Systems Engineering Approach for Compliant Over-the-Air Update Development

A broad spectrum of technical innovations in-fluences the automotive industry. Vehicles are increasingly governed by software, enabling continuous development over the entire product life cycle. In this context, software updates, especially those conducted Over The Air (OTA), represent a significant technological advancement. Regularly implementing OTA updates enhances the sustainability of vehicles as they lead to the possibility of keeping cars continuously functional, safe, secure, and performant. Requirements for OTA updates, their development, and implementation are formulated in industry standards and regulations. With the entry into force of UN Regulation 156, manufacturers operating in the member countries must establish processes for the development and overall management of OTA updates. At the same time, there are numerous other standards that apply in the industry. Furthermore, development process models and standardized approaches, such as the V-model for systems and software engineering, are widely adopted. Following the aim to develop a framework that focuses on secure and efficient OTA updates while adhering to legal and industry-specific requirements, a unified process model is presented in this paper. Requirements from the ISO 24089 standard and the UN Regulation 156 are extracted for that purpose. Interrelationships and overlaps between them, and further applicable standards for vehicle design, system, and software development are identified. Processes and work products not yet covered by other norms and legal guidelines are extracted. These activities are then linked content-wise and organizationally to the established V-model. The resulting integrated concept provides a basis for compliant and efficient software update management.