To accelerate automotive software development in the SDV (Software Defined Vehicle) era, we must reduce hardware dependency and complete development and testing simultaneously on cloud platforms.

QNX Vice President Ryu Min-hee presented on the topic of ‘Solutions for securing competitiveness in an SDV-centered vehicle development environment’ at the ‘2025 e4ds Tech Day’ event held on the 9th.

Vice President Ryu Min-hee said, “The automobile industry is rapidly changing to focus on software. “A new paradigm called SDV is emerging as the core of automotive technology, moving away from the hardware-centric development method of the past,” he said. “Accordingly, changes are underway across the board, including development methods, requirements, and even user experience.”

Vice President Ryu Min-hee emphasized, “It’s not just an era where the importance of software is increasing; we must also consider development complexity, cost, and even user experience.”

Conventional automobile development began with software development after hardware configuration.

On the other hand, this process often resulted in poor quality and schedule delays due to insufficient time allocated to software testing and debugging.

“To increase development speed, we need to reduce hardware dependency and create an environment where software development can proceed in parallel,” said Vice President Ryu.

To this end, QNX proposed three strategies.

First, we made it possible to start development without hardware through a cloud-based OS environment.

Next, we shortened development time and ensured quality by utilizing pre-verified middleware and frameworks.

Finally, we introduced a container-based application structure to increase reusability and flexibility.

Building on this strategy, QNX Accelerate is a cloud platform that provides the QNX OS and hypervisor in AWS and Azure environments.

This allows developers to conduct testing and validation without the need for actual hardware, and can be easily integrated into CI/CD environments.

In particular, it was configured to utilize local resources such as the PC's camera, microphone, and keyboard in a cloud environment by utilizing WebRTC technology.

This structure allows development to begin at an early stage when hardware is not ready, and realizes binary parity that can be applied directly to actual target hardware later.

“Being able to directly upload software developed in the cloud to hardware is key to improving both development efficiency and quality,” explained Vice President Ryu.

QNX is providing a reference platform called 'QNX Kevin' that includes various functions such as in-vehicle digital cockpit, rear-seat entertainment, and rearview mirror.

This allows developers to customize in a pre-proven environment, ensuring stable quality from the beginning of development.

Additionally, QNX is introducing container technology on a commercial OS basis, creating an environment where applications can be modularized and reused, similar to Linux.

It's currently in early access, but we're aiming for an official release early next year, and Safety Certified containers are also on the roadmap.

Because QNX is a commercial OS, it does not have a large community like Linux.

Accordingly, we are operating various programs to expand the developer ecosystem through the 'QNX Everywhere' campaign.

We are supporting anyone to experience QNX by providing free licenses, opening online training courses, and distributing images for Raspberry Pi.

"The core of a product lies in its underlying technologies, such as the OS and hypervisor," said Vice President Ryu Min-hee. "QNX faithfully provides this foundation, empowering developers to create better products."