Embedded software specialist Green Hills Software and automotive design and engineering specialist Tata Elxsi are partnering to develop a new generation of software-driven, integrated automotive cockpit technology. 

The Tata Elxsi eCockpit supports infotainment, instrument cluster, HUD and ADAS functionalities on a single SoC, and provides safety, security and performance features. 

At Embedded World in Nuremberg, Tata and Green Hills demonstrated the Tata eCockpit with the Green Hills ASIL-certified INTEGRITY RTOS and its Multivisor secure virtualisation architecture, designed to consolidate mixed-criticality applications on a single, automotive-grade Renesas R-Car H3 processor. 

INTEGRITY Multivisor runs Linux and Android in independent, secure virtualised partitions. Tata Elxsi Infotainment is based on Automotive Android and the instrument cluster is running on Linux. 

Infotainment features are shown through a 2D/3D custom HMI on Automotive Android. V2X features are also integrated and displayed on the instrument cluster as warning messages. Linux guest OS is partitioned using Linux Containers to accommodate sub domains like ADAS. 

A separate Linux Container runs Tata Elxsi’s Sensor Fusion ADAS IP over Tata Elxsi’s own Adaptive AUTOSAR. Complete vehicle interface functionality is based on Tata Elxsi’s own classic AUTOSAR 4.3.

The INTEGRITY RTOS microkernel architecture is designed for critical embedded systems requiring safe separation, security, and real-time determinism. Its separation architecture is designed to allow software teams to safely and securely partition software running at different levels of criticality on the Renesas R-Car H3 processor while guaranteeing applications the system resources required for their proper execution. It is designed to provide safe and secure execution of applications running graphics and multimedia while at the same time ensuring the safe operation of critical functions, such as the tell-tale status and warning lights.

“Tata Elxsi’s eCockpit, combined with Green Hills INTEGRITY Multivisor, is platform agnostic and it provides automotive makers with a complete single-ECU solution for instrument cluster, infotainment and ADAS functionalities that delivers real-time performance on a single multicore automotive-grade microprocessor,” said Dan Mender, vice-president business development, Green Hills Software. “Tata Elxsi’s software development and system integration for cockpit systems is driving the industry and we will continue to work together for providing safe and secure systems while supporting the cost and space reduction demands that are driving the trend of ECU consolidation.”

“Green Hills Software’s years of production programme experience in mixed-criticality, safety-certified system design, coupled with their advanced MULTI toolchain, significantly simplified our integration effort and reduced development time without requiring compromises in performance, safety or security in the system,” said Nitin Pai, Chief Marketing Officer & Chief Strategy Officer, Tata Elxsi.  “Our collaboration with Green Hills on this type of mixed-criticality platform consolidation allows us to provide customers with truly unique value propositions as the automotive industry looks to our joint, proven, production-ready capabilities.”