IIC Journal of Innovation | Page 93

More Horsepower with the Click of a Download Software contrasts the fact that there is a lot of cross-car standardization for bodies, engines, brakes and other physical components. In parallel, security of the Head Unit and its communications will be of the highest priority. The recent security breaches in cars speak a clear language: Security cannot be bolted onto existing systems. Instead, the systems have to be built on top of a solid security framework for the device itself and have to be part of a larger end-to-end network with in-car systems, devices and backend dealer/OEM systems. Additional requirements for autonomous driving vehicles are fault tolerant and fail-safe mechanisms to protect passengers and other vehicles. The auto industry will need to draw decades of learning from the commercial aircraft industry where three independent computers and black boxes are standard. 2. THE CONNECTED CAR 2.1 The Backbone In a networked world, cars are no longer self-contained but rely on services delivered through an OEM Vehicle Backend which acts as the interface into the Internet. The OEM Vehicle Backend creates a virtual image of the vehicle in cyber space and, therefore, it must provide highest data protection and IT-Security. At the same time, the backend needs to be flexible and scalable to react to the unpredictable usage patterns created by the vehicles and their drivers. Further, any alterations in those systems must be logged in an auditable way because these systems are now part of the car. These properties will only be delivered by backend systems which are built on modern, secure and scalable technologies with 24/7 availability. While solutions available today from some OEMs are built on legacy systems which have been meshed together, this approach will not suffice nor scale when millions of cars are connected to them. Once in place, the combination of Vehicle Backend, OTA Updates of the Head Unit and ultimately even updates of the attached Electronic Control Units (ECUs) – of which a modern car contains up to one hundred – will enable a completely new quality of service for both the owner and the dealer. For example, it will then be possible to buy upgrades for the car in an aftersales model. Telemetric data received from the car (e.g. usage patterns) can be used by existing dealerships or new service companies for preventative maintenance and by car manufacturers’ product management to influence next models functional design. This is called Vehicle Relationship Management. With software becoming the integral and defining part of cars, it will also need to adhere to higher security standards. Something like the Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) standard2 which is applied to certify hardware components that impact the safety of car and passengers, 2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_Safety_Integrity_Level - 92 - December 2015