As the automotive industry accelerates its transition from a hardware-centric design to a software-first architecture, the role of foundational software has never been more critical. Today’s electric vehicles (EVs) rely on complex software to manage everything from battery efficiency and charging behavior to advanced driver assistance systems and digital cockpits.
To understand how automakers are navigating integration challenges and the shift to Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs), we spoke with Jasmin Mulaosmanovic, Senior Director of Product Management at QNX. With QNX’s safety-certified embedded software currently powering over 275 million vehicles worldwide, Mulaosmanovic shares insights into how foundational platforms help OEMs reduce development costs, accelerate time to market, and deliver safe, high-performing EVs.
Who is QNX and what role does foundational software play in making EVs safe, secure and high-performing?
QNX is at the forefront of the automotive industry’s transition to Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs), and has established itself as an industry leader whose high-performance foundational software enables automakers to unlock transformative applications, reduce development costs and drive faster time to market, all without sacrificing safety, security or reliability. QNX is the automotive industry’s trusted and safety-certified embedded software platform, powering more than 275 million vehicles worldwide and relied upon by 10 of the top 10 global automakers and 24 of the top 25 electric vehicle manufacturers.
Foundational software plays a critical role in EVs because it powers every system that matters, from battery management and powertrain control to digital cockpits and advanced driver assistance systems. By handling the most safety-critical and complex functions, QNX enables automakers to deliver high-performance vehicles of all powertrain types without compromising safety or security.
How is the shift to software-defined vehicles (SDVs) changing the way vehicle platforms, especially EVs, are designed compared to earlier generations?
The shift to software-defined vehicles represents a fundamental change from hardware-centric design to software-first architecture. Instead of building vehicles around fixed electronic control units with tightly coupled software, OEMs are consolidating functions into centralized high performance compute platforms that can be updated, scaled, and enhanced over time.
For EVs, this approach is especially important. Software now governs everything from energy efficiency and charging behavior to driver experience and vehicle personalization. Platforms must be flexible enough to support continuous updates, new features, and evolving regulatory requirements without compromising functional safety, system reliability, or cybersecurity across the vehicle lifecycle. Foundational software like QNX enables this shift by providing a stable, certified layer that supports rapid development and innovation across the vehicle platform.
We’ve seen QNX used by many leading OEMs including BMW – what’s driving the adoption?
QNX is the foundation automakers trust. For more than 30 years, QNX software has quietly powered vehicle systems that drivers depend on, and today it runs in more than 275 million vehicles worldwide. Its long-standing adoption is built on a reputation for safety, reliability, and real-time performance. The QNX Real-Time Operating System and QNX Hypervisor for Safety are certified to TUV Rheinland ISO26262 ASIL D, the highest functional safety standard in the automotive industry.
What has accelerated adoption in recent years, especially with EVs and the shift to software defined architectures, is the consolidation of functions into high performance compute platforms. As OEMs move multiple domain controllers into centralized compute units, they require foundational software that can safely isolate mixed criticality workloads, handle complex sensor fusion, and boot quickly for safety critical features such as automatic emergency braking and lane keeping assistance. This combination of decades of proven performance and the ability to support new centralized vehicle architectures is why QNX continues to be trusted by the top 10 global automakers, all of the top 7 Tier 1 suppliers, and 24 of the top 25 EV OEMs.
What are the most pressing software challenges OEMs face today, and where does QNX help most?
We recently released our Under the Hood: SDV Developer Report, surveying over 1,100 automotive software developers globally, which found that the most pressing software challenges for OEMs are long development cycles, complex debugging and testing, integration complexity, limited scalability, and regulatory compliance, with more than half saying recent software recalls have significantly changed their approach. Developers overwhelmingly believe OEMs should focus more on application-layer innovation instead of foundational software infrastructure to accelerate time to market and differentiate customer experiences.
Fifty-two percent of Vice Presidents of Engineering in the report cited integration complexity as one of their top challenges. These are the leaders accountable for budgets and delivery timelines, and they are sounding the alarm. They see the cumulative impact across programs: delays, cost overruns, and missed start of production (SOP) dates.
QNX’s Alloy Kore, a co-developed foundational vehicle software platform with Vector, directly addresses these concerns. It provides a pre-integrated, pre-validated foundation that eliminates integration headaches, accelerates time-to-market, and allows OEMs to deploy software across multiple ECUs and vehicle lines with minimal rework. With integration risk reduced at the platform level, engineering teams can focus on building differentiated features faster.
As vehicles become more connected, how is QNX preparing its technology for future demands?
Alloy Kore, our latest offering and one the industry has been waiting for, addresses the challenge of software falling through integration cracks when OEMs try to combine hundreds of components. It’s a pre-integrated platform combining QNX’s safety-certified operating system (QNX SDP 8.0) with Vector’s safety-certified middleware, enabling OEMs to reach Start of Production faster while reducing complexity and costs. This allows automakers to focus on application-layer innovation rather than struggling with foundational infrastructure integration.
Looking ahead, what shifts in automotive software will most impact EV performance and the driver experience?
Two major shifts will shape the future of EV performance and the driver experience: the increasing role of software in optimizing core vehicle systems, and rapidly rising expectations for personalized, high-quality in-cabin experiences.
On the performance side, software will take deeper control of energy management, thermal balancing, and system coordination, enabling EVs to operate more efficiently and responsively in real time. Inside the cabin, platforms like QNX Sound are transforming audio into a software-defined capability, delivering immersive soundscapes, dynamic tuning, and intelligent personalization tightly integrated with the vehicle’s software architecture.
We also see the industry accelerating toward mixed-criticality consolidation. With the QNX Hypervisor, automakers can run multiple guest OSes, from Android IVI to real-time control domains on a single hardware platform. This not only reduces system complexity but also unlocks new forms of cabin personalization and feature innovation without compromising safety or performance. All of this depends on a highly reliable, low-latency foundation. QNX provides the deterministic performance automakers need to deliver consistent, responsive, software-defined experiences that drivers will increasingly associate with vehicle quality and refinement.
So What Does All This Mean?
The evolution of the EV market makes it clear that software is the new engine driving both core vehicle performance and the in-cabin driver experience. As automakers consolidate functions into centralized, high-performance compute platforms, relying on pre-integrated, safety-certified solutions like Alloy Kore will be essential to overcoming widespread integration complexities. By building on a reliable foundational software layer, OEMs can shift their engineering focus toward application-layer innovation, ensuring they can seamlessly deliver the personalized, efficient, and responsive vehicles that drivers increasingly expect.
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