Speaking at the Auto EV Tech Vision Summit 2025, Yogesh Devangere, who heads the Technical Center at Marelli India, turned attention to a layer of the Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) revolution that often escapes the spotlight: the silicon itself. The transition from distributed electronic control units (ECUs) to centralized computing is not just a software story—it is a System-on-Chip (SoC) story.
While much of the industry conversation revolves around features, over-the-air updates, AI assistants, and digital cockpits, Devangere argued that none of it is possible without a fundamental architectural shift inside the vehicle. If SDVs represent the future of mobility, then SoCs are the engines quietly driving that future.
From 16-Bit Controllers to Heterogeneous Superchips
Automotive electronics have evolved dramatically over the past two decades. What began as simple 16-bit microcontrollers has now transformed into complex, heterogeneous SoCs integrating multiple CPU cores, GPUs, neural processing units, digital signal processors, hardware security modules, and high-speed connectivity interfaces—all within a single chipset.
“These SoCs are what enable the SDV journey,” Devangere explained, describing them as high-performance computing platforms that can consolidate multiple vehicle domains into centralized architectures. Unlike traditional ECUs designed for single-purpose tasks, modern SoCs are built to manage diverse functions simultaneously—from ADAS image processing and AI model deployment to infotainment rendering, telematics, powertrain control, and network management. This manifests a structural shift in the automotive industry.
Centralized Computing Is the Real Transformation
The move toward SDVs, in a way, is a move toward centralized computing. Simply stated, instead of dozens of independent ECUs scattered across the vehicle, OEMs are increasingly experimenting with domain controller architectures or centralized controllers combined with zonal controllers. In both cases, the SoC becomes the computational heart of the system, and this consolidation enables:
- Higher processing power
- Cross-domain feature integration
- Over-the-air (OTA) updates
- AI-driven functionality
- Flexible software deployment across operating systems such as Linux, Android, and QNX
A key enabler in this architecture is the hypervisor layer, which abstracts hardware from software and allows multiple operating systems to run independently on shared silicon. This flexibility is essential in a transition era where AUTOSAR (AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture) and non-AUTOSAR stacks coexist. AUTOSAR is a global software standard for automotive electronic control units (ECUs). It defines how automotive software should be structured, organized, and communicated, so that different suppliers and OEMs can build compatible systems.
But while the architectural promise is compelling, Devangere made it clear that implementation is far from straightforward.
The Architecture Is Not Standardized
One of the most critical challenges he highlighted is the absence of hardware-level standardization. “Every OEM is implementing SDV architecture in their own way,” he noted. Some opt for multiple domain controllers; others experiment with centralized controllers and zonal approaches. The result is a fragmented ecosystem.
Unlike the smartphone world—where Android runs on broadly standardized hardware platforms—automotive SoCs lack a unified framework. There is currently no hardware consortium defining a common architecture. While open-source software efforts such as Eclipse aim to harmonize parts of the software stack, the hardware layer remains highly individualized. The consequence is complexity. Tier-1 suppliers cannot rely on long lifecycle platforms, as SoCs evolve rapidly. What might be viable today could become obsolete within a few years.
In an industry accustomed to decade-long product cycles, that volatility is disruptive.
Complexity vs. Time-to-Market
If architectural fragmentation were not enough, development timelines are simultaneously shrinking. Designing with SoCs is inherently complex. A single SoC program often involves coordination among five to nine suppliers. Hardware validation must account for electromagnetic compatibility, thermal performance, and interface stability across multiple cores and peripherals. Software integration spans multi-core configurations, multiple operating systems, and intricate stack dependencies.
Yet market expectations continue to demand faster launches. “You cannot go back to longer development cycles,” Devangere observed. The pressure to innovate collides with the technical realities of high-complexity chip integration.
Power, Heat, and the Hidden Engineering Burden
Beyond software flexibility and AI capability lies a more fundamental engineering constraint: energy. High-performance SoCs generate significant heat and demand careful power management—critical in electric vehicles where battery efficiency is paramount. Many current architectures still rely on companion microcontrollers for power and network management, while the SoC handles high-compute workloads.
Balancing performance with energy efficiency, ensuring timing determinism across multiple simultaneous functions, and maintaining safety compliance remain non-trivial challenges. As vehicles consolidate ADAS, infotainment, telematics, and control systems onto shared silicon, resource management becomes as important as raw processing capability.
Partnerships Over Isolation
Given the scale of complexity, Devangere emphasized collaboration as the only viable path forward. SoC development and integration are rarely the work of a single organization. Semiconductor suppliers, Tier-1 system integrators, software stack providers, and OEMs must align early in the architecture phase.
Some level of standardization—particularly at the hardware architecture level—could significantly accelerate development cycles. Without it, the industry risks “multiple horses running in different directions,” as one audience member aptly put it during the discussion.
For now, that standardization remains aspirational.
The Real Work of the SDV Era
The excitement surrounding software-defined vehicles often focuses on user-facing features—AI assistants, personalized interfaces, downloadable upgrades. Devangere’s message was more grounded. Behind every seamless update, every AI-enabled feature, and every connected service lies a dense web of silicon complexity. Multi-core processing, heterogeneous architectures, thermal constraints, validation cycles, and fragmented standards form the invisible scaffolding of the SDV transformation.
The car may be becoming a computer on wheels. But building that computer—robust, safe, efficient, and scalable—remains one of the most demanding engineering challenges the automotive industry has ever faced.
And at the center of it all is the SoC.
