Revolutionizing the Road: How Automotive OS is Transforming the In-Car Experience with Smartphone Power

Anyone can identify an operating system from a computer or mobile device – but what about an automobile? Few among us recognize that we’ve technically been operating with them since the inception of the first electronic control units (ECUs) back in the early 1970s.

An increase in comfort and safety features prompted the addition of more control units. Following the launch of the so-called CAN (controller area network) bus system in the early 1990s, control units can now communicate with one another.

During that time, the Mercedes S-class W140 became the inaugural car to incorporate a CAN bus system. Nowadays, compact vehicles contain between 30 and 50 interconnected computers, while luxury cars often have between 70 and 100.

Toralf Trautmann, a physicist and educator in automotive mechatronics at the University of Applied Sciences in Dresden, Germany, illustrates the benefits of interconnected systems: “New features can be effortlessly integrated, permitting a broad spectrum of variations and potential combinations.”

Manufacturers are increasingly depending on digital ecosystems and collaborative efforts to provide supplementary services such as keyless entry, remote diagnostics, and battery preheating for electric vehicles.