The Software Solution Automakers Have Been Waiting For May Finally Be Here
QNX and Vector’s collaboration promises to streamline the complex, costly software foundations behind the next generation of cars.
Tim StevensWriterRyan LugoIllustration ByManufacturerPhotographerMotor Trend ArchivePhotographerDec 12, 2025
We’re in the middle of one of the most transformative periods in automotive history. No, it’s not the shift to electrification, though that’s certainly causing no shortage of consternation. It’s the rapid race to embrace the **software-defined vehicle (SDV)**, a term that has become a buzzword across the industry, promising a future where cars are defined more by their code than their chassis.
What on paper sounds like a simple switch from discrete hardware components to over-the-air (OTA) updatable algorithms has become an endless string of headaches among some of the industry’s biggest automakers. Increasing demands for ever-evolving functionality must be delivered through a tangled web of regulations and requirements. The result is a nearly untenable situation that could see future cars offering fewer features, not more, if the industry can’t find a viable path forward.
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Thankfully, there’s a potential solution coming that could change the game. The hardware virtualization gurus at QNX and the middleware maestros at Vector have teamed up to create what they’re calling the **Foundational Vehicle Software Platform**. If it delivers on its promises, it could eliminate many of the most complex and challenging aspects of automotive **software development**, a critical bottleneck in the industry’s transition to the SDV era.
The **Software-Defined Shift**
The term **software-defined vehicle** isn’t exactly new. But as this low-level concept has sprung to the forefront of vehicle design, its meaning has been evolving, taking on new layers of complexity and strategic importance.
“It’s a term that’s been around for seven or eight years,” John Wall said, the president at QNX. “I think in the last few years, it’s really come to mean something very specific. I think for me, what it really signifies is that the vehicle is getting more and more dependent on software for features.”
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In some organizations, the shift to SDVs has been pitched as a sort of panacea for all an organization’s woes, enabling a dramatic reduction and simplification of hardware within the car—all while providing a platform for vehicles that can stay relevant on the market for longer. The promise is a car that can be improved upon over time, much like a smartphone, rather than being a static product that depreciates the moment it leaves the lot.
“I think one of the main factors driving SDV in the traditional car companies is the ability to continue to enhance the vehicle over time, and to be able to add new features, and to be able to monetize those new features within the vehicle,” Wall continued. This ability to generate recurring revenue streams long after the initial sale is a powerful incentive for legacy automakers facing pressure from tech giants and new EV startups alike.
But behind all those promises lurks a troubling reality that has left the software organizations of some manufacturers in a shambles. The transition to a software-first mindset requires more than just hiring more coders; it demands a fundamental shift in culture and process that many traditional automakers are struggling to execute.
The Organizational Overhaul Automakers Didn’t See Coming
Achieving new heights in software doesn’t just require more advanced code. For some traditional automakers, it requires an entire organizational reboot, a challenge many are ill-prepared for. The very structure of these companies, built over decades to manufacture and sell cars, is proving to be a significant impediment to the agility required for software innovation.
“At the moment, they are struggling, especially in the development processes,” Matthias Traub, a member of the board of directors and the CTO at Vector, noted. “Also from a cultural perspective. They are coming from a clear waterfall-based process with clear roles.”
The waterfall approach is a legacy software development methodology designed around projects with well-defined tasks, roles, and deadlines. In this model, each phase of the project must be completed before the next can begin, with little room for iteration or change. That doesn’t work so well in an increasingly dynamic automotive software landscape where requirements evolve rapidly and continuous integration is the norm.
“Now it’s time to go towards a real DevOps approach,” Traub explained. “So you have smaller teams, which have the responsibility for the whole chain, so the design, the build, the software development, the test, and so on.” This shift to DevOps, a methodology that combines software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops), emphasizes collaboration, automation, and continuous delivery, allowing teams to respond quickly to change and deliver value to users more frequently.
