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© Continental
“A service-oriented
architecture changes everything”
The E/E architecture of vehicles is undergoing fundamental change. ATZelectronics spoke
with Michael Hülsewies and Martin Schleicher from Continental about the changing allocation
of roles between software and (embedded) hardware.
ATZelectronics _ Vehicles in the future sociated large number of microcontrollers VW ID.3 and ID.4 show how complex
will require significantly more computer is being replaced by an architecture with the associated processes are. For ICAS1,
power to manage the shift towards a cen High-performance Computers, in short 19 companies were involved from 13
tralized computer architecture. What is HPC. The current range in computing sites and over 800 engineers worked
the current status? capacity for an HPC is typically between at Continental alone to implement the
SCHLEICHER _ Many vehicle manufacturers 10 and 50 kDMIPS. And this is just the 70,000 stakeholder requirements for
are currently introducing domain archi beginning. We are currently working on five virtual ECUs and operating systems.
tectures with centralized computers. The numerous such projects. A few facts from The slogan “Centralization means Collab
growing and complex network with its as the HPC pioneer application ICAS1 in the oration” is often cited in this context.
14 www.springerprofessional.com/automotive
HÜLSEWIES _ Our assumption is that be executed. POSIX-based operating sys What kind of computers do you see,
many manufacturers will introduce tems such as Autosar Adaptive, Linux, a trend towards GPP or dedicated
zone architectures by 2030. A zone QNX, and software frameworks based computing cores?
architecture may consist of between upon them such as Android, ROS2 and HÜLSEWIES _ Future HPCs in zone archi
two to five scalable HPCs, for example, Java must be securely encapsulated and tectures will no longer be specifically
in order to handle the functions from run in parallel. This means that we are for one domain but will implement
different domains. We are expecting talking of isolation and density. The pre functions from multiple domains. This
between two and six zones for each requisite for this is hardware support requires powerful microprocessor archi
OEM and vehicle model that control for virtualization designs, which nor tectures and solutions that are scalable,
the vehicle network and run ECUs, mally presupposes multi-core processor as well as general purpose processors.
sensors, and actuators. As a next step, units with MMU and multiple IP-based And it will require dedicated semicon
we expect and prepare for further inte high-speed communication channels. ductors for special applications such as
gration of the HPC hardware, with the In order to enable Cloud-native software the graphics display, security, and artifi
ultimate goal to cover all aspects of designs, transparent communication cial intelligence. GPUs have an advan
high-performance computing within
one central unit.
What would such a HPC computer look
“The days of manual processes are over,
like and what must it be capable of?
SCHLEICHER _ That is a long list because a
the future lies in highly automated processes”
lot of complexity must be handled within
the HPC. The paradigm shift lies in the with the Cloud must be possible simul tage when it comes to computationally
service-oriented architecture with an taneously. If you look at all this in com intensive functions, elaborate graphics
abstraction of hardware and software. bination, then it becomes clear that for distributed over several displays, and to
At the same time, the software has to development and operations we are talk a certain degree, AI. There will also be
be capable of being updated over-the-air ing about the implementation of agile specialized chips and/or accelerators for
over its entire life cycle. It is particularly development methods, DevOps with con other functions such as hardware secu
essential that software functions origi tinuous integration, continuous delivery, rity. And not forgetting special chips for
nating from different suppliers with dif and automated testing. The days of man communication. Even RISC architectures
fering criticality such as real-time capa ual processes are over, the future lies in are conceivable. It simply depends on
bility and computational demands can highly automated processes. which processor architecture offers the
© Continental
© Continental
Michael Hülsewies is Business IT Specialist and Head Martin Schleicher is a diploma engineer and
of Architecture and Software at Continental since Head of Software Strategy in the area Holistic
2020. He started his career at Dephi (now Aptiv) Engineering and Technology since 2021.
and carried global responsibility for engineering in Before this, he held a number of positions
the area of electrical distribution systems up to 2018. at Elektrobit. Schleicher is the chairman of
Up to 2020, he was Senior Director at Byton for the Navigation Data Standard consortium and
E/E system development, SW integration, ADAS, chairman of the steering committee Software
and functional safety. in the ZVEI Automotive Trade Association.
ATZ electronics worldwide 01-02|2022 15
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best ratio between performance, price, can also reduce the power consumption. not essential for vehicle operation.
