Today, General Motors President Mark Reuss debuted the company’s all-new electronic platform necessary for its next-generation of vehicles, EVs, active safety, infotainment and connectivity features, and the evolution of the Super Cruise driver assistance feature*.
These and many other advancements are central to GM’s vision for a world with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion.

As the automotive industry and vehicles evolve in the next five to 10 years, more electrical bandwidth and connectivity will be needed to ensure that features like electric propulsion systems, the Super Cruise driver assistance feature and advanced active safety systems can all run in conjunction with each other.

Debuting on the recently-unveiled 2020 Cadillac CT5 sedan, the electronic platform will go into production later this year and should be rolled out to most vehicles within GM’s global lineup by 2023.

The technology powers an electronic system, capable of managing up to 4.5 terabytes of data processing power per hour,
a fivefold increase in capability over GM’s current electrical architecture.

With an expanded capacity for smartphone-like over-the-air software updates, the system enables the adoption of functionality upgrades throughout the lifespan of the vehicle.

The new architecture also provides more rapid communications within the vehicle itself and to outside sources thanks to Ethernet connections of 100Mbps, 1Gbps, and 10Gbps.

“The critical role of software and its importance to our vehicles, both now and for years to come, cannot be overstated,” said GM President Mark Reuss.
“Our new digital vehicle platform and its eventual successors will underpin all our future innovations across a wide range of technological advancements, including EVs and expanded automated driving.”

Cybersecurity is another key pillar of the new architecture.
The system’s DNA includes additional protective features at the hardware and software levels that reflect the company