Germany leads Europe’s open‑source automotive software drive

In a significant move, 11 leading European automakers have joined forces through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaboratively develop a shared, open-source automotive software ecosystem. 

This effort, backed by the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), comes at a time when software-defined vehicles (SDVs) are redefining cars as dynamic, software-driven platforms. 

The evolution of automotive software aims to enable unprecedented innovation, connectivity and user experience. The shift toward an open-source software ecosystem is a key part of broader automotive industry trends reshaping how vehicles are designed and produced for the future of mobility.

Automotive software also requires a fundamental rethinking of vehicle design, development and lifecycle management—an ongoing challenge for traditional original equipment manufacturers.  

To address these challenges, the 11 participating companies (BMW, Bosch, Continental, ETAS, Forvia, Mercedes-Benz, Qorix, Valeo, Vector Informatik, Volkswagen and ZF)—with VDA support—have entered a pre-competitive cooperative partnership to develop a shared, open-source automotive software ecosystem. In this collaboration, companies work together on foundational technologies without impacting direct competition.

Under this MOU, the partners plan to create open-source software components that are considered standard and non-differentiating, meaning they offer little opportunity for competitive advantage or further innovation. 

By taking such a “code-first” approach, the initiative aims to achieve standardization and accelerate automotive software development within the transparent, vendor-neutral framework of the Eclipse Foundation's S-CORE project.

Short for Safe Open Vehicle Core, S-CORE is an open-source initiative focused on developing a core software platform for SDVs. S-CORE is designed as a modular software layer — known as middleware — that connects a vehicle’s operating system to the applications running on top of it. This safety-critical layer helps streamline SDV development while improving performance, enhancing security and scalability and accelerating SDV adoption.  

Beyond its technical function, S-CORE represents a shift toward a more cooperative approach to SDV development. The project invites contributions from other European and international companies and aims to deliver an autonomous driving software platform by 2026. This platform will allow manufacturers and suppliers to collaborate on core components while focusing their individual efforts on unique features, which could help the automotive supply chain by reducing duplicative efforts and enabling faster innovation.

This joint effort addresses a core industry problem: the inefficiency of developing basic software in isolation. Traditionally, OEMs and tier 1 suppliers have independently developed foundational software—often at great cost and with few differences. These proprietary, vertically integrated approaches are slow to develop, expensive to maintain and hard to scale. 

In contrast, open-source development offers greater flexibility, lower costs and faster innovation. However, it also increases complexity and potential security risks. The VDA collaboration seeks to resolve some of these issues. 

The MOU:

• Establishes clear roles and responsibilities within the new software ecosystem. It supports the ongoing shift in supplier roles—from proprietary intellectual property owners to system integrators and software service providers—by aligning all stakeholders around a common software base. 

• Targets middleware, tooling and infrastructure layers, so OEMs can focus on brand-defining features like the digital experience and connected services.

• Spreads the compliance workload across partners, speeding up delivery cycles and reducing duplicative testing.

Despite this momentum toward open-source collaboration, traditional OEMs remain wary of fully embracing it. The MOU also arrives as global SDV rollouts face setbacks, including the two-year delay of Volvo’s EX90, Ford’s cancellation of its FNV4 platform and Stellantis’s postponement of its first SDV launch.

Only a few offerings have so far met the industry’s reliability, compliance and performance standards.

To strike a balance between open source and proprietary software, automakers are moving toward middleware abstraction, in which widely used operating systems like Linux or Android operate non-critical functions like infotainment and human–machine interfaces, while real-time operating systems (RTOS) handle safety-critical domains like advanced driver assistance systems, braking and steering. 

Infotainment systems remain the most common use case for open-source platforms, with Android Automotive OS and Automotive Grade Linux seeing widespread adoption. Although safety-critical domains are still largely proprietary or use RTOS, hybrid software stacks that blend open and proprietary approaches are becoming more common. 

Making complex SDV systems work together seamlessly requires sophisticated technology. integrated development environment (IDE) tools play a critical role when integrating complex software blocks from various sources. 

IDEs streamline coding, debugging and testing; enable modular development and faster iteration; and support DevOps (which improves collaboration between developers and operations teams) and CI/CD pipelines (automated systems that integrate, test and deploy code) tailored for automotive software. 

Although Li Auto has made a bold move by open-sourcing Halo OS — arguably the first automaker to open-source a complete vehicle OS — industry-wide adoption will hinge on solving three big puzzles:

• Can Halo OS meet industry-grade safety certifications? 

• Does it allow enough customization for brand differentiation?

• Who takes responsibility for long-term support and legal risks?

Other OEMs are unlikely to rely on Li Auto’s ecosystem and development roadmap, which they do not control.