Optional software-based features (for example, to provide active safety, infotainment, etc.) are increasingly becoming a significant cost driver in automotive systems. In state-of-the-art production techniques, these optional features are built into the vehicle during assembly. This does not give the customer the flexibility to choose the specific set of features as per their requirement. They either have to buy a pre-bundled option that may or may not satisfy their preferences or are unable to find an exact combination of features from the inventory provided by a dealership. Alternatively, they have to pre-order a car from the manufacturer, which could result in a substantial delay. Therefore, it is important to improve the flexibility of delivering the optional features to customers. Towards this objective, the vehicle could be configured with the desired options at the dealership, when the customer requires them. Going a bit further, it would be desirable to allow a car to be configured according to changes in customer needs in a post-market environment and according to manufacturer specifications. This new paradigm of delivering options would require a change in the way automotive software is architected and deployed.
In this paper, we present a vision that describes a new way to deploy automotive safety features and ensuring their correct execution without interference. This vision is based on the concept of a platform. The high level functionality of this platform is to provide an interface that enables the deployment of new features on the platform and perform admission control to make sure that sufficient resources are allocated for these features. Additionally, the platform should also guarantee isolation of the new features from already deployed features.