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QNX’s Wall said there’s also a misguided belief among many companies that they need to develop every piece of code in-house. “I think that’s where a lot of them have fallen down,” he observed. This “not invented here” syndrome is a common trait in large, established organizations, where pride in internal capabilities often trumps the efficiency of leveraging external expertise.
Feeling the need to own the entire software stack means developers writing software to do extremely basic functions like securely sending data over a car’s built-in modem or painting pixels on the car’s displays. Companies that just want to build cars have instead found themselves writing layer upon layer of software that their customers will never see. This deep vertical integration is incredibly time-consuming and expensive, diverting resources from the development of features that actually differentiate the product in the market.
“Their energy should be focused on features that delight their customers, not on operating systems and networking stacks,” Wall asserted. The core competency of a car manufacturer is not, and arguably never should be, software engineering at the foundational level. It’s like asking a master chef to also be a farmer, a butcher, and a baker for every single ingredient—while possible, it’s incredibly inefficient and detracts from the artistry of the final product.
If a software stack growing taller by the minute isn’t scary enough, the breadth of modern **software regulatory frameworks** can be a massive challenge. The lists of things developers must be aware of just keeps getting longer, creating a compliance minefield that is difficult to navigate. These regulations are not static, either; they are constantly evolving, requiring ongoing monitoring and adaptation.
“Things like the software bill of material, the provenance of where your software came from, you have what’s going on in the U.S., no Chinese code,” Wall said, highlighting just a few of the complex requirements. The software bill of materials (SBOM) is a formal record of all the software components, libraries, and dependencies used in a piece of software, crucial for identifying and addressing security vulnerabilities. The geopolitical landscape further complicates matters, with restrictions on using code from certain countries, such as China, adding another layer of complexity for global automakers.
“There are a lot of things to think about. It’s a really dynamic situation.” This dynamic environment means that what is compliant today may not be tomorrow, forcing companies to constantly update their development processes and software stacks to meet the latest requirements. The cost and complexity of this ongoing compliance effort are substantial, further burdening automakers already struggling with the transition to SDVs.
A New Platform Emerges
Not only do evolving regulations provide a moving target for initial compliance, but they also require ongoing updatability and response to vulnerabilities. This creates a continuous cycle of development and maintenance that is extremely resource-intensive. As the number of software-driven features in vehicles continues to grow, so does the potential attack surface for malicious actors. Ensuring the security of these complex systems is a paramount concern for automakers and regulators alike.
“The industry is at a tipping point where software complexity threatens to outpace innovations,” Traub warned. This is a critical juncture for the automotive industry. If the trend of increasing complexity without corresponding improvements in development efficiency continues, the very concept of the **software-defined vehicle** could be jeopardized. The promise of enhanced features and longer vehicle relevance could be replaced by a reality where vehicles offer fewer features to manage costs and risks.
Complex regulatory environments are an area that QNX has navigated repeatedly in the past. The company’s foundational operating system can be found in everything from nuclear power plants to military aircraft. This deep experience in developing highly secure and certifiable software for mission-critical applications positions QNX well to address the challenges facing the automotive industry.
“A lot of the security requirements came from the medical field, and we saw them a little bit earlier, based on the Biden administration, some of the things that they put in place,” Wall added. The U.S. government, through initiatives like the White House’s Cybersecurity Executive Order in 2021, has been pushing for enhanced cybersecurity measures across critical infrastructure sectors, including transportation. These requirements, often initially developed for sectors like healthcare, are now trickling down to the automotive industry, creating new compliance challenges for automakers.
The **Foundational Vehicle Software Platform** is built on that expertise. It’s a series of interfaces and tools from QNX and Vector designed to streamline modern automotive software development. It builds on both companies’ long history of abstracting and simplifying complicated aspects of integrated systems development. In an automotive sense, that means providing secure, reliable, and certifiable hardware integration. The platform essentially acts as a middleware layer, providing a standardized interface between the application software and the underlying hardware. This abstraction allows developers to focus on creating innovative features without getting bogged down in the complexities of hardware integration and low-level system programming.
“We’re trying to remove a lot of those
