Reading time
4 minutes

Elektrobit is helping lead a major shift in automotive development: building software before hardware is even available. By leveraging cloud-native platforms, virtual ECUs, and a full-stack Adaptive AUTOSAR SDK, developers can now design, test, and validate software in scalable cloud environments. This cuts delays, increases quality, and reduces costs. In collaboration with partners like Continental, Arm, and AWS, Elektrobit enables early integration, global collaboration, and faster time to market. This new approach solves real-world pain points of traditional development and allows OEMs to stay ahead of the hardware curve.

 

Hardware holds to head start

Not long ago, developing vehicle software meant lots of waiting. You waited for hardware to be finalized. You waited for test benches to arrive. You waited for everything to fall into place before real progress could begin.

That era ends here.

Today, we’re witnessing one of the biggest transformations in automotive history. The software-defined vehicle (SDV) flips the script on overall development process entirely. Software no longer waits for hardware. It leads.

Software first. Hardware later.
This change unlocks a fundamental advantage: development doesn’t need to stall while waiting for parts. In a recent webinar, Elektrobit joined forces with Continental, Arm, and AWS to show how cloud-native development and virtualization make this possible.

 

Together, we’re enabling teams to develop, integrate, and validate vehicle software before the hardware even exists. That means getting to market faster, with higher quality, and at a lower cost.

 

Built for a new kind of development

Elektrobit’s cloud-native Adaptive AUTOSAR solution is designed for today’s fast-paced development environment, where software can’t afford to wait for hardware. Engineers can now start development and integration immediately, thanks to virtual ECUs (vECUs) that allow rapid iteration and early validation.

The platform scales effortlessly in the cloud using AWS Graviton instances and provides a full toolchain, including EB corbos AdaptiveCore and EB corbos Linux. The result? Software can be developed, tested, and refined with confidence, long before the first hardware prototype arrives.

Hardware? Optional.
To take it even further, Elektrobit introduced the industry’s first full-stack, cloud-native SDK for Adaptive AUTOSAR. It’s designed to drop into any CI/CD/CT pipeline, sets up in under a minute, and comes preloaded with virtual hardware, no physical tools required.

Teams can access it from anywhere, enabling true global collaboration. For developers, it means freedom to build and test without bottlenecks, without delays, and without waiting on hardware that may still be months away.

 

Solving real-world problems

Why does this matter? Because traditional development had real pain points. Hardware was rarely ready at project start. Test benches were expensive and limited. Bugs emerged late. Software recalls became costly. And testing on vehicles already in the field? Nearly impossible.

With virtualization, teams can:

• Start earlier and test more often
• Reduce dependency on physical ECUs
• Iterate faster with shorter cycles
• Increase software maturity at SOP
• Define and adjust hardware requirements sooner

That means higher quality software delivered on time, and sometimes even ahead of schedule.

 

The power of partnerships

Our work doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Elektrobit’s technology is tightly integrated into Continental’s virtual SDV Composer framework, built on Arm’s architecture, and scaled through AWS’s cloud infrastructure. Together, these platforms create a secure, scalable development environment that supports real-time collaboration across global teams.

It’s not just about tools, it’s about scaling innovation at every level of vehicle development.

 

Why middleware matters

To make all this work across domains, vehicle functions, and global teams, middleware plays a central role. It acts as the bridge between software and hardware, enabling reuse, modularity, and safety. Without robust middleware, SDV development simply doesn’t scale.

 

Software ahead of the hardware curve

The automotive industry isn’t waiting for the future; it’s building it now. And Elektrobit is helping shape that future by allowing software teams to work ahead of the curve.

By decoupling software from hardware, we’re unlocking new value, shortening release cycles, and empowering OEMs to deliver more features, faster, without waiting for physical platforms to catch up.

 

See it in action

Curious how it all works?
Watch the full webinar to learn how Elektrobit and our partners are building the software-defined vehicle, before the hardware even exists.