Advancing Vehicle Data Interoperability

Insights From Our Conversation With Steve Crumb

The automotive industry is accelerating toward a future where connected vehicles, data-driven services, and cross-industry collaboration will define success. In a recent interview, Steve Crumb, Executive Director of COVESA, shared insights into one of the industry’s most important enablers of that future: the COVESA Vehicle Data Model (VDM).

VDM Progress: Modeling VSS and Expanding Into New Domains

In the interview, Steve discusses why the COVESA VDM project is important, how it helps unify vehicle data models, and the value it brings to both the automotive and commercial vehicle industries. He also explores why industry collaboration is essential to shaping the VDM and why organizations should participate in the project.

With VSS modeling underway, the next step is to expand into additional adjacent domains and demonstrate the real-world value of these models. Areas such as EV charging, connected fleet services, and emerging mobility ecosystems present high-impact opportunities to show how a unified, flexible data model can accelerate development and unlock new services.

A Refresher: What Is VDM?

VDM represents the next evolution of data modeling in COVESA, building on the simplicity, accessibility, and community ownership of the widely adopted Vehicle Signal Specification (VSS), while adding the enhanced flexibility, governance, and interoperability required for the next decade of connected mobility.

VDM leverages open standards to allow organizations to model data not only from vehicles but also across adjacent domains such as charging infrastructure, fleet operations, and urban systems. This opens the door to new cross-domain innovations, like integrating charging-station availability with vehicle battery state, linking vehicle telemetry to smart parking systems, or supporting real-time urban traffic management.  

COVESA is seeking experts in adjacent domain data to engage in cross-domain modeling efforts using VDM. 

Why VDM Matters for Your Organization

1. Faster Integration & Onboarding: VDM uses widely adopted open tooling recognized beyond the automotive sector, making it easier to collaborate with external partners and ecosystems. A common modeling language and tooling accelerates onboarding.

2. Reduced Duplication & Rework: VDM supports consistent data definitions across projects and partners. With a governed conceptual model, teams can avoid reinventing the wheel.

3. Cross-Domain Flexibility: VDM is flexible enough to support broader ecosystems that interact with vehicles and adjacent domains like charging systems, fleet operations, and urban infrastructure. Additionally, VDM can be extended to support emerging cross-domain business models, such as Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS), enabling new business models and ecosystem interactions.

4. Open Source Communities: VDM leverages the strong, widely adopted GraphQL (GraphQL Foundation) and SKOS (W3C), both backed by rich open-source ecosystems with abundant tools, resources, and skilled contributors.

5. Coexistence with VSS: VDM doesn’t replace VSS; it complements it. The two coexist and share concepts, allowing organizations to evolve their data strategies without disruption. COVESA remains fully committed to VSS and receives full support from current and future adopters. VDM offers flexibility and openness, helping teams streamline operations, expand into new domains, or future-proof their data architecture.

In short, VDM is a strategic enabler for long-term business value and a bridge to new opportunities across the mobility landscape.

A Call for Participation

Steve emphasized that broad industry participation is critical to the success of VDM. COVESA is actively seeking contributors to:

• Provide meaningful use cases that show where standardized data can deliver measurable value.
• Provide subject matter expertise to help model new domains, including EV charging and other mobility-related ecosystems.
• Validate, refine, and extend the evolving model through hands-on collaboration.

Visit the project home, join weekly meetings on Thursdays, review the VDM approach to identify opportunities, participate in pilot programs, and contribute to governance discussions to help shape the future of vehicle data modeling.