Fraunhofer IESE and the South Korean technology company Perseus Co., Ltd. are collaborating closely on a joint strategic research and development project in the field of software-defined vehicles. The goal of the collaboration is to combine innovative virtualization and simulation technologies, thereby setting new standards for the development and validation of complex vehicle software.
Software-Defined Vehicles (SDV) represent a paradigm shift in the automotive industry: functions are increasingly being developed with a software-centric approach and updated flexibly. At the same time, requirements for safety, performance, and verifiability are rising – especially when safety-critical and non-safety-critical applications are run together on high-performance central control units. This is precisely where the collaboration comes in.
Technologies intelligently linked
The focus is on integrating Fraunhofer IESE’s FERAL virtual engineering framework with Perseus’s PEGASUS hypervisor. This combination creates a powerful virtual development and test environment for modern vehicle architectures.
The joint solution enables mixed runtime environments to be simulated realistically and analyzed systematically. Digital twins and virtual test benches create the necessary conditions – even before physical prototypes are available. Through co-simulations, software, hardware, and environmental models can be coupled, allowing end-to-end tests to be conducted under real-world conditions.
In addition to functional tests, the focus is also on performance metrics such as latency, resource allocation, robustness, and fault propagation. This gives manufacturers early insight into the behavior of complex system architectures.
“With Fraunhofer’s virtualization and verification expertise, Perseus will demonstrate the future-proof nature of our technologies. Our hypervisor enables the secure execution of critical and non-critical applications on shared hardware – a key technology in the SDV era.”
Dr. Sang-bum Suh, CEO of Perseus
Efficiency gains throughout the entire development process
The close technological integration supports modern continuous engineering approaches and enables frequent, automated testing as early as the initial development phases. This reduces iteration loops, shortens development cycles, and minimizes the need for costly physical test setups.
Furthermore, virtual validation helps significantly accelerate certification processes for safety-critical systems – from 18 months to as little as six months. Through structured, reproducible test scenarios and robust evidence, development and approval times can be significantly reduced.
International Partnership for Tomorrow’s Mobility
The collaboration combines Fraunhofer IESE’s methodological and technological expertise in virtual engineering and system validation with Perseus’s hypervisor technology for modern SDV architectures. Together, the partners are creating a scalable foundation for secure, flexible, and future-proof vehicle platforms. The collaboration demonstrates how international industry and research players can pool their strengths to actively shape the transition to software-centric vehicle architectures – efficiently, with a focus on innovation, and with a clear emphasis on quality and safety.
What challenges are you facing in the transition to software-defined vehicles?
From digital twins to co-simulation and fault injection:
In the field of virtual engineering, we bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and industrial application.
Leverage our expertise to validate your software systems.
