Boost automotive innovation with Red Hat’s “software factory”
In this blog, we will learn how to boost automotive innovation with Red Hat’s “Software factory”.
More than two decades after transforming the enterprise OS landscape with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat continues to lead in open source innovation. Today, our extensive portfolio spans hybrid cloud infrastructure, AI, automation, application development, virtualization, and edge computing.
Now, we’re extending this expertise to the automotive industry with the Red Hat In-Vehicle Operating System, designed to support the next generation of software-defined vehicles (SDVs). Our dedicated automotive product team is building a focused developer platform that helps manufacturers scale and optimize software production, creating a streamlined “software factory” environment.
Core Technologies Driving the Platform
Our automotive development stack is built on several integrated Red Hat solutions:
Red Hat OpenShift: Serves as the foundation for scalable, cloud-native development and testing workflows.
Red Hat Developer Hub: A centralized portal to manage tools, streamline development tasks, and organize workflows.
Red Hat OpenShift DevSpaces: Provides a browser-based IDE that supports collaborative coding and debugging without requiring local setup.
Red Hat OpenShift AI: Enables scalable development and deployment of AI/ML applications across hybrid cloud infrastructure.
CI/CD Automation: Integrated pipelines within OpenShift automate code build, testing, and deployment, improving consistency and reducing manual effort.
Together, these technologies support faster development cycles, standardized testing environments, and reduced time to market, while maintaining the high quality required for automotive software.
Solution Architecture Overview
The platform is centered on Red Hat Developer Hub and OpenShift DevSpaces, offering a unified interface where teams can access preconfigured tools, reusable components, and automation pipelines. Built on the open-source Backstage framework, the internal development platform (IDP) comes ready with essential integrations and extensions to enhance developer productivity.
Through native cloud integration, teams can easily scale development, enable faster prototyping, and deploy code seamlessly across environments.
Simulation and Testing Support
Virtual testing capabilities enable the simulation of vehicle systems, minimizing dependency on physical prototypes. Based on open source platforms like Automotive Stream Distributions (AutoSD), developers can start prototyping immediately and later transition to the commercial-grade, safety-certified Red Hat In-Vehicle Operating System.
Red Hat collaborates with leading virtual platform providers, offering high-performance simulation environments that can even outperform target automotive System-on-Chip (SoC) devices, providing faster feedback and early validation.
Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing complements virtual simulations by connecting real-world hardware, such as sensors, ECUs, and actuators, into lab-based environments before progressing to test vehicles and proving grounds.
Integration, Delivery, and Operational Excellence
The platform includes integrated support for continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD)with automated validation, security scanning, and deployment orchestration. This guarantees each code change is fully validated and ready for production deployment.
Built-in capabilities for monitoring, logging, and security further support developer productivity and operational resilience.
Consistency Across Environments
By delivering a standardized development foundation across cloud, virtual, and physical environments, Red Hat enables automotive manufacturers to:
- Accelerate innovation in SDV development
- Improve reliability and security
- Lower overall operational costs
- Support scalable and flexible development workflows
This comprehensive approach enables automotive teams to efficiently build, test, and deliver next-generation vehicle software with speed and accuracy.
