Collaboration platform for the European connected and autonomous vehicle of the future

Expected Outcome

• Strategic roadmap for digital technology developments for automotive, including software, hardware, AI models and solutions and autonomous driving technologies, across different projects and initiatives;
• Definition of agreement on high-level architectures and interfaces for software, hardware, AI models and solutions and autonomous driving technologies;
• Nurturing of a dynamic ecosystem of contributors and participants adopting the initiative’s outcomes;
• Operational digital platform(s) supporting joint developments under the initiative;
• Definition and implementation of processes, agreements and roles ensuring a clear pipeline for building blocks from relevant projects funded at EU and national level towards integration by companies in series production, leveraging organisations like ECLIPSE SDV, COVESA, or alike.
• Establishment of a sustainable organisational and governance structure.

Objective

The action will help reinforce the competitiveness and innovation leadership of the European automotive sector and accelerate its digital transformation. It will contribute to the implementation of the Industrial Action Plan for the European Automotive Sector. It will support the objectives of the announced European Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Alliance (ECAVA), which focuses on the following key areas:

• Developing a software platform for software-defined vehicles (SDVs);
• Developing an in-vehicle computing architecture for software-defined vehicles;
• Developing innovative AI solutions for the automotive industry;
• Creating a large-scale distributed pilot facility;
• Accelerate the transition towards autonomous driving.

The action will build on the ongoing industry-driven collaboration on a European software-defined vehicle initiative and expand into the other areas of the ECAVA, supporting concrete collaborations building on the strategic guidance and advice from the ECAVA.

The action will coordinate and steer relevant projects and initiatives in the area of software, hardware, AI and autonomous driving technologies. It will drive alignment on common standards and interfaces. It will contribute to the management of a strategic industry-driven collaboration in these areas, by incubating, orchestrating and helping maintain joint developments. It will provide a collaborative digital platform to support efficient common development and promote the broad uptake of the initiative’s outcomes. It will lay the basis for a sustainable industry-driven collaboration. The collaboration platform aims at consolidating existing coordination mechanisms in an inclusive way and expanding them by supporting the role of a maintainer for emerging open-source building blocks and software stacks as well as sustainability of the ecosystem.

Scope

The action will implement the following activities:

• Support the management and coordination of joint developments under the ECAVA by:
• Steering, coordinating and supporting research, innovation and deployments projects, including EU-funded (e.g. under the Chips JU, CCAM and 2ZERO Partnerships, potential future Joint Undertakings), national-funded and industry-driven projects and initiatives (e.g. projects under the Eclipse SDV Working Group, AUTOSAR, COVESA, ...). Consolidate or orchestrate existing coordination mechanisms under FEDERATE, Eclipse SDV, Autosar, COVESA, etc..
• Defining and supporting key roles and responsibilities for project management, including a high-level ambassador to ensure dialogue and exchange with senior automotive decision-makers in companies; a team of chief operations officers and a team of chief architects to ensure coherence and alignment.
• Drive the alignment and consensus on common technology platforms:
• Define and update a long-term strategic roadmap and vision across companies’ initiatives for joint, largely open-source, developments.
• Support the alignment across companies on common high-level architectures, building blocks, standards, interfaces and tools for key digital technologies in the scope of the Alliance. This shall include software, hardware, and interfaces with cloud infrastructure.
• Help identify and define non-differentiating areas for beneficial collaborations regarding automotive AI development, including approaches for data sharing and pooling to support joint AI development.
• Follow and contribute where relevant to standardisation activities including at international level.
• Support the incubation of joint developments, notably by:
• Supporting the rollout of the common strategic roadmap, providing a drumbeat to ensure speedy implementation, and an efficient transfer of outcomes from relevant projects, aiming towards rapid integration in series production.
• Setting up certification and labeling processes for the outcomes of joint developments under the initiative.
• Disseminating outcomes and help to build a dynamic ecosystem, based on an open-source plan and leveraging existing communities.
• Support the integration and maintenance of core joint developments based on a collaborative digital platform:
• Supporting the operation of a repository and developer platform for jointly developed building blocks, interfaces, tools, models, etc. and of a digital platform for collaboration, building as far as possible on existing mechanisms, which support Europe’s strategic autonomy.
• Supporting, where relevant, the maintenance of common stacks by relevant organisations(s), such as ECLIPSE SDV, for instance through reference implementation and pre-integrations.