The rise of the software-defined vehicle (SDV) is transforming the automotive industry. Where mechanical engineering once reigned supreme, the future belongs to software. Code defines functionality and evolves with the vehicle, and the owner can enjoy new experiences long after their car has left the factory.
The high-performance computing platforms found in modern vehicles are responsible for everything from adaptive cruise control and battery management to in-vehicle infotainment and over-the-air updates. Increasingly, this intelligence is implemented through software rather than hardware, giving rise to the concept of the SDV.
This transformation introduces an entirely new set of development challenges. SDVs rely on vast quantities of software, created by teams of hundreds or more developers who are spread around the world, working on hardware that might yet not even exist in physical form. Meanwhile, traditional development environments rooted in physical tools and localized resources are becoming increasingly outdated.
Cloud-based development environments are not just a practical response to globally distributed teams; they are a necessity for the scale, speed, and synchronization required to make SDVs a reality.
Introducing continuous improvement
What sets SDVs apart is the expectation that they will continue to evolve over time. Just like a smartphone, they will receive regular software updates that enhance performance, introduce new features, and improve safety. This creates a virtuous cycle: Vehicles generate data, which informs better code, which improves the vehicle—and the process repeats.
To support this continuous development model, automotive manufacturers and suppliers must rapidly produce, test, and deploy high-quality code at scale. For that reason, the cloud is essential.
Today’s automotive software development teams often consist of thousands of engineers, many located in different countries and time zones. These teams work on complex codebases that span everything from core operating systems to specialized applications such as radar signal processing or AI-based driver assistance.
It’s no longer realistic or efficient for each developer to maintain their own local environment. Inconsistencies in toolchains, mismatches in configurations, and hardware access limitations all add friction to the development process.
By centralizing development environments in the cloud, every engineer has access to the same set of tools, libraries, and documentation—tailored to their specific role. Virtual machines can be preloaded with everything required to begin productive work immediately. Onboarding becomes seamless and critical time isn’t lost to configuration, troubleshooting, or waiting for access to physical boards.
Modern software practices such as continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) are also essential for SDV development. Cloud infrastructure enables true end-to-end CI/CD pipelines that incorporate testing, validation, and deployment in a centralized system.
This ensures every code change is immediately tested, integrated, and reviewed in context—dramatically improving collaboration and reducing the time to market. It also supports compliance and traceability, which are critical in regulated automotive environments.
Overcoming the challenges of distributed working
One of the key challenges for distributed teams working on embedded systems is limited access to physical hardware for testing. In traditional environments, developers rely on scarce test kits or prototype vehicles. In a cloud environment, virtualization fills this gap.
Using cloud-based tools such as Synopsys Virtualizer Studio, developers can simulate electronic control units and other components. These virtual prototypes behave like the physical hardware they represent, enabling software development to begin long before silicon is available. (Note: Virtual prototypes described in this document are functionally correct, which means a software binary compiled with target device tools will execute on the virtual prototype and on physical hardware. The virtual prototype is not cycle-accurate.)
Even when physical testing is required, cloud infrastructure can bridge the gap. OEMs and suppliers are building board farms—shared physical hardware connected to the cloud—that can be accessed remotely. Developers from around the world can deploy their code to real hardware and observe its behavior in near-real time, as if they were in the lab themselves.
The diversity of developer roles is one possible concern with standardized environments. An engineer working on machine-learning models for driver behavior prediction doesn’t need the same tools as someone focused on battery management, for example. Sales engineers and analysts may also need access to specialized visualization or documentation tools.
This is where cloud environments continue to shine. Using persona-based access control, developers are given the tools and data they need to do their jobs—nothing more, nothing less. This maintains consistency and security while supporting the diverse needs of the SDV ecosystem.
Benefitting from strategic advantages
Automotive companies didn’t turn to the cloud solely out of necessity; they were also tempted by strategic advantages. Virtual development environments have proved to be more secure, more scalable, and more agile than legacy systems. They make onboarding faster, reduce costs, and enable developers to be productive from Day 1.
More importantly, they enable SDV development to proceed at the pace the industry demands. As vehicles evolve from static machines to dynamic, upgradeable platforms, the tools used to build them must evolve, too. The cloud is not just helpful for SDVs; it’s essential.