in the car, but software that runs on as few high-performance computers as possible in the vehicle. It can network control units and other components with each other so that new functions can be installed over the course of a vehicle's life via over-the-air updates.

Disconnect Software From the Component

The design method is changing the cooperation between car manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers. Until now, they have developed innovations. To avoid margin pressure on the hardware, they also supplied the software. But in the SDV, not every control unit is allowed to run its own program. Only a networked overall system enables updates across all control units. This allows car manufacturers to integrate functions developed in-house, programs from start-ups and functions from major technology providers such as Google and Amazon, Nvidia and Qualcomm into the vehicle.

From Hardware to Software Logic

Software development is time-consuming and expensive. Every manufacturer develops a pet mode or the Bluetooth drivers for mobile devices themselves. This explains the founding of the open source initiative S-Core. The VDA launched it in cooperation with the Eclipse Foundation. In June 2025, eleven companies signed a memorandum of understanding. At the beginning of 2026, the number of members increased to 32 companies. In addition to car manufacturers such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Stellantis, the entire automotive industry is now represented. The truck manufacturers Traton (MAN, Scania, VW Truck & Bus) and Coretura (Volvo and Daimler Truck) are also involved. Suppliers (including Bosch, Continental, Valeo), software companies (including Elektrobit, Red Hat, T-Systems) and technology groups (including Infineon, LG Electronics, Qualcomm) are also represented at S-Core.

New de Facto Standard

This is exclusively about non-differentiating functions in the competition between brands. "Like Linux in IT, S-Core has the potential to become the de facto standard for high-performance controllers in the automotive sector. Open source promises faster collaboration, shorter time-to-market and reduced total cost of ownership," explains Dr. Moritz Neukirchner, Senior Director of Strategic Product Management at Elektrobit. The Erlangen-based company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aumovio and also a member of the S-Core initiative. The VDA summarizes the advantages in figures: Up to 40 percent less effort for development, integration and maintenance of the open source software used. Ideally, this means up to 30 percent faster time to market.

Speed is a decisive criterion. The economic pressure from and in China is growing. More and more new brands are entering the German market with their vehicles. Models from BYD, Zeekr and Xpeng focus on technical innovation and digital offerings. Young, tech-savvy customers are rewarding this. However, the switch to SDV is the most complex transformation the industry has ever had to master. It's not just about writing software - it's about restructuring development processes, supply chains and certification logics that have evolved over decades.

Global Trend

"European companies are currently leading the way with S-Core. However, the Americans are interested. In the Japanese market, the JASPAR Vehicle API is an initiative that should be seen as complementary. Here, the organizations are in active exchange in order to intensify collaboration. Nobody in the industry has an interest in creating fragmented ecosystems," says Neukirchner. However, the decisive proof point has yet to be reached: use in series production vehicles. Only when S-Core is running there will it become clear whether the open source strategy is a success. The number of contributing companies is increasing, the momentum is there. Version 1.0 of the software stock should be ready for use by the end of 2026 and integrated into vehicles that will be launched on the market by 2030 at the latest.

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Cooperation with China

While S-Core provides an open infrastructure, OEMs and suppliers also need partners who can deliver specific product solutions. Elektrobit also wants to provide this. In June 2025, the company signed a joint development agreement with the Hon Hai Technology Group, better known as Foxconn. Together, the two companies are developing EV.OS, an AI-centered software platform for electric vehicles that combines hardware and software into a scalable unit. EV.OS comprises an E/E reference architecture with a standardized operating system and a vehicle application layer. The platform is designed to support multiple ECUs and enable service-oriented architectures across all functional domains, including a semantic vehicle API for third-party applications. "By combining Elektrobit's automotive software expertise with Foxconn's manufacturing and hardware innovation, we are creating a scalable platform that reduces complexity, shortens development cycles and supports future mobility business models," summarizes Maria Anhalt, CEO of Elektrobit.

The Elektrobit range is complemented by EB Civion, a suite for digital cockpit development. The cloud-native development environment enables rapid prototyping of human machine interfaces (HMI) and apps in the cockpit infotainment system.

AI Platform for the Entire Vehicle Life Cycle

On the other side of the Atlantic, Sonatus is working on a similar problem. Founded in 2018 in Sunnyvale, California, the company focuses on AI-supported tools. They analyze vehicle data during the development process as well as throughout the vehicle's life cycle. According to the company, the technology is installed in more than six million production vehicles.

The Sonatus Vehicle Platform has a modular structure and consists of the aforementioned AI Technician, Collector AI and four other modules. Sonatus deliberately does not position itself as a full-service provider. According to the company, no single company can supply all the technologies for an SDV. Instead, the company relies on an open ecosystem with partners such as AWS, Google Cloud, NXP and Broadcom. This makes the platform fundamentally compatible with open source initiatives such as S-Core. "Through more intelligent data acquisition and accelerated development processes, complex systems can be developed faster and more precisely. In the NTCE, Nissan is demonstrating how future-oriented engineering is revolutionizing vehicle development," explains Alexandre Corjon, Senior Vice President and Technical Fellow at Sonatus.

Three Levels of a New Industrial Architecture

"The real SDV challenge is no longer a question of if or when, but how we make SDVs available, scalable and affordable. In view of rising development costs and increasing vehicle complexity, the industry needs a tailored approach," emphasizes Maria Anhalt from Elektrobit.

The SDV transformation is being driven forward on three levels: At the lowest level, a common, non-differentiating infrastructure is being created with open source projects. Similar to Linux in IT, it forms the basis. Above this are commercial platforms. Finally, at the very top, OEMs are working on functions that differentiate them from the competition.(Image: Sonatus) — The SDV transformation is being driven forward on three levels: At the lowest level, a common, non-differentiating infrastructure is being created with open source projects. Similar to Linux in IT, it forms the basis. Above this are commercial platforms. Finally, at the very top, OEMs are working on functions that differentiate them from the competition.
(Image: Sonatus)

S-Core, Elektrobit and Sonatus are driving the SDV transformation on three levels: at the lowest level, a common, non-differentiating infrastructure is being created with open source projects. Similar to Linux in IT, it forms the basis. Above this are commercial platforms such as EV.OS from Elektrobit or the Sonatus Vehicle Platform. They add specific automotive expertise. Finally, at the very top, car manufacturers are working on functions that differentiate themselves from the competition: Driving experience, user interaction and brand-specific features. (se)