R-Car Open Access (RoX) is a software-defined vehicle (SDV) development platform introduced by Renesas Electronics Corporation. It combines all necessary hardware, operating systems (OS), software, and tools required for automotive developers to quickly create next-generation vehicles with safe and ongoing software updates.
The SDV platform, which is made for the Renesas R-Car family of microcontrollers (MCUs) and system on chips (SoCs), comes with a full suite of tools that make it easy to implement AI applications. For auto OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, R-Car Open Access (RoX) significantly lowers complexity by pre-integrating all essential layers needed to produce SDVs, saving them time and money.
With the introduction of SDVs, automotive technology has advanced significantly, moving closer to electrification, connected experiences, and more driving autonomy. In order to provide safety and autonomy applications, cars must have 360-degree surround vision and ASIL D levels of sensing, processing, and control.
Driver and passenger in-cab experiences are undergoing a change. Because of this, software is essential to current electrical/electronics (E/E) architecture in order to differentiate customer experiences, regulate vehicle operations, and handle real-time data networks between several ECU zones.
Upgrading and maintaining these intricate software stacks while maintaining the highest standards of security has been increasingly challenging. By providing a cloud-native development environment and a simulation platform, Renesas’ adaptable solution addresses these issues and supports parallel hardware and the software development.
Out-of-box Platform with Market-Ready Software Stacks
There are two versions of the adaptable R-Car Open Access (RoX) SDV platform. “RoX Whitebox” is an easily available software bundle that contains reference programs made for certain domain systems together with royalty-free operating systems and hypervisors including Linux, Xen, Zephyr, and Android Automotive OS.
“RoX Licensed” is predicated on SAFERTOS, AUTOSAR-compliant software, and industry-tested commercial software solutions like QNX and Red Hat In-Vehicle Operating System. It contains pre-validated software stacks from STRADVISION for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Candera CGI Studio for in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), to mention a few. It is pre-integrated and tested to work on Renesas’ R-Car SoCs and MCUs. Easily productized, these software solutions may be expanded or adapted to meet the demands of OEMs.
Even before the hardware is ready, automotive system engineers can begin developing their software right away with the R-Car Open Access (RoX) SDV platform thanks to a highly integrated toolchain.
The virtual development platform and cloud environment enable developers to create, test, and debug their software in simulation before putting it on real SoCs and MCUs.
Renesas Fast Simulator (RFS) and partner solutions like ASTC VLAB VDM and Synopsys Virtualizer Development Kit (VDK) are part of the virtual development platform, which offers a wide range of simulation speed, capabilities, and use cases.
RoX provides the AI Workbench, which enables developers to assess and tune their models and test their AI applications in the cloud on Renesas board farms or the virtual development platform, allowing smooth end-to-end AI development.
On the R-Car heterogeneous computing platform across generations of SoCs, a variety of AI models, automated pipelines, and a specialized hybrid compiler toolchain (HyCo) are available to facilitate the quick AI deployment.
AWS Cloud Services Now Available
As part of the AI Workbench development environment, the RoX SDV platform now supports cloud computing capabilities provided by Amazon Web capabilities (AWS). Developers may innovate and optimize designs more effectively with the Renesas R-Car SDK (Software Development Kit) containerized in the AWS cloud environment.
Their ability to simulate and test hardware and software combinations instantaneously, as well as deliver AI applications that operate flawlessly on R-Car devices, is made possible by this close connection.
Scalable R-Car Gen 5 Family
The RoX SDV platform is designed for current generation R-Car SoCs, the upcoming R-Car Gen 5 MCU/SoC Family, and future devices.
The SDV platform provides car OEMs and Tier1 suppliers the flexibility to design a broad range of scalable compute solutions for ADAS, IVI, gateway and cross-domain fusion systems as well as body control, domain and zone control systems.
As of right now, only Renesas’ R-Car Gen 5 hardware architecture can support the whole spectrum of processing needs, ranging from high-end central computing to zonal ECUs, supporting entry-level cars to luxury-class models.
Customers developing with the R-Car Gen 5 devices will be able to reuse the same software and tools across a variety of E/E applications that span car models and generations, conserving their engineering investments, thanks to a new unified hardware architecture based on Arm® CPU cores.
The high-performance SoCs from Renesas will use GPU and AI processing, big display capabilities, application processing, sensor connection, and large display capabilities to provide both domain-specific and cross-domain solutions.
“RoX is a significant advancement that will speed up the shift-left approach for software-defined vehicles,” said Vivek Bhan, Senior Vice President and General Manager of High Performance Computing at Renesas. “Today, car OEMs and Tier1 suppliers are heavily investing in software development and maintenance. Renesas understands this challenge and is closely working with them to deliver a flexible, ready-to-deploy development solution that can be maintained throughout the vehicle’s lifespan. The RoX platform empowers our customers to design vehicles that deliver new value and bring improved safety and delightful comfort experiences to drivers and passengers.”
“At AWS, we’re committed to helping our customers and partners accelerate development and bring innovation to drivers faster than ever before,” said Andrea Ketzer, Director of Technology Strategy, Automotive & Manufacturing at AWS. “With Renesas’ R-Car Gen 5 devices supported by the AI Workbench on AWS, customers will achieve faster and more validated simulations and the ability to develop independently of hardware. This step change in development will drive the industry forward and place software innovation at the forefront of mobility.”
According to TechInsights, the market shift to domain, zonal and centralized architectures will translate to a growing processor market, incorporating SoCs and MCUs, worth $25.9 billion by 2031. “Being able to maintain and upgrade complex software stacks that incorporate operating systems, hypervisors and other functional software stacks will thus become an increasingly critical element of the supply chain,” said Asif Anwar, Executive Director of Automotive End Market Research at TechInsights. “By also being able to offer cloud-native environments to support a software-first approach to development and testing of the hardware, the Renesas RoX SDV platform offers a ready-built ecosystem that encompasses these elements in support of a scalable portfolio of next generation R-Car Gen 5 processors to address this sizable market.”
Renesas’ R-Car Open Access Platform is being demonstrated at the AWS Summit Japan in Tokyo from June 20-21.
RoX SDV Platform Partners:
Operating System/Hypervisor Partners
- QNX
- Red Hat
- Vector AUTOSAR
- WITTENSTEIN SAFERTOS®
Software Stack Partners
- Candera CGI Studio
- EPAM AosEdge
- Excelfore eSync
- MM Solutions
- STRADVISION SVNet
- Nullmax
Development Tools Partners
- ASTC VLAB Works
- Synopsys Virtualizer Development Kit (VDK)
Cloud Partners
- AWS
- Microsoft Azure
Availability
The R-Car Open Access Platform is available today with the option to license. Open-source OS, commercial OS, full application software stacks, virtual development, cloud infrastructure and debugging and emulation tools are available by Renesas or through partners. Additional information about the development platform is available here and information about the R-Car Gen 5 Family can be found here.
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