Autonomous vehicles demand an embedded software development platform

ITTIA has teamed with Green Hills Software, INTEGRITY Security Services and Crank Software to create a joint platform approach to enable automobile manufacturers to capture, query, and share data securely and efficiently. The combination of the ISO 26262- certified INTEGRITY RTOS, ITTIA DB SQL database, Embedded Cryptographic Toolkits and Device Lifecycle Management System and Embedded User Interface provides everything that is needed to develop, manufacture, monitor and maintain complex in-vehicle systems.

Automobile manufacturers have a responsibility to protect passenger safety. When an autonomous vehicle takes on the role of a driver, making accurate decisions based on accumulated and real-time data is critical to minimise the associated risks. At the same time, the data and vehicle application software must remain secure against tampering and privacy invasion. Selecting appropriate core technologies is essential to meet the demand for data-driven intelligence while remaining confident in safe operation, deterministic behavior and secure communication. With this total solution, real-time information is captured, stored and accessed on the vehicle and is simultaneously made available to remote facilities for maintenance and troubleshooting.

Driverless vehicles will be required to capture, manage, and share a large volume of logging and operational data. The joint platform approach from ITTIA, Green Hills Software, INTEGRITY Security Services and Crank Software now enables car manufactures to realise their maximum potential in minimising risk of software failure, preventing malicious software attacks and delivering the best experience to drivers and service technicians. This solution includes the UI framework enabling automotive designers and embedded engineers to work in parallel.

To leverage energy technologies, such as hybrid engines and solar power charging, vehicles must capture and integrate information from many different sensors. For example, when a sensor monitoring the battery generates a warning, queries must be executed to determine the severity of the issue and investigate a workaround. The on-board application software is responsible for correlating data collected from many different sensors, which can be accessed locally or remotely.

When investigating a failure, a technician has access to a large volume of data, potentially spanning many years. Important metrics are invaluable to help identify faulty parts or software. This information is accessed securely through a web browser or mobile tablet application by leveraging ITTIA DB SQL shared access and replication technologies; the data is secured at rest and over the air by the INTEGRITY RTOS and ISS Cryptographic Toolkits provisioned during manufacturing with keys by the Device Lifecycle Management System. Parallel tasks can access the vehicle database even while new sensor readings are continuously collected in the background.