Synopsys: Four major trends in the automotive industry in 2021

In 2020, the automotive industry was hit to a certain extent by the epidemic, but unexpected changes are often accompanied by new opportunities, encouraging everyone to continue to break through and innovate. Last year, great progress was made in the field of autonomous driving, vehicle connectivity became more popular, and with the increasingly smooth conversion between smartphones and cars, the riding experience has also been significantly improved.

So what will be the outlook for automotive applications in the new year? Below we will review the four major trends in the automotive industry in 2021.

2021 is expected to be the year when standards are established

In November 2020, Walmart became the latest retailer to announce plans to test deliveries using self-driving cars. Its pilot program will use General Motors’ Cruise electric self-driving cars. As autonomous driving technology continues to advance, safety requirements will become more stringent and more universal. The ISO 26262, Road vehicles — International standard for functional safety, specifies a set of functional safety development processes from definition to production release, which automotive OEMs and suppliers must comply with and document. In the near future, there will be more discussions and even further revisions to ISO 26262 to address the interaction between functional safety and confidentiality.

Speaking of security, ISO/SAE 21434, based on SAE J3061, will provide the automotive industry with the first set of automotive cybersecurity standards, providing a cybersecurity framework for the entire lifecycle of road vehicles, which specifies:

● Risk Management 

● Safety management 

● Continuous cybersecurity activities 

● Accident response 

● Cybersecurity covering the concept, product development and post-development phases of road vehicles 

● Vehicle software vulnerability lifecycle management

Automotive suppliers and OEMs can use the ISO/SAE 21434 standard to manage the security requirements of different partners in a unified way, eliminating the risk and data of standardizing multiple manufacturers and focusing the saved time and resources on what their customers really need.

Based on the ISO/SAE 21434 standard, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has issued the UNECE Cybersecurity Regulation, namely the UNECE WP.29 Regulation (UNR 155), which represents the United Nations' management of vehicle cybersecurity. According to Juniper Research, by 2023, 775 million civilian vehicles will be connected to the Internet through telematics or in-vehicle applications. By 2030, each smart car is expected to carry about 300 million lines of software code. The growing number of connected cars and the increase in in-vehicle software have increased the risk of cyberattacks. The UNR 155 Regulation clarifies what processes need to be taken to defend against security threats. The standard provides examples of threats and avoidance measures, and presents different perspectives from the perspectives of process and management, IT, and product and operational technology. In addition, there is a new UN regulation on software updates (UNR 156 Regulation), which provides guidance on software update security and protection, and provides a legal basis for over-the-air (OTA) updates of in-vehicle automotive software. Both regulations are already in effect in markets within the European Union.

It is also worth mentioning that as more open source software components are used in automotive systems, automotive companies need to be aware of and manage the accompanying open source licenses. The recently released ISO/IEC 5230:2020 standard specifies requirements for establishing an open source license compliance program, which will help build trust between organizations exchanging software. ISO 5230 will play an important role for the automotive industry, helping to manage supply chain risks from an open source license compliance perspective.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are becoming more common

Especially in the field of autonomous driving

The continued expansion of 5G network deployments is making vehicle-to-everything (V2X) more feasible in major metropolitan areas. V2X technology enables safer and more efficient roads, as vehicles can share basic safety information (location, speed, direction, etc.) with each other and with transportation infrastructure.

General Motors debuted a production model in China equipped with V2X technology, the Buick GL8, which is also the first brand to be equipped with this technology in China. GM also announced that new Cadillac and most Chevrolet and Buick models will be 5G-enabled starting in 2022. In the United States, the automotive industry has also overcome regulatory challenges in the 5.9 GHz wireless communication spectrum, so 2021 is expected to see more test centers begin to deploy V2X technology. Through testing, automotive OEMs will have a better understanding of what kinds of V2X functions can be achieved in the coming years.

Additionally, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will continue to demonstrate their data analytics capabilities on the back end of the car. We will likely collect and process large amounts of data from millions of cars, providing a comprehensive understanding of new cybersecurity threats and attacks from the collected information. For example, could malware cause a car to brake unnecessarily?

Improve vehicle self-diagnosis

and predictive diagnostic capabilities

Today, software is tested and validated before it is released. Going forward, we will be able to check the safety requirements of software in vehicles after they hit the road. The increasing sophistication of artificial intelligence and machine learning will allow vehicles’ intrusion detection systems to perform self-diagnostics while driving. This real-time capability will prevent hackers from remotely controlling the car, as was done by the infamous remote Jeep hacker Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, who performed such an attack on a Jeep Cherokee in 2015. Self-diagnostics will enhance vehicle protection and make driving safer.

In the coming year, preventive diagnostics for detecting early failures and faulty components will be deployed more. Connected vehicles are able to continuously collect data to read trends and detect problems such as under-inflated tires, overheating of certain components, or abnormal commands being issued.

The amount of software in vehicle design is further increasing

Automakers, who have traditionally used smaller microcontrollers, are now trying to merge these smaller devices into larger systems that can run multiple operating systems and more software content. The automotive industry is no longer just concerned with electronic or mechanical issues, but is more software-focused, and OEMs are starting to increase their staffing of software engineers. In the coming year, we will even see more OEMs and suppliers establish their own software development centers or acquire or partner with other software companies. In addition, automakers are adopting methodologies from the IT industry, such as agile development and other demonstration operations. In addition to the once common embedded software, they are also stepping up efforts to develop new services and solutions based on web applications, mobile applications, and cloud platforms that can interact with vehicles.

Based on current trends in the automotive industry, we will see a path forward that combines innovation and safety in 2021. With the implementation of various standards and the intelligent technologies enabled by AI and ML, automotive engineers will be better able to reduce risks while designing smarter and safer cars.