They are entertainers, everyday companions, energy savers and lifesavers. Embedded systems have become one of the industry's most important drivers of innovation. The interaction of one or even several computers in a system not only creates a market for new developments, it also leads to the further development of traditional products with functions that would not have been conceivable in the past and contributes to a speed of innovation that nobody would have anticipated ten years ago.
Embedded systems enable such a high degree of flexibility and configurability that even after a product has been delivered, continuous further development is possible. Updates of vehicles when visiting the workshop are now just as frequent as updates of smartphones. However, while PC or smartphone updates are automatic and incremental, complex and safety-critical systems such as vehicles still have to be tested in the laboratory despite the high costs involved. After all, not only our everyday life, but often our lives depend on their functionality. Side effects that occur when changes are made to such systems are difficult to predict and must therefore be tested in the laboratory in advance.
The CCC research group is investigating the challenges that independent software updates face in an increasingly openly networked future and how to meet them. CCC addresses new methods for the development and control of Embedded Software Platforms (ESP) that are efficient and robust enough to integrate multiple applications that update simultaneously without being subject to laboratory tests in terms of cost and quality.