power consumption, and other parame Furthermore, smart fusing opportunities However, new mobile technologies
ters for a specific application. offer flexible and adaptive load manage such as 5G will significantly improve
ment in the vehicle. bandwidth and latency time. This
And what about the conflicting goals of enables both software updates OTA
computational power and the required as well as the use of Cloud software
electrical power in electric vehicles? “We could even from within the vehicle. Cloud-native
HÜLSEWIES _ The electrical consumption
of power by vehicle electronics is an conceive using software architectures permit soft
ware functions to be employed trans
important theme, and not just with elec
tric vehicles. In order to reduce power
RISC architectures” parently both in the Cloud as well
as in the vehicle. Technologies from
consumption, power dissipation and the Cloud and computing centers such
waste heat must be reduced. Since space Highly or fully automated driving requires as Hypervisor, Virtual Machines and
in a vehicle is always limited, this is a increasingly higher computing power. Container on the basis of Docker will
core topic in the further development of In your view, what is the distribution find their way, at least on HPC, into
electronics and semiconductors. We are between in-car and external structures? the vehicle. We are working together
confident that semiconductor manufac SCHLEICHER _ Estimations have shown with ARM, AWS, and other companies
turers will come up with solutions for that fully automated driving could re in the Scalable Open Architecture for
this. For smartphones and laptops as quire up to 300 TOPS, or 1000 kDMIPS, Embedded Edge - Special Interest Group
well as for many IoT solutions, the lowest of computing performance: That is in the (SOAFEE-SIG) to develop the hardware
possible power consumption is also an range of computers in a data center. Cus and software architectures that will
important design target. This will be tomers also expect continuous software make Cloud-native technologies usable
transferred to vehicle electronics. Simula updates and new functions, which will in vehicles.
tion of power consumption and thermal then also require additional computing
behavior are important steps during the capacity in the vehicle. A part of the With lifelong and continuous develop
development of electronics, and we work answer to this lies in Cloud connectivity. ment of both the vehicle and its software,
closely with IC manufacturers in these Of course, only those software functions how can support be ensured?
areas. We benefit from this by selecting can be shifted to the Cloud that do not SCHLEICHER _ A buffer of computational
the appropriate technology, such as dedi require real-time behavior, that are not power and memory should be reserved
cated accelerators. Optimized algorithms safety-relevant, and that are otherwise at the launch of a vehicle program. This
leads to a paradigm shift. Some OEMs
are already planning very powerful hard
ware that will enable them to offer their
© Continental
customers new functions over the entire
vehicle lifetime. Tesla pursues this strat
egy already. Other OEMs are working on
extendable electronic systems. Hardware
reserves mean additional costs and it is
thus a question of the manufacturer’s
business strategy as to the amount of
capacity they would like to reserve and
how much flexibility they are building
in regarding future software upgrades.
Does this change to vehicle computers also
require the capability to upgrade hardware,
or blade concepts for example?
HÜLSEWIES _ In our view, the exten
sion or exchange of hardware over
the lifetime is a very realistic scenario.
Indeed, there is a whole raft of possi
bilities such as plug-in processor mod
ules or plug-in blade components in
a kind of rack that can be exchanged
or extended. Entire control units could
“In our view, the also be replaced: Tesla has already de
extension or exchange monstrated this with the replacement
of hardware over the
of the self-driving computer. A further
lifetime is a very
realistic scenario,” option would be add-on computers that
Hülsewies says can be added to the vehicle’s high-speed
16 www.springerprofessional.com/automotive
“Estimations do indeed show that fully automated driving will require up
to 300 TOPS or 1000 kDMIPS of computational power,” Schleicher states
© Continental
network during an upgrade. Auto how do middleware and core software
motive-grade requirements regarding on hardware level interact, i.e. with the
mechanical robustness, functional actual operating system? Continental
safety, and cybersecurity play major is open for collaboration in these areas.
roles in all these considerations and The mentioned initiative SOAFEE for
influence the hardware design. example is based on open interfaces.
What does this mean for hardware What are your views regarding the operating
interfaces in a vehicle? system – wouldn’t it be better if individual
HÜLSEWIES _ We are designing our manufacturers didn’t try to establish propri
future systems for x-domain HPC to etary solutions?
be modular and scalable in a so-called HÜLSEWIES _ I think that the point is
scalable computing platform. Specifi less the operating system than an
cally, we envisage plug-in processor abstraction layer that permits function
modules, so-called systems-on-module, software to be used independently of
in order to provide the required system the electronic architecture. There are
performance. These communicate with mature operating systems such as
each other via PCI Express or chip-to- Linux and Autosar that provide a basis
chip according to the design and are enabling manufacturers and suppliers
integrated in the vehicle’s network via to develop innovative and differentiat
multi-gigabit Ethernet interfaces. ing functions for their customers.
We advocate collaboration within the
Would that not require cross-manufacturer industry on open interfaces and actively
standardization around the topic of HPC? seek discourse with other companies.
SCHLEICHER _ The term standardization Industry-wide collaboration leads to
doesn’t quite cut it. We are talking a reduction of integration effort, some
more about open interfaces that the thing that makes up a large part of the
industry can use collaboratively. It is development costs of electronics.
important, particularly in the case of
software, to agree upon interfaces and Michael Hülsewies, Martin Schleicher,
to maintain them systematically. A few thank you for this information.
examples: How is the vehicle connected
to the Cloud? How do I decouple func
tion software from middleware? And INTERVIEW: Robert Unseld
ATZ electronics worldwide 01-02|2022 17
