For commercial vehicle manufacturers, logistics companies and fleet operators, software is becoming a central driver of value for their business. Thanks to software-driven solutions, commercial vehicles as well as related services are evolving continuously over their lifecycle. At the same time, advances in electrification, automation, connectivity and artificial intelligence are creating new opportunities to improve uptime, operational flexibility and total cost of ownership. With a comprehensive technology portfolio, Bosch is supporting the industry to move from vision to delivering at scale.
A software-defined commercial vehicle (SDV) is a vehicle whose functionality is increasingly defined through software. Its primary objective is to create economic value through higher uptime and improved operational and engineering efficiency.
It continuously evolves throughout its lifecycle through software. By decoupling software from hardware and enabling continuous post-production updates, new capabilities can be deployed, existing functions improved, and vehicle value extended long after the start of production.
Unlike in passenger cars, the primary objective of the software-defined commercial vehicle is not only continuous innovation but the delivery of measurable fleet value. This is achieved through improved uptime, reduced total cost of ownership (TCO), lifecycle-wide software evolution, and scalable platform architectures, reflecting the vehicle’s role as a revenue-generating asset operating for many years.
Architecturally, this requires scalable compute platforms, hardware-software decoupling, over-the-air update capabilities, and the ability to manage many different vehicle types and models without continuously increasing software complexity.
Whitepaper – Breaking silos: industry collaboration to scale software-defined commercial vehicles
The transition toward the software-defined commercial vehicle is becoming a strategic priority for commercial vehicle manufacturers. Software-defined capabilities promise higher fleet uptime, improved operational efficiency and lower total cost of ownership. At the same time, growing software content, vehicle variance and functional complexity are pushing traditional E/E architectures to their limits.
This paper outlines a pragmatic path toward scalable software-defined commercial vehicles. It focuses on three architectural enablers: functional distribution, scalable compute, and zonal abstraction. Together, they help manufacturers evolve existing architectures, reuse software across vehicle programs and provide the required compute performance.
Bosch’s holistic approach covers the entire vehicle lifecycle through a comprehensive framework.
Bosch provides a complete architectural solution, from scalable compute hardware and dedicated operating systems to powerful development tools. This unified stack enables the crucial separation of hardware and software, making modular architectures possible.
The platform is designed to manage vehicle features and their evolution over the entire vehicle lifespan. This ensures that new functions can be developed, integrated, and deployed seamlessly over-the-air.
By prioritizing open standards and open-source solutions, Bosch promotes broad collaboration and innovation, preventing proprietary lock-ins and keeping platform architectures highly flexible.
Executive Vice President Sales & Operations Commercial Vehicle Group Bosch Mobility
Streamlining the creation, testing, and deployment of complex software functions
Providing pre-validated, future-proof architectural building blocks that mitigate the risks of transitioning to software-defined fleets
Accelerating development and release cycles so new vehicle programs can reach the road faster
Creating the necessary technical foundation for new, data-driven fleet services and subscription-based capabilities
Software has become a primary driver of value, efficiency and profitability in the logistics sector. Software-defined capabilities promise higher fleet uptime, improved operational efficiency and lower total cost of ownership.
Agility and future-proofing
Operational excellence and safety
Intelligent fleet operations and enhanced capabilities
A software-defined vehicle can evolve throughout its lifetime by changing its key features through software updates, either onboard or offboard. Based on customer value and technical delivery, its key characteristics are:
Significant customer value through software
The primary goal is to deliver tangible benefits to the user. This includes advanced functionalities like automated driving, optimized energy consumption, and intelligent motion management.
Continuous over-the-air (OTA) updates
The vehicle is not static. Software can be added, modified, or upgraded remotely over the air at any point during its entire lifespan, keeping it perpetually current.
Decoupling of hardware and software
The application software is intentionally separated from the underlying hardware. This is achieved through abstraction layers and virtualization technologies, allowing software to be developed and deployed independently.
Modular architecture and standardized interfaces
The vehicle is built on a modular design with standardized interfaces. This allows for flexible integration of new features and components without redesigning the entire system.
Continuous lifecycle management
It enables a continuous cycle of development, integration, and operation (DevOps) for software features, allowing for rapid innovation and deployment of new capabilities.
The goal of a software-defined commercial vehicle (SDV) is to scale capabilities without scaling complexity. Achieving this requires a pragmatic architectural foundation that allows vehicle manufacturers to develop, integrate, and deploy software independently of the underlying hardware. This transformation is driven by three core architectural enablers:
Functional distribution
Software-defined architectures decide where a function should run – locally, centrally, or in the cloud – based on safety, performance, data availability, and cost.
Scalable compute
A scalable compute foundation allows vehicle manufacturers to match processing power, memory, and bandwidth to the specific vehicle segment, ensuring demanding features are supported only where needed.
Zonal abstraction
Commercial fleets have high physical variance in wheelbases, powertrains, and bodybuilder configurations. Zonal controllers aggregate these physical interfaces locally, shielding the central software platform from physical complexity.
Implementing software-defined capabilities in commercial vehicles is not only a technology challenge. Manufacturers must balance three closely connected objectives: fleet uptime, vehicle variance and vehicle economics. The challenge is not to optimize the objectives individually, but to balance all three at scale.
Furthermore, software-driven transportation also requires a fundamental cultural shift, breaking down traditional domain silos across the organization, as well as new partnership models.
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