{"id":22946,"date":"2020-02-19T15:10:54","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T14:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intellias.com\/?p=22946"},"modified":"2023-06-26T15:02:46","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T13:02:46","slug":"how-to-achieve-excellence-in-car-performance-software","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/intellias.com\/how-to-achieve-excellence-in-car-performance-software\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Achieve Excellence in Car Performance Software"},"content":{"rendered":"

It wouldn\u2019t be surprising today if you came across a comparison of a car with an electronic device. This is the result of a desire for higher levels of autonomous driving and the development of advanced driver-assistance and infotainment systems. Vehicles require a dramatic amount of power to process data flows. Automation, connectivity, and electrification are setting the tone for vehicle software development. Software engineers in the automotive industry are asked to balance the need for building a high car performance software with other automotive objectives. Is this mission possible? And if yes, how can it be achieved? Let\u2019s find the answers.<\/p>\n

Quality challenges in car performance software development: balancing vehicle functionality and software performance<\/h2>\n

The complexity of the software architecture under the hoods of modern vehicles has a direct impact on the car performance software. A sizable number of functional components, both within the vehicle and in the cloud, are responsible for the functioning of a car\u2019s every capability. In a single car,\u00a0automotive software<\/a>\u00a0that includes telematics, mapping, infotainment, various third-party apps and, of course, ADAS can be managed by up to 100 different electronic control units (ECUs) from different software providers.<\/p>\n

As vehicles become more software-dependent, software engineers scratch their heads. A single team of software engineers can no longer build all the software for a vehicle. First, OEMs\u2019 internal development teams need to decide which components they\u2019re building in-house and which they\u2019ll acquire or delegate to technology partners. It\u2019s a common approach for part or all of a car\u2019s application software to be supplied by an OEM or contractors while deployment of ECUs falls on the shoulders of another contractor, a subcontractor, or even the same OEM.<\/p>\n

Next, the development team should make independent automotive software modules work together. Finally, this bulky system should move to production and show decent results. That\u2019s why car performance software efficiency and the baseline for measuring it take center stage.<\/p>\n

Role of software in automotive innovations<\/b>
\n\"How
\nSource: McKinsey & Co<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

How performance testing of automotive software helps automakers measure vehicle functionality and software performance<\/h2>\n

Even though the word nightmare is in the title of this article, based on our automotive experience<\/a>, we can tell what engineering bliss looks like. It\u2019s a core platform that powers high-performance connected car services at scale while addressing critical concerns around data privacy, security, and reliability. Such a platform provides best-in-class latency and uptime, no less.<\/p>\n

Vehicles are complex, embedded, distributed, and safety-critical systems, and maintaining performance is challenging. Engineers used to compromise\u00a0vehicle functionality and software performance for infotainment systems, for example<\/span>.<\/p>\n

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Learn how Intellias built an integrated tool for developing geospatial solutions<\/p>\n

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A realistic baseline for performance testing of automotive software that makes a difference<\/h3>\n

Performance testing of automotive software should evaluate how a system is expected to perform in production. The key performance indicators (KPIs) will depend on the perspective from which a vehicle\u2019s performance is being tested and the goals the engineering team sets. There are countless ways of measuring car performance software efficiency, but the key is to set a realistic baseline.<\/p>\n

While remaining vehicle- and hardware-agnostic, engineering departments need to think over baseline hardware and software requirements for the performance testing of automotive software in general or one system or service in particular. Bear in mind that today, reusability is the central factor in the success of vehicle software.<\/p>\n

Configure your car performance software parameters so they\u2019re the minimum required for the effective functioning of the indicator under test. Set your baseline to obtain the best possible performance with the fewest resources. Unless you\u2019re developing software systems for premium-class cars, the mass market is where your application or system will start its journey. But thanks to reusability, it won\u2019t be a problem to roll out your software on higher-end hardware. However, things don\u2019t work the other way round. If you\u2019re building premium-class software and testing it on a CPU running at maximum capacity, it will be impossible to implement that software on entry-level models with less memory, for example.<\/p>\n

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Find out how Intellias helped to build and support a comprehensive monitoring system for car diagnostics and real-time notifications to drivers.<\/p>\n

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How to build a test pipeline to meet software performance KPIs<\/h2>\n

This way or another, customers with their experience are at the heart of automotive programming initiatives manufacturers and OEMs endorse. Broadly speaking, initiatives in the vehicle engineering field should prevent quality problems that affect customer safety. On the other hand, car functionality and infotainment components should keep users entertained and prevent them from looking for memorable driving experiences elsewhere.<\/p>\n

This is one of the reasons we suggest sorting out KPIs in the following metrics that are truly pivotal to the car performance software efficiency.<\/p>\n

Client metrics<\/b>. These are focused on measuring the end user\u2019s perception of performance, including how long it takes for in-vehicle applications to perform local processing and render results. Client metrics cover performance KPIs such as:<\/p>\n