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Going Open Source with Software-Defined Vehicles

May 13, 2025

Software-defined vehicles can utilize open-source software, but it needs to be certifiable.

William G. Wong

John Ellis

Related To:

Electronic Design

What you’ll learn:

Why open-source software is a good thing for software-defined vehicles.
Why open-source software in this context is not a zero-cost item.
What are the benefits of certifiable open-source software?

The Eclipse Foundation's Eclipse SDV Working Group supports an open-source platform for software-defined vehicles (SDVs) (see figure). This involves a great amount of work from participating companies like Codethink.

Eclipse Foundation software-defined vehicle (SDV) project — The Eclipse Foundation’s software-defined vehicle (SDV) project looks to bring open-source software support to a number of key areas.

I had a chance to talk with Codethink’s President, John Ellis, about the challenges of using open-source software in this arena. It’s not just a matter of suitable software, but rather the certifications and support needed to provide software in safety- and security-critical applications like self-driving cars.

Open-source platforms such as Linux have already been used in automotive applications, though primarily in non-critical areas like telematics and entertainment. This effort takes everything to the next level.

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About the Author

William G. Wong | Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

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Check out my blog, AltEmbedded on Electronic Design, as well as his latest articles on this site that are listed below.

You can visit my social media via these links:

I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.

I still get a hand on software and electronic hardware. Some of this can be found on our Kit Close-Up video series. You can also see me on many of our TechXchange Talk videos. I am interested in a range of projects from robotics to artificial intelligence.

About the Author

John Ellis | President, Codethink

John Ellis is President of Codethink. He's an engineer and software developer who has led teams at Motorola and Ford Motor Company. John works with public agencies to help them prepare for and manage the rapid influx of technology in the transportation sector.