HERE Technologies (HERE) and Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company, (NASDAQ: AMZN), announced the introduction of SDV Accelerator. This initiative offers an automotive-tailored solution guidance with a comprehensive SDV architecture and sample code, as well as a curation of AWS services and partner solutions in AWS Marketplace to help automakers fast-track the development of their software-defined vehicles (SDVs). SDV Accelerator is expanding the AWS-HERE strategic collaboration that began in 2022 to help automakers deliver smarter driving experiences and help enable businesses to optimize their supply chains.
While SDVs represent a major technological breakthrough in automotive development, the industry faces challenges with fragmented development environments, traditional supply chain models, and lack of standardized practices. SDV Accelerator helps accelerate automakers’ path to SDV development through a carefully curated collection of solutions offered in AWS Marketplace, jointly selected by AWS and HERE. This curated list features offerings from Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), who play a central role in the automotive industry’s shift to cloud-native implementations.
Additionally, SDV Accelerator provides guidance designed to help customers integrate these solutions into their existing development environments, helping empower teams - working across ADAS, in-vehicle infotainment, and other parts of the vehicle - to use partner tools while maintaining control over their development processes and architectural choices. By simplifying access to this curated collection of AWS services and partner solutions, SDV Accelerator helps enable manufacturers, suppliers, and ISVs to focus on innovation and differentiation rather than infrastructure integration, helping reduce development time across the automotive supply chain.
HERE Technologies seamlessly integrated into SDV Accelerator
SDV Accelerator delivers HERE’s mapping and location technology in a unified manner to power smooth, consistent experiences across navigation, automated driving, and electric vehicle range management. This more seamless integration helps enable automakers to utilize the HERE Navigation software development kit (SDK) to build differentiated, branded navigation interfaces, while helping to build, test and validate advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), all within the customer’s virtualized development environment.
SDV Accelerator features SceneXtract, a simulation tool developed by HERE and AWS. SceneXtract helps enable rapid generation of virtual driving scenes, accelerating the validation of ADAS and autonomous driving functions.
SDV Accelerator brings together industry technology leaders such as Arm, Elektrobit, FORVIA, Micware, Mireo, NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS, Panasonic Automotive Systems and QNX, to help enhance customers’ ability to innovate, customize, and differentiate their products and functionality.
Additional partner technologies will become available for automakers and tier 1 suppliers using SDV Accelerator.
SDV Accelerator helps deliver transformative advantages for automotive development such as:
- Development Efficiency: Building on proven virtualization benefits that help enable up to 70% faster development cycles, up to 30% reduction in R&D costs, and up to 7x more testing capabilities.
- Open Architecture: Designed to help enhance customers' development environments that align with industry standards like SOAFEE (Scalable Open Architecture for Embedded Edge) to help interoperability and scalability, while preserving automakers' control over their architecture and user experience.
- Partner Solutions: Provides guidance and sample code for integrating AWS cloud services, HERE mapping and location technology, and partner solutions. This helps enable automakers to streamline discovery, subscription management, metering, license management, and consumption functionalities in customers' development environments – all through validated mechanisms in AWS Marketplace.
- Innovation Accelerator: Helps streamline automotive supply chain collaboration while enabling ISVs to modernize their offerings with API-first, cloud-native approaches via the AWS Marketplace Workbench Ready Program.
Ozgur Tohumcu, General Manager of Automotive & Manufacturing at AWS said:
The SDV Accelerator represents a breakthrough solution to the automotive industry’s most pressing challenge: getting innovative vehicles to market faster. By more seamlessly integrating cloud-native tools with proven partner solutions, we’re helping empower automotive manufacturers to focus on what truly matters—breakthrough innovation. This game-changing platform allows OEMs to maintain control over their technology decisions and supplier networks while helping eliminate traditional integration bottlenecks that have historically slowed progress.
Remco Timmer, Senior Vice President and Head of Automotive Solutions at HERE Technologies, said:
The shift to software-defined vehicles demands a new model, one that fosters collaboration with the ability to differentiate. SDV Accelerator gives automakers the power to build and manage their software and technology in a way that keeps them focused on innovation throughout the SDV lifecycle. With an open partner environment and scalable architecture, it helps automakers to reduce cycle time and embrace collaboration while maintaining control over their brand experience and product roadmap.
To get started with SDV Accelerator and access the reference architecture, sample code, interactive workshops and learn about the partner solutions in AWS Marketplace, visit: https://aws.amazon.com/partners/sdvaccelerator/.
