Interview with Martin Wagner, BMW
“OEMs should allow more flexibility in adopting community-based standards”
Dr Martin Wagner holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Technical University of Munich.
BMW
Open source is becoming a strategic lever for SDV platforms as carmakers seek to reuse non-differentiating software at scale. Dr Martin Wagner of BMW explains how S-CORE within Eclipse SDV aims to support safety, ADAS and series viability.
Software-defined vehicles are
changing how vehicle functions are developed, integrated and reused across
platforms. This is especially relevant for safety-critical series
projects, where the automotive industry must reconcile open software
development with strict requirements for validation,
certification and long-term platform stability.
Dr Martin Wagner, Head of Software Platforms ADAS at the BMW
Group, works at precisely this intersection of open source, HPC platforms, ADAS
and safety validation. At the Automotive Software
Strategies Conference in Munich, he will deliver the keynote “Open
Source Development for Safety-Critical Series Projects” and introduce the S-CORE project within Eclipse SDV.
In this interview, he explains what role community-based
development, automated safety processes and open standards can play in future
SDV platforms.
ADT: Looking ahead three to five years, what will
be the single biggest challenge in making open software viable for SDV
platforms?
Dr Wagner: It is key to create a community of automotive and non-automotive companies and
individuals that jointly work on common code as soon as possible.
Which technological or organisational decision will most
strongly influence the role of open source in automotive software platforms?
At BMW, we have already made key decisions that have allowed
us to embrace open source software. Technologically, this means the high
integration of functionality from different domains on high-performance compute
platforms, our “Superbrains”. Organisationally, we have taken over
responsibility for the integration of system and
customer functions on these HPC platforms.
Your keynote introduces the S-CORE project within Eclipse
SDV. What specific gap does this initiative address?
It is specifically about an OSS solution for safe
POSIX-based HPC platforms, mainly within the ADAS domain. We are first focusing
on middleware, but with the long-term goal of having a full-stack
OSS integration from SoC to middleware API.
How can open source development increase reuse of
non-differentiating software across the automotive industry?
By creating a community of like-minded OEMs and distributors
taking code from OSS and offering additional services, such as integration into
OEM environments or safety certification, the jointly developed code and
additional artefacts can be reused.
What must change in safety validation and certification
processes to support open software in series vehicles?
The technical safety validation, for example adherence to
code quality standards such as MISRA and proper linkage of requirements,
architecture, code and test cases along the V-model, must be automated as much as possible. Only then can
incremental development by various partners take place while the created
artefacts remain certifiable.
How should OEMs balance open collaboration with the need
for long-term platform stability and safety assurance?
Long-term platform stability and open collaboration are not
necessarily contradictory. Collaborating on an open standard over several
generations of series projects improves the existing code base and related
artefacts. OEMs should also allow more flexibility in adopting community-based
standards instead of insisting on proprietary “we have always done it like
that” solutions.
Finally, what do you personally hope to take away from
the Automotive Software Strategies Conference in Munich?
Deeper insights into the current state of the art of
automotive software practices from other industry players. And, of course, to
encourage more partners to join Eclipse SDV!
