Software, as part of a product, is combined with hardware to provide specific product functions. We call this “embedded software or system.” The first widely recognized embedded software system was the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC), developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1965 for NASA’s Apollo program to control all onboard equipment used during space missions. Then, in 1971, Intel released the first microprocessor, the C4004, which made embedded software systems free from the limitations of computers and began to be embedded in different hardware devices in the form of independent computing units. By the early 2000s, embedded systems gradually evolved into embedded microcomputers, and were widely used in a variety of products ranging from automobiles, high-speed trains and aircraft to small mobile phones and household appliances.

05704-A-0121 Today, what we call a “software-defined product” has evolved into a new kind of product that focuses on software innovation rather than hardware – software becomes the core of the product, and users can continue to enjoy new features without upgrading the hardware. “Software defined products” The most well-known and talked about by the public is “software defined cars”.

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According to Volkswagen’s 2020 forecast, a maximum of 100 million lines of code will be gathered in a car at that time, and by 2025 it will reach 1 billion lines, which is between Google and Facebook’s code order. When the car reaches 1 billion lines of software code, the car company becomes a full-fledged software company. Former Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess predicted that more than 90 percent of innovation in the automotive industry will come from software. “Software has become the core of competitive differentiation in modern vehicles, and the cost of software development is set to grow 83 percent over the next decade,” PWC said in its report, “Building a Software-driven Automotive Business.” Some analysts even predict that by 2030, the share of software in the cost of a vehicle will soar from the current 15% to 60%.

Thus, the era of software definition has arrived.

Product change in the software-defined era

05704-A-0121 As Deloitte points out, in the era of “software definition”, the change is not only the proportion of software in simple products, its essence is the product from a highly integrated electromechanical terminal, to an intelligent, scalable, sustainable iterative upgrade of mobile electronic terminals.

In order to achieve this ultimate goal, the hardware and software will be further decouple, the hardware structure will be extremely standardized and modular, and the advanced hardware functions will be embedded in the product, and the new functions will be gradually released through the continuous iterative upgrade of the software, so that users can continue to enjoy the innovative application experience without any hardware upgrade.