Virtualization revolutionizes automotive innovation, accelerating SDV development and optimizing design, testing, and user experiences, writes Srinivasa Prasad M N, Associate Director, Accenture, Software Defined Vehicle practice.
Virtualization in the automotive industry leverages Software Enabled Services (SES) to simulate, manage and optimize various functions traditionally performed by physical hardware or the prototypes, which enables faster development with shift left to move, faster to deploy, enhanced product development and design robustness. Virtualization plays a crucial role in modern vehicle functions/features development and validations, steering product development, particularly with the rise of Software Defined Vehicles across Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) / Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) segments and Autonomous Driving (AD/ADAS) technologies. Software Defined Vehicles (SDVs) are at the forefront of automotive innovation, promising to revolutionize the way we drive and interact with our vehicles. Some key areas where virtualization is impactful in the automotive Product Development Life Cycle (PDLC):
Automotive product development or PDLC virtualization can be broken down into several levels, each representing an increasing degree of digital integration and sophistication in simulating various aspects of vehicle feature design, testing and validation. These levels start from component-level simulations to full-system and vehicle-level simulations, culminating in digital twins for comprehensive, real-time vehicle management.
Phases of Automotive Product Development Virtualization
1. Component Level Virtualization: At this foundational level, individual components such as engine (ICE) or Battery Management System (BMS), and suspension systems. IVI and ADAS modules are modelled and simulated virtually. Engineers (we) use these simulations to test and validate component performance, durability, and compliance with standards before moving to target board flashing and testing. Benefits include early detection of design flaws, improved quality, and reduced need for physical prototyping of components.
2. Subsystem Level Virtualization: This level focuses on virtualizing groups of related components that function together, such as the powertrain, electrical systems or braking systems. Subsystem-level virtualization allows for integrated testing to examine interactions between components within a subsystem. Engineers can assess how changes to one component affect the overall subsystem performance, which improves system reliability and performance tuning.

3. System Level Virtualization: At this stage, entire vehicle systems like the HVAC, ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) or chassis are modeled and tested as virtual entities. System-level virtualization is crucial for testing complex systems in realistic scenarios, allowing teams to observe how systems respond under different conditions without risking safety or resources. This level supports compliance testing and helps identify potential issues in system interactions early in the development process.
4. Full Vehicle Virtualization: Full-vehicle virtualization involves creating a digital model of the entire vehicle, enabling simulations of the entire vehicle system and inter-system interactions. Virtual models at this level can simulate dynamic conditions like vehicle handling, crashworthiness, aerodynamics, and comfort, providing a comprehensive understanding of how various subsystems interact in real-world scenarios. Full-vehicle virtualization also allows for virtual testing of regulatory requirements, optimizing vehicle performance and design, and reducing reliance on physical prototypes.
5. Driver and Environment Simulation: At this advanced level, vehicle virtualization incorporates a virtual driver model and simulated environments, allowing for driver-in-the-loop testing (DiL). By simulating driver behavior, traffic situations, weather conditions, and road surfaces, engineers can assess vehicle responses in real-world driving scenarios. Many vendors provide open-source tools to simulate the design in a controller environment. This level is particularly useful for autonomous and ADAS testing, where real-world conditions are replicated to enhance safety and performance.
6. Digital Twin: The digital twin is the highest level of automotive virtualization, representing a real-time digital replica of the physical vehicle that evolves throughout the vehicle’s lifecycle. Digital twins are continuously updated with data from the vehicle in operation, allowing for real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and performance optimization based on actual vehicle usage. They provide insights into how the vehicle operates over time, aiding in predictive diagnostics, enhancing after-sales support, and enabling continuous improvement in future models.
Each level of virtualization in automotive product development contributes to faster, more accurate design iterations, risk mitigation, and improved collaboration. Digital twins represent the ultimate integration of real-time data and digital modelling, empowering OEMs to deliver vehicles that are optimized for performance, durability, and customer satisfaction (enhanced driving experience). This structured approach to virtualization supports a streamlined development lifecycle, reduced time-to-market, and the creation of more advanced, reliable, and customer-centric vehicles.
How Virtualization helps Automotive Business Challenges
1. Reduces Hardware complexity (availability), Fast to Market and optimized Cost
Chip shortage often creates havoc in the auto industry, which is the major factor accelerating hardware consolidation onto SoC designs. The onboard HPCs present a complicated journey for OEMs with decreased hardware components, thermal dissipation and consolidation of the supply chain, which means complex software development. (Amortization of hardware cost for software development)
2. Increased emphasis on the Functional Safety in the product development cycle
Consolidation of multiple discrete systems on a single SoC brings in specific challenges to meet the functional safety requirements, emphasizing the importance of Safety by Design. Managing safety-critical instrument cluster alongside infotainment/media related functions pushes strong isolation of one system from the other. ADAS/AD or Chassis system features or functions need the highest degree of ASIL-D certification. Indeed, this will push for more localized recovery for filed functions.
3. User / Driver experience as a Market Differentiator
People/buyers consider their vehicle as an extension of their digital eco-system. As smartphones, vehicles are also becoming vehicle buyer’s digital eco-system partners for ease of use, near-constant connectivity and innovative features at their fingertips. With emerging ADAS/AD and fleet-oriented business cases OEMs advance their development and comfort the driving experiences.
One way to achieve this is by re-architecting and rebuilding the core applications.
4. Cloud-based approach
Cloud-based approach will reduce software development cycle and accelerate software development cycles. Time spent on procuring target hardware or tools creates friction in the development. Reducing the cognitive load on the developer allows more time for problem-solving and creates market differentiation features. Accelerated software development improves time to market and reduces cost. The “Shift Left” strategy is gaining traction in the auto industry. Development and testing can be integrated easily with CI/CD pipeline.
With SDV gaining momentum with couple of TBs of data the vehicle generates, porting data to the cloud is necessary for further data consolidation, augmentation and probable monetization.
Virtualization is becoming a cornerstone of innovation in the automotive sector, enabling the transition from traditional manufacturing to a more software-centric, flexible, and efficient ecosystem.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of FMM magazine.

Srinivasa Prasad M N
Associate Director- Software Defined Vehicle (SDV)
Accenture