Hyundai Mobis Accelerates Automotive Tech Innovation by Shifting Software Development Approach

Hyundai Mobis is accelerating the development of Software Defined Vehicles (SDVs) by adopting an open-source method. This technological trend aims to speed up the transition to the SDV era, where a vehicle's functions and performance are determined by software. The company's strategy is to disclose some of its self-developed software technologies externally, collaborate with the global developer ecosystem, and secure a leading position in the competition for vehicle software standardization.

Hyundai Mobis has joined the SDV Working Group of the Eclipse Foundation, the world's largest non-profit open-source development organization. The company will participate in the S-Core project, an initiative under the Eclipse Foundation, to develop software platforms for SDVs. The S-Core project, launched in late 2024 primarily by European companies, focuses on developing an open-source-based software standard platform with functional safety standards (ASIL-B). Currently, 13 companies are participating to prioritize the development of common technologies required for SDV implementation.

The technology Hyundai Mobis is disclosing in this project is a 'container solution' that minimizes interference between software components in a Linux operating system (OS) environment. This solution is over 10 times faster than existing technologies in vehicle controller environments and features continuous integrity assurance capabilities to prevent software corruption from external intrusions.

Through participation in the S-Core project, Hyundai Mobis will expand collaboration opportunities with automakers, parts manufacturers, and specialized software companies. The Eclipse Foundation's S-Core project applies the open-source development methodology, commonly used in the IT sector, to the mobility field. Participating companies disclose parts of their software technologies, allowing developers worldwide to utilize and improve them.

By disclosing parts of their intellectual property in the form of code, participating companies are pursuing a strategy to preemptively establish standards. The more developers and companies utilize a particular software, the greater its potential to become a global standard. Hyundai Mobis's decision to disclose its self-developed code externally reflects its recent shift in R&D focus from hardware to software, aiming to validate its accumulated technological prowess within the global open-source ecosystem.

Amid a trend where Hyundai Mobis's competitiveness in automotive electronics is being evaluated not just on hardware performance but also on software stability and scalability, the disclosure of open-source-based technology signals Hyundai Mobis's confidence in its capabilities.