Softwarization of Automotive E/E Architectures: A Software-Defined Networking Approach

Traditional in-vehicle networks are based on low-bandwidth technologies like CAN. They are statically deployed and configured in the manufacturing process depending on the vehicle configuration. With the introduction of additional camera and entertainment applications and increased bandwidth demand, Ethernet technology becomes more relevant in the automotive sector. Use cases like trailer networks and integration of new applications requiring in-vehicle sensor data require reconfigurable network architectures. In this work, we propose a flexible architecture for automotive Ethernet networks accommodating both high-bandwidth multimedia streams and time-critical low bandwidth data. Based on the software-defined networking paradigm, the in-vehicle network can be re-configured for the integration of additional hardware and applications. We illustrate its concepts for operations, management, safety, and security.