In an economic landscape where moving fast dictates market dominance, automotive developers are expending massive amounts of time on foundational software integration rather than crafting the advanced features consumers are demanding. This insight comes directly from the “Under the Hood: SDV Developer” report, a comprehensive study surveying 1,100 software engineers conducted by BlackBerry division QNX between April and July.

The Burden of Foundational Integration

Software-defined vehicles (SDVs) represent the future of transport, yet the underlying architecture often bogs down creative engineering. Justin Moon, QNX vice president of core product engineering, emphasizes that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) should be channeling their energy into user-facing innovations.

“That’s where the OEM should be focusing on for innovation. It’s just, that’s how they differentiate,” stated Justin Moon during an exclusive discussion. “So it just makes sense to have more focus on how do they push the envelope there for the people that are actually purchasing the vehicles, as opposed to worrying about a communication stack or a file system...”

Key statistical takeaways from the QNX study include:

  • 76% of respondents agreed that automakers must prioritize application-layer innovation over baseline software infrastructure.
  • 35% of a developer's average workload is consumed by integration duties beneath the vehicle application layer, with 19% devoting at least half their schedules to this infrastructure work.
  • 75% noted that the absence of a standardized, reusable software foundation hinders rapid SDV progression.
  • A quarter of developers (down from 36% last year) view artificial intelligence as revolutionary, while 62% see it as significant and deeply integrated into daily workflows.

Balancing Velocity with Vehicle Safety

While the race to outpace rivals remains fierce, it introduces critical trade-offs involving safety and product integrity. Nearly 79% of surveyed engineers admit feeling direct pressure from aggressive competitors, forcing them to constantly weigh development velocity against operational reliability.

Furthermore, 53% acknowledge direct exposure to product recalls, and 88% confirm that past failures or recalls have triggered moderate-to-major shifts in their team's engineering practices. Moon notes that the dangerous cocktail of intense market pressure and mounting software complexity has fueled an approximate 300% surge in software-related vehicle recalls over the last five years.

Cybersecurity Concerns and the Power of Partnerships

Looking toward upcoming challenges, 48% of developers rank security as their primary future concern, while an overwhelming 83% anticipate that SDVs will become prime targets for cyberattacks within the next three years.

“What’s really great from my perspective in this survey is even los developers are like, yeah, I have to worry about this stuff,” Moon remarked, praising the grassroots awareness for security-by-design principles.

To combat escalating complexity and productivity gaps where hiring lags behind project demands, Moon advocates for abandoning isolated development cycles in favor of strategic cooperation.

“I believe that the next superpower in the automotive industry is partnerships,” Moon asserted. “It’s not any one company solving an industry challenge. Really, what the industry now really needs is the identification of the real challenges, and then like-minded companies coming together to actually solve that real challenge.”

Practical examples of this shift are already emerging. On September 22, QNX and partner Vector revealed that their jointly crafted Alloy Kore software platform was picked by Coretura—a Daimler Truck and Volvo Group joint venture—to accelerate commercial SDV development. Equipped with open application programming interfaces (APIs), Alloy Kore allows seamless cross-system communication.

This commercial momentum reflects broader market consolidation across automotive, robotics, and industrial sectors, helping push QNX's royalty backlog past $1.2 billion for the first time in history. Additional collaborative strides include an October 5 alliance between RemotiveLabs and Google Cloud, merging virtual visualization platforms with open-source development environments to test concepts before hardware production begins.

Ultimately, navigating shifting consumer demands and economic hurdles comes down to engineering capability, according to SimScale CEO David Heiny.

“I believe engineering velocity is the ultimate, if you will, way to be competitive and to be a growing, healthy company,” Heiny explained. Yet, if current developer surveys are any benchmark, that velocity continues to push the boundaries of quality control.