Secure car platform has range of connectivity options

The Green Hills INTEGRITY real time operating system and Multivisor secure virtualisation provide the trusted software foundation and impenetrable partitions to securely and safely combine Linux-based connected car services with critical application and vehicle bus services utilising u-blox portfolio of connectivity modules – all in a single Electronic Control Unit (ECU).

The platform enables vehicle manufacturers and their suppliers to safely leverage open-source software while providing unmatched system flexibility, scalability and performance without compromising system safety or security when executing critical applications like remote vehicle monitoring and control, electric vehicle management and regulatory reporting, eCall/bCall, telematics services and ADAS data.

Industry experts expect a quarter of a billion connected cars on the road in two years. The connected car’s Telematics Control Unit (TCU), commonly called a 'shark fin', must possess absolute embedded device security to confidently manage both general and vehicle/life critical data:

• Incoming data from outside the vehicle to the vehicle’s gateway for automated driving, infotainment and OTA updates to vehicle firmware
• Transmission to other cars, roadside units, emergency calls centres and insurance services

u-blox provides the essential positioning, short-range wireless and cellular radio technologies, while Green Hills provides the foundational safe and secure embedded run-time software environment required to secure next-generation high speed, complex Connected Car modules.

“We’re pleased to be partnering with Green Hills because unbreakable security and reliability in the connected car module is as essential as high-speed connectivity,” said Stefan Gudmundsson, Principal, Automotive Market Development at u-blox. “Our unique portfolio of wireless as well as GNSS chips and modules when combined with Green Hills trusted INTEGRITY RTOS and secure Multivisor enables our customers to build unmatched secure and scalable solutions, powering the nerve centre of the connected car.”

u-blox enables automotive OEMs to address and conquer some of the key challenges faced by the Secure Connected Car today and in the future, by providing flexibility, scalability, and superior performance: 

• In-vehicle cellular connectivity is provided by the TOBY-L4 LTE Cat 6 Modem series, enabling additional computing and/or routing performance as needed from a select set of Automotive grade SoCs.
• u-blox’s uCPU Linux-based application environment makes configuration across platforms simple and flexible. This allows customers to seamlessly migrate between platforms that require various levels of performance and future-proofs applications as cellular technologies evolve.
• uCPU contains pre-configured SoC BSPs based on INTEGRITY and Multivisor, in addition to full out-of-the-box pre-integration with u-blox’s complementary Automotive GNSS and wireless products, both in terms of hardware and software. Key open source software packages are integrated with uCPU and fully support the u-blox products, accelerating time-to-market and lowering end project risks.

“Security and safety are crucial for the connected car because the Connected Car TCU must not be exploitable as a threat vector into the vehicle,” said Dan Mender, Vice President, Business Development, Green Hills Software. “By combining u-blox high performance connectivity and GNSS products with Green Hills industry-leading safe and secure RTOS and hypervisor solutions, automotive OEMs and Tier 1s can confidently deliver the promise of a hacker-proof global Connected Car highway without compromise.”

Green Hills brings a range of critical solutions to the design of secure and safe connected car electronics – security through separation and security through cryptographic keys and credentials: 

• The INTEGRITY RTOS architecture runs software in separate and secure partitions, certified to the highest levels of automotive safety (ISO 26262 ASIL D) and the highest security level ever achieved for any software product - Common Criteria EAL 6+, High Robustness. In addition, non-secure operating systems like Linux or Android and their applications can be safely run in their own secure partitions at near-native speeds by INTEGRITY Multivisor, while supporting tamper-proof inter-process communication and the secure and safe sharing of critical system resources. 
• Green Hills INTEGRITY Security Services (ISS) products and services provide FIPS 140-2 compliant crypto toolkits and services for secure boot, secure data storage, secure network protocols, V2X OBU Security Toolkit, and digitally signed secure OTA updates. ISS also provides keys, credentials and software management with a cloud-based Device Lifecycle Management (DLM) system.