Whether you're focusing on virtual testing, continuous integration, or deployment automation, SDV Accelerator provides the framework and support to accelerate your journey.
Quotes from the first SDV Accelerator partners:
Arm
Dipti Vachani, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Automotive Business, Arm: “With growing demand for intelligent AI-defined experiences in the vehicle, traditional linear automotive development timelines are no longer sustainable. SDV Accelerator fosters a collaborative ecosystem that provide automakers and their partners with access to solutions from Arm, running virtually in the cloud, to reduce complexity, enable early software development and accelerate time to market for next-generation vehicles.”
Elektrobit
Jagan Rajagopalan, Head of Strategy and Portfolio at Elektrobit Automotive GmbH: “At Elektrobit, we are proud to bring our proven software expertise to the SDV Accelerator, thereby supporting the shift to software-defined vehicles. By combining our Virtual IVI, AUTOSAR-based platforms, and cloud-native development tools with HERE’s advanced location intelligence, we help enable developers to design, test, and validate next-generation digital cockpit experiences entirely in the cloud. This collaboration reflects Elektrobit’s commitment to open ecosystems, modular architectures, and delivering the speed, safety, and scalability the industry needs to innovate with confidence."
FORVIA
Mona Levacher, Director of Appning by FORVIA: “At Appning by FORVIA, we are proud to contribute to SDV Accelerator, both through our expertise in embedded app ecosystems and our strong customer base. By combining cloud-native workflows with Appning’s scalable Apps Market platform, we help automakers deliver personalized, differentiated digital experiences in the car accelerating the shift from hardware to software value creation. Appning acts as a bridge between automakers and App developers.”
Micware
Kenji Narushima, President and CEO of Micware: “In today’s Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) development, the utilization of ecosystems and the ability to accelerate development cycles are increasingly critical. Within this context, we believe that building a platform to support the collaborative domain across the industry carries significant importance. Micware will participate in the development of this initiative, leveraging our extensive experience and proven track record in both in-vehicle and cloud domains. By creating an environment where manufacturers can focus on their unique functions, Tier1 suppliers on hardware integration, and third-party partners on application development that plays to their strengths, we aim to help deliver fast and high-quality services to users. Through this initiative, we are committed to contributing to the advancement of a sustainable mobility society.”
Mireo
Dr. Ivica Siladić, CTO at Mireo: “This is a very promising initiative, as it would offload the burden of resolving important, often troublemaking details—daily logistics, ensuring the reference setup is correct, combining services from various providers, etc. It will certainly help facilitate the creation of more sophisticated, future-proof infotainment systems, where advanced Mireo navigation and ADAS solutions fit perfectly. We’re excited to collaborate with more car OEMs and system integrators to ensure cars bring more joy and deliver great driver and user experiences.”
NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS
Yuji Tamai, Director of Global Connected Car, NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS: “Mobile connectivity is becoming increasingly vital and indispensable for the development of SDVs and the delivery of connected car services. As a connectivity provider, NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS is pleased to support the initiatives of AWS and HERE and to participate as one of the industry partners. Together with TRANSATEL, a global IoT connectivity provider part of NTT, we are committed to providing global connectivity services to automakers and tier1 suppliers, thereby contributing to the acceleration of the SDV development and the realization of connected services.”
Panasonic Automotive Systems
Andrew Poliak, CTO, Panasonic Automotive Systems America: “By helping enable true bit-parity development in the cloud, we allow automotive software to be built and validated on AWS long before hardware is available. Our shift-left approach dramatically accelerates time-to-market and CI/CD, ensuring code drops seamlessly onto the target vehicle and runs without rework. Combined with the SDV accelerator partner network, we jointly empower automakers and their suppliers to innovate faster, integrate smarter, and deliver next-generation mobility at unprecedented speed.”
QNX
Grant Courville, SVP, Products and Strategy at QNX: “At QNX, we’ve long embraced a cloud-first development approach to help automakers accelerate innovation without compromising safety or reliability. Our OS and Hypervisor technologies are purpose-built for secure, scalable integration into modern SDV workflows, enabling efficient software architectures that meet the demands of next-generation vehicles. By collaborating with HERE and AWS through the new SDV Accelerator initiative, we’re thrilled to help automakers innovate faster, integrate smarter, and deliver safer, more differentiated driving experiences with confidence.”
Source: HERE