Technology company Continental has announced that it has orders worth around €5 billion for high-performance computers for vehicle cockpit, data management and vehicle connectivity, driving safety and dynamics, or automated driving.
According to the company, the orders were primarily based on the series productions of domain-specific high-performance computers for more than 20 vehicle models from various manufacturers and brands in 2021 and 2022 alone, which is driven by the start of production of the so-called In-Car Application Server 1 in Volkswagen’s ID.3 and ID.4 electric vehicles.
The company has also set the course for the future of the software-centric and fully connected vehicle with know-how from current projects and based on the so-called Continental Automotive Edge Platform, the next generation of vehicle computers is already being created. Currently, the company’s experts focus on a cross-domain approach to create a hardware and software platform that allows functions from a wide range of vehicle areas, such as driving safety or entertainment, to be integrated. In addition, the objective is to offer automotive manufacturers greater possible flexibility and modularity for designing vehicle architectures with minimum complexity.
Michael Huelsewies, Senior Vice President, Architecture & Software, Continental, said the development of vehicle electronics from distributed electric control units to server-based architectures involves much more than a technical evolution. The company is in the midst of a comprehensive transformation of products, work and development processes, and business models, he said.
“With our Continental Automotive Edge Platform, we are therefore focusing on a consistent connection of vehicle functions and services to the cloud and an integrated development environment. Together with our partners and customers, we are thus also creating the basis for cross-domain high-performance computing,” Huelsewies added.
For cross-domain vehicle computers
According to Continental, cross-domain high-performance computers meet the different requirements from the individual functional areas and enable a holistic user experience.
For example, while infotainment in the vehicle cockpit focuses on user experience, connectivity and applications from consumer electronics, data management and vehicle connectivity are about mastering complexity and real-time requirements.
Driving safety and dynamics and automated driving, on the contrary, focus on strict requirements for functional safety and latency-critical vehicle regulations. This is precisely where the Continental Automotive Edge Platform comes in, the company averred. In detail, the flexible modular system consists of high-performance computers, software and cloud platforms, and services and applications. The platform developed by the company connects the vehicle with the cloud. Thanks to its modularity, it simplifies the development, provision, and maintenance of software-intensive system functions from the various areas of the vehicle.
In the future, it will thus be possible for users to conveniently obtain desired functions through software updates over the entire service life of the vehicle. The development environment provides the basis for this for software-intensive vehicle architectures, making it possible to implement software, sensor and big data solutions in a fraction of the previous development time. In this way, the company states that the vehicle software can be quickly and securely developed, tested, and installed directly on vehicles, allowing or guarantees up-to-date safety and expandability in the future vehicle.
In addition, the company offers a range of programming tools, so-called development kits, which shorten the development cycles of vehicle systems and drive efficient product development. These components for centralised vehicle architectures act like a standardised and modular workbench, making it easier to develop and test functions. Using the cloud also enables scalable and efficient testing and simulation of vehicle functions. This ensures fast and harmonised development and integration of distributed services and applications and enables seamless operation in the software-defined vehicle, the company added.