Early Validation: Cloud-based SDV Prototyping

Cloud-based SDV prototyping provides a lightweight and cost-effective way to validate new ideas early in the development process. By implementing prototypes in the cloud, developers can test functionalities against real vehicle APIs while using mock-up or simulated data. This approach enables a quick, flexible exploration of concepts without requiring physical test setups, making it an ideal starting point for innovation.

A key advantage of cloud-based prototyping is its ability to support shift left strategies effectively. It accelerates validation by allowing early engagement with multiple stakeholders – from product teams to end-users – fostering alignment and feedback at minimal cost. By validating assumptions and refining requirements before heavier development efforts begin, teams reduce risks and improve efficiency, ensuring that they are building the right product from the outset.

This method not only supports agile iterations but also provides a clear path for moving validated concepts into more robust testing phases, driving speed and confidence in the software-defined vehicle development lifecycle.

Cloud-based Prototyping with the digital.auto Playground

The cloud-based SDV prototyping approach illustrated in the diagram leverages the free and open digital.auto playground to enable early-stage validation and rapid iteration of vehicle features. At its core, this process bridges stakeholder feedback with enterprise architecture, requirements, and components (HW+SW), ensuring alignment between development efforts and business goals.

The playground enables the creation of prototypes that validate requirements and epics in an agile and iterative manner. Stakeholders can interact with early versions of the software or functionality, providing feedback that loops back into the development cycle. This iterative process ensures transparency, allowing for better collaboration between business, IT, and organizational boundaries.

Key benefits include:

1. Improved Transparency: Promotes clear visibility across teams and regions, aligning business and IT objectives.

2. Early Validation of Components: Prototypes validate enterprise architecture decisions and ensure consistency.

3. Identification of API Requirements: API dependencies, especially for hardware and external supplier components, are identified early to address long lead times.

4. Agile Development with MVP: Encourages incremental delivery of minimum viable products while ensuring robust and validated components through the First Time Right principle.

Overall, this cloud-based prototyping approach reduces risks, accelerates development timelines, and aligns hardware and software components seamlessly, enabling efficient and high-quality SDV delivery.

Example

The range extension example highlights the use of digital.auto's playground platform, implementing an SDV algorithm for EV range optimization.

Leveraging COVESA's Vehicle Signal Specification (VSS), the algorithm interacts with mock-up vehicle signals, initially coming from a test database, to demonstrate range-saving capabilities like powering down non-essential energy consumers (e.g., HVAC or infotainment). This cloud-based prototyping validates the solution efficiently before hardware integration, aligning with the shift-left philosophy for faster, cost-effective testing and multi-stakeholder alignment.

For full details: COVESA EV Power Optimization Whitepaper.