On 8 October 2026, four European research and innovation projects — HAL4SDV, Shift2SDV, CODE4EV and UP2DATE4SDV — came together at Embedded Systems Week 2026 in Barcelona, Spain, for a joint workshop entitled “Software-Defined Systems (SDS): From Vehicles to Embedded Platforms – Architectures, Platforms, and Toolchains for Next-Generation Systems.”

The workshop brought together experts from industry, academia and European research initiatives to exchange knowledge, share project developments and explore common challenges and opportunities in advancing software-defined vehicles (SDVs) and embedded systems.

Bringing Together Expertise Across European Initiatives

The workshop featured keynote speeches, invited talks and project presentations addressing the evolving landscape of software-defined systems, with a particular focus on architectures, development platforms, interoperability and toolchains.

Among the invited speakers were:

• Stefan Bogensberger, Policy Officer, European Commission, DG CONNECT

• Matthias Weiss, Director R&D, NXP Semiconductors Germany GmbH

• Enrico Mezzetti, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Software for Dependable Embedded Systems Lab

• Mario Driussi, Virtual Vehicle Research GmbH, etc.

A dedicated session highlighted Project lightning talks:

• Shift2SDV: The Shift to Software, presented by Michael Karner (Virtual Vehicle Research GmbH).

• HAL4SDV: Hardware Abstraction Layer for a European Software Defined Vehicle Approach, presented by Andreas Eckel (TTTech Computertechnik AG).

• CODE4EV: Collaborative Development Framework for Electric Software-defined Vehicles, presented by Eric Armengaud (Armengaud Innovate GmbH).

• UP2DATE4SDV: Safe & Secure Modular Updates, Upgrades and Dynamic Task Reallocation for SDVs, presented by Gregor Nitsche (DLR).

These presentations provided insights into complementary approaches to software-defined vehicle development, highlighting the importance of collaboration, reusable architectures and common technological foundations.

HAL4SDV Showcases Application Portability Across Vehicle Platforms

A particular highlight for the HAL4SDV project was the presentation by Tomáš Mrovec from VSB – Technical University of Ostrava, entitled:

“Portability of SDV Applications: One App on Different Vehicle Platforms Using the HAL4SDV Abstraction Layer.”

The presentation explored how HAL4SDV enables application portability across different vehicle platforms, using a Child Presence Detection (CPD) demonstrator as a practical example.

The demonstrator combines cabin sensing, vehicle state monitoring, driver notifications and vehicle actions into a single application use case. It illustrates how COVESA Vehicle Signal Specification (VSS), Eclipse KUKSA and HAL4SDV building blocks can establish a common interface between application logic and vehicle-specific systems.

The presentation also demonstrated the development workflow using digital.auto, cloud connectivity through MQTT, and integration with in-vehicle and mobile interfaces.

By separating application logic from underlying vehicle-specific implementations, HAL4SDV aims to simplify software reuse and enable applications to operate across different vehicle platforms and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

Key Technical Takeaways

The presentation highlighted four important aspects of achieving application portability in software-defined vehicles:

• Common interfaces enable reuse. COVESA VSS and Eclipse KUKSA provide consistent access to vehicle data, reducing dependencies on individual vehicle architectures.

• Vehicle-specific integration remains essential. Each platform must connect its own signals and functions to the shared interface to ensure proper operation.

• Child Presence Detection demonstrates cross-domain integration. The use case brings together sensors, climate control, body functions and driver notifications.

• Portability extends beyond data access. Successful application reuse must also preserve expected behaviour, timing constraints and safety requirements across different platforms.

These insights reinforce the importance of HAL4SDV's work towards a common hardware abstraction layer that supports more interoperable, reusable and scalable software-defined vehicle solutions.

Strengthening Collaboration Towards Next-Generation Software-Defined Systems

The joint workshop provided a valuable opportunity for the participating projects to exchange technical expertise, identify shared challenges and discuss future needs in the development of software-defined systems.

For HAL4SDV, the event was an important platform to share ongoing technical developments, demonstrate practical applications of hardware abstraction and strengthen collaboration with complementary European initiatives.

By working together, HAL4SDV, Shift2SDV, CODE4EV and UP2DATE4SDV are contributing to a more interoperable, flexible and future-ready European software-defined vehicle ecosystem.

We thank the workshop organisers, speakers and all participating partners for the engaging discussions and valuable exchange of ideas in Barcelona.