Top Takeaways from the COVESA All Member Meeting

The COVESA All Member Meeting (AMM) held on September 25-26 in Novi, MI, US, brought together a wide spectrum of discussions, workshops, and thought leadership insights to showcase the progress and the critical role COVESA is playing in the new software-centric evolution of the automotive ecosystem. In his opening remarks, Steve Crumb highlighted three core values of COVESA: it is fully member-driven, operates on a collaborative approach to address both business and technical challenges, and functions on an open contribution model. These three values are important for OEMs, which need to focus their limited resources on building brand-differentiating technology while leveraging common or standardized approaches for non-differentiating elements of the software-defined vehicle.

In the opening panel, joined by board members Graham Smethurst (BMW), John Sergakis (GM), Hisao Munakata (Renesas), and Thomas Bloor (RTI), the discussion emphasized the need for top-down governance for COVESA, to combine a sense of direction with the best of member-driven ideas. In the fast-paced changes demanded by the new software-centric product development paradigm, efficient governance in a consortium is key to fostering dialogue, building relevant standards quickly, and producing results. An important suggestion for growth came from Munakata-San of Renesas: to reach out to wider and adjacent partners, outside of traditional OEMs and Tier 1s, such as the IoT industry, which has a meaningful stake in the new connected vehicle value chain. In line with this, COVESA’s success will be greater when embraced by players from all markets, not just European or US OEMs. Moderator Steve Crumb also mentioned that COVESA is implementing an improved and simplified IP policy, reflecting the sweeping changes in the industry.

Much of the discussion over the two-day event shed light on the growing role of data—and hence the importance of consortiums like COVESA—in the ongoing transformation of the auto industry, driven by new technology, data analytics (including AI/ML), regulations, and other software-centric changes. Noteworthy ideas from member presenters in various business and technical tracks included:

Complexity of Experience: The evolving automobile is now marked by an increasing complexity of functions, product development, and supply chains, with many new non-traditional stakeholders. Open and transparent technology and standards, as promoted by COVESA, are critical to managing this underlying complexity while enabling a seamless, simpler user experience.

Lessons from the Past: Several past initiatives, such as Smart Device Link (SDL, supported by Ford and some of its partners), the LiMO Foundation, and the Open Mobility Foundation (OMF), offer valuable lessons for COVESA’s success:

• Clear objectives and owning the narrative of ongoing actions are crucial for reaching goals.
• “Code beats paper,” meaning specifications must be backed by working code.
• Understanding the self-interests of consortium partners and stakeholders ensures that everyone benefits.

Consistency of Data Standards: For connected safety systems, such as 911 emergency dispatch, consistent data standards are essential for transmitting or receiving critical information, like automatic crash notifications (CAN). A common data standard across this complex ecosystem (e.g., NHTSA, IAED, various telematics platforms, NENA) could significantly enhance safety support. COVESA’s mission directly aligns with this goal.

Interoperability for Unified Digital Experience: The fragmentation of guidelines, standards, interoperability, regulations, user experience (UX), and approaches to privacy, consent, and security remains a challenge for users like fleet owners. Building an interoperable ecosystem in an increasingly diverse regulatory environment should be a top priority. Digital ID programs for mobile ecosystems, such as the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI-Wallet), need to be adapted for the automotive space to improve the in-vehicle digital experience, with accurate and consistent data being key.

The New Usage-Based Insurance (UBI): UBI has traditionally been modeled after conventional insurance, using claims history and driving records with limited driving behavior data. However, modern UBI is evolving, integrating a wide variety of vehicle sensor, telemetry, weather, regulatory, and environmental data to develop sophisticated risk models, analytics, and business innovations. Companies like MOTER exemplify this shift, and COVESA must stay involved with this diversity of SDV-generated data. This data will have applications beyond UBI, including accident reconstruction, driver education, and other safety initiatives.

Fleet Mobility: Access to diverse, anonymized vehicle data is crucial for new end-to-end fleet management use cases. Leveraging COVESA’s Vehicle Signal Specification (VSS) is foundational for this new data-centric fleet mobility business, supporting maintenance, logistics, diagnostics, safety, and even personalization. While privacy assurance remains essential, there is growing acceptance of anonymized data to drive new use cases. However, as emphasized by multiple speakers, the lack of interoperability remains a major roadblock to innovation.

Quality of Data: Data is at the heart of COVESA’s mission. Ensuring the quality of this data is critical for seamless interoperability and standardized use in innovative applications. Proprietary data can hinder analysis and application development, and VSS offers an opportunity to overcome these challenges.

SDV and COVESA: A recurring theme was the symbiosis between software-defined vehicles (SDVs) and standardized data, such as the VSS being developed by COVESA’s Data Expert Group (DEG). According to Praveen Yalavarty, CTO of SDVerse, while decoupling software from hardware could enable numerous innovations, the automotive software ecosystem is still in its early stages and hence still away from realizing the true potential of SDV. Currently, commercial software accounts for only ~10% of the automotive software value. Adopting open-source standards like AUTOSAR, COVESA, SOAFEE, and Eclipse Foundation will support future development and greater availability of automotive software.

Global Perspective: In the final discussion, titled “Global Perspectives on SDV,” moderator Steve Crumb focused on the trajectory of SDV development in European, Japanese, and US markets. Some of the discussion focused on market-specific aspects of SDV, such as (1) The European Commission’s approach to SDVs (2)Japan’s SDV initiatives and (3)lack of similar national or industry approach in the US.

Kazuo Tsubouchi outlined Japan’s roadmap for integrating the interdependent streams of “Green” and “Digital” transformations (GX and DX strategy). The DX strategy includes investment and promotion of SDV development and various data-based mobility services. The Federate project, as highlighted by Graham Smethurst of BMW, is part of an EU initiative driving both investment and roadmap for the Software-defined vehicle of the future (SDVoF). Could the lack of similar government or regulatory initiatives put the US at a disadvantage? Partha Goswami noted that despite the absence of parallel initiatives in the US, American OEMs are actively investing and reorganizing to build SDVs and are also participating in related consortiums like Eclipse SDV and COVESA.

The event’s energy continued into the evening with a post-show networking, awards, and demonstration event.