Home > EV Intelligence Hub > SDV Capability Layers
SDV Capability Layers
SDV = Software-Defined Vehicle. E/E = electrical/electronic. OTA = over-the-air. HAL = hardware abstraction layer.
The SDV Capability Stack
SDV maturity emerges from six interdependent layers. The vehicle platform covers only the first one (and partly the second).
Layer 1 — Physical Vehicle Platform (Necessary, Not Sufficient)
What it provides:
- Compute mounting, power, and thermal envelopes
- Sensor and actuator integration surfaces
- Wiring routing constraints and harness packaging
- Foundational design constraints for zonal layouts
What it does not provide:
- OTA depth
- Telemetry and fleet observability
- Software update authority and cadence
- AI training and model deployment pipeline
Layer 2 — E/E Architecture (Enables SDV, Still Insufficient)
This is the electrical/control topology that makes SDV feasible at scale.
- Zonal controllers (front/rear/left/right/cabin)
- Ethernet backbone and gateway strategy
- ECU consolidation plan (fewer, more capable controllers)
- Low-voltage strategy (12V vs 48V)
Common failure mode: OEMs modernize E/E, then still ship shallow OTA and slow iteration.
Layer 3 — Vehicle Operating System (Where SDV Actually Begins)
This layer turns hardware into a software platform.
- Cross-domain scheduling and service orchestration
- Security primitives (secure boot, attestation, key management)
- Hardware abstraction layers (HALs) for sensors/actuators
- Inter-service messaging and diagnostics interfaces
If this layer is missing or fragmented, “full-vehicle OTA” is rarely real.
Layer 4 — OTA & Telemetry Infrastructure (Operational Control Plane)
This layer is the fleet-scale system that makes SDV observable and updatable.
- Full-vehicle OTA pipeline, staged rollouts, and rollback
- Feature flags, A/B testing, and safe deployment guardrails
- Continuous telemetry ingestion and alerting
- Fleet-wide observability (crash logs, health metrics, regression detection)
Important: much of this lives off-vehicle (cloud + tooling). The platform does not “contain” it.
Layer 5 — Edge-to-Cloud Learning Loop (Compounding Advantage)
This is the autonomy and reliability flywheel.
- On-vehicle inference (real-time perception/control)
- Selective data capture (event triggers, edge-case mining)
- AI training clusters (cloud or on-prem) and simulation
- Model redeployment via OTA (repeat continuously)
Without this, SDV improvements are linear. With it, they can compound.
Layer 6 — Organizational Ownership & Control (Hidden Gatekeeper)
This determines whether the OEM can actually behave like a software company.
- Who owns the software IP and source-of-truth codebase
- Who can update safety-critical controllers
- Who controls OTA cadence (OEM vs suppliers vs dealer network)
- Who holds liability and how risk is managed
Supplier-locked ECUs and dealer-gated updates are the most common SDV ceiling.
What the Vehicle Platform Defines vs What It Does Not
| Platform defines | Platform does not define |
|---|---|
| Physical integration limits (packaging, power, thermal) | OTA depth and update authority |
| Feasibility of centralized compute and zonal layouts | Telemetry ingestion, observability, and fleet analytics |
| Wiring/copper cost ceilings and harness complexity | Edge-to-cloud learning loop speed and iteration cadence |
| Sensor/actuator I/O boundaries and timing constraints | Software ownership, supplier lock-in, and governance |
Non-Obvious Truth
Two vehicles on the same platform can have wildly different SDV maturity.
- Same sensors
- Same compute class
- Same E/E physical layout
- Different vehicle OS, OTA pipeline, telemetry, and organizational control
Result: one becomes a true SDV. The other remains a connected vehicle.
Fleet Relevance
For fleets, SDV maturity is not a buzzword. It changes operations.
- Lower downtime through OTA fixes and remote diagnostics
- Faster feature rollout and policy enforcement across vehicles
- Better warranty outcomes via telemetry-driven root-cause analysis
- Higher residual value if software support remains strong over time
