Continental has teamed up with Synopsys to expedite the development and validation of software features and applications for the Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV). This collaborative effort integrates Synopsys’ cutting-edge virtual prototyping solutions for virtual Electronic Control Units (vECU) within Continental’s Automotive Edge (CAEdge) cloud-based development framework. The outcome is the creation of digital twin capabilities for software development, empowering automakers to accelerate software deployment and reduce time-to-market.
Gilles Mabire, CTO at Continental Automotive, highlighted the significance of this collaboration, stating, “Synopsys’ virtual ECUs and vehicle digital twin capabilities enable us to develop and test advanced software solutions earlier, so they can be deployed to vehicles faster.” The Software-Defined Vehicle concept necessitates simultaneous work on hardware, software, applications, and validation while upholding the highest standards of quality and safety. By leveraging Synopsys’ virtual ECUs and vehicle digital twin capabilities, Continental aims to advance the development and testing of software solutions, ensuring rapid deployment in vehicles.
In the quest for a cutting-edge user experience promised by the modern SDV, car manufacturers and suppliers are turning to virtual environments to simulate digital features’ performance and ensure compatibility with existing and new car models. CAEdge, Continental’s cloud-based development environment, becomes a pivotal platform providing a modular hardware and software ecosystem that connects vehicles to the cloud. It facilitates the development, supply, and maintenance of software-intensive system functions, offering a virtual workbench for developing, supplying, and maintaining these functions. Digital representations of real-world physical devices, such as vECUs and the vehicle digital twin, play a crucial role in expediting the development and validation of software solutions before the general availability of hardware.
Gilles Mabire emphasized, “By combining our CAEdge framework with Synopsys’ virtual ECU technologies, we are directly addressing the vehicle manufacturers’ needs to accelerate software development and automate software validation in a modern cloud-based environment.” Synopsys’ virtual prototyping tools contribute to this collaboration by simplifying the deployment of individual vECU and vehicle digital twins. These tools combine multiple vECUs with vehicle dynamics, sensor simulations, and environmental simulations, supporting a full range of vECU abstraction levels (L1 through L4). The tools, integrated with CAEdge, harness the power of a digital twin in the development pipeline for the SDV, automating both software validation and delivery processes during development and throughout the vehicle’s entire lifecycle.
Tom De Schutter, VP of Engineering in the Systems Design Group at Synopsys, highlighted the significance of this collaboration, stating, “Bringing together Continental’s proven track record in design, software and manufacturing of complex automotive systems at scale with Synopsys’ proven vECU technologies, we are expanding and speeding the automotive design process from physical to virtual.” Both CAEdge and the Synopsys vECU technology integration will be showcased at CES 2024. Continental’s presentation at CES 2024 will feature a private exhibit in Central Plaza, offering a glimpse into the latest technologies shaping the future of mobility from road to cloud.
