7 Lessons Manufacturers Can Learn From Automakers In The Era Of Software-Defined Everything
IOT-Analytics, Wednesday, March 4th, 2026
A software-defined-everything revolution is currently changing hardware technology architectures. Automotive OEMs are leading this revolution with 80%+ of carmakers actively building software-defined vehicle architectures.
In this article
- Hardware is getting software-defined, and automakers are leading the charge
- 7 lessons manufacturers can learn from SDVs
- Lesson 1: Consolidate computing across the stack
- Lesson 2: The edge platform layer becomes very important
- Lesson 3: Decouple the software lifecycle from the hardware lifecycle
- Lesson 4: DevOps and toolchains bring 'software-defined' to life
- Lesson 5: OTA is a game-changer
- Lesson 6: End-to-end security and compliance become its own discipline
- Lesson 7: AI impact is only seen once the software-defined foundation exists
- Analyst takeaway: What automation decision-makers should borrow, adapt, and avoid
- 3 software trends observed at SPS 2025 (Insights+ exclusive)
- Comparison of tech-native and traditional OEMS regarding SDV adoption (Insights+ exclusive)
Hardware is getting software-defined, and automakers are leading the charge
Entering the software-defined everything (SDE) era. Hardware is undergoing an architectural revolution toward software-defined systems.