Continental is shaping the mobility ecosystem: from the vehicle to the cloud

Frankfurt, June 14, 2023. In all areas of society, connectivity and digitalization in mobility are advancing rapidly. At the same time, the proportion of software in vehicles is constantly increasing. Due to the great leaps in development in the SDV, more and more functions in the vehicle are controlled, monitored and maintained by software. According to various analysts, the market volume for software-based vehicle functions and services is expected to reach 640 billion US dollars by 2031.

At the TechShow, Continental will be demonstrating how this development is accompanied by a fundamental change in vehicle technology. Increasingly, software determines the functions of the vehicle and the experience for its users. The previously self-contained hardware-centric architecture of the vehicle is being redefined. It aligns itself with the software and opens up thanks to connectivity. Software and functions can thus be updated throughout the entire life cycle of the vehicle. The result is a comprehensive ecosystem from the road to the cloud. The automotive industry refers to this as a software-defined vehicle. For the drivers, the vehicle feels more and more like a smartphone on wheels: it offers an increasingly safe, exciting and autonomous mobility experience. 

"At Continental, we offer hardware, software and service modules to get the software-defined vehicle on the road together with our customers. We are shaping the entire ecosystem from the road to the cloud and, with data-driven development, testing and validation tools or solutions for cyber security, also ensuring that we close the circle from virtual to real," says Gilles Mabire, CTO of Continental Automotive.

Instead of permanently installed control units in the vehicle, many functions will in future be controlled and updated via software solutions from the cloud. In order to be able to transfer data to and from the cloud, Continental develops powerful software for processing, managing and distributing this data. With the Continental Automotive Edge Framework (CAEdge), Continental is relying on a modular solution. Together with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Continental established a new approach for the efficient development of software for service-oriented vehicle architectures in the automotive industry. CAEdge provides a virtual workbench with numerous options for developing, deploying, and maintaining software-intensive system features. Thanks to this architecture, functions can be subsequently imported into the SDV as an over-the-air update.

With Function as a Product (FaaP), Continental already offers the complete integration of predefined functional applications. The OEM can choose from a range of solutions from Continental's functional portfolio such as window regulators, motion control software for automated driving or remote parking. In this way, Continental enables vehicle manufacturers to bring solutions to market faster, develop the software-defined vehicle more cost-effectively, and provide new functionalities over its entire life-cycle.

Many of the current development trends in vehicle construction cannot be implemented without the use of a highly developed software architecture. For example, when it comes to safety in vehicle operation. With the rise of autonomous driving functions, the growing complexity of autonomous driving can no longer be managed smoothly by adding more hardware. Continental offers the third generation of Holistic Motion Control (HMC) software as a command center. This host-independent application software can control all actuators available in the vehicle, such as the powertrain, brake and steering systems, spring and damper systems, and thus implement the longitudinal, transverse and vertical movements of the vehicle centrally and harmoniously. The HMC software is a uniform interface between driving functions and specific vehicle/actuator setup, which works centrally and, thanks to its modularity and scalability, can be flexibly integrated into different vehicle architectures. The information generated by the HMC software can be used as input for UX applications to make the driving experience harmonious, but also individual. Formerly individual systems and ECUs thus become function blocks that are hosted on a cross-domain-capable server.

Furthermore, driving safety will benefit from the innovative use of vehicle data in the future: algorithm-based, intelligent digital solutions interpret data to create new values. Continental Automotive has developed sensors and uses them as a data source to monitor safety elements such as tire wear and the status of the 12-volt starter battery. Continental is able to transform sensor data into comprehensive and predictive information.

Another driver for the SDV market is interior functionalities. The cockpit becomes a "living room" with more and more digital functions, which are mainly used at home, being integrated into the vehicle cockpit. These are, for example, the entertainment, infotainment or gaming segments. The extent to which SDVs can become a "living room" will be presented by Elektrobit. Elektrobit designed the innovative software architecture for the AFEELA prototype from Sony Honda Mobility (SHM). This allowed SHM to leverage Sony's entire ecosystem to take the user experience to a new level. Elektrobit also developed the cockpit system. This included the software for Qualcomm's high-performance computing (HPC) processors and the software stack to the UX design for all cockpit displays. In addition, Elektrobit integrated the cockpit system into the vehicle. This included all software and hardware components as well as applications from Sony and its partners.

SDV is also a central prerequisite for the field of autonomous driving. This is only possible by combining a cross-domain software architecture, centralized hardware components and a secure cloud connection. Partnerships are a strategic pillar in this area to achieve autonomous mobility safely, quickly and cost-efficiently. Together with Ambarella, Continental is developing complete systems based on artificial intelligence, offering vehicle manufacturers the greatest possible flexibility for integration into the latest vehicle models. The system solutions are based on Continental's broad sensor portfolio and control units, and Ambarella's high-performance, energy-efficient AI chipsets, along with a full software stack comprising modules from both companies. Just recently, we expanded the scope of our complete system solutions from Level 2+ to highly automated, into autonomous L4 driving. The first business award for these system solutions from Continental and Ambarella is as a complete Level 4 fallback system.

With its second, exclusive partner, Aurora, Continental is realizing autonomous trucking systems for a wide usage. The first joint series launch is expected in the USA in 2027. Continental is supplying the entire hardware system and contributing a new, complete fallback system. In the unlikely event of a failure of the autonomous primary system, it serves to ensure that the driverless truck continues to take over the driving task and continues to drive to the next possible safe position. Continental will manage the entire life cycle of the autonomous hardware solutions supplied for the Aurora Driver and is paid per mile of the system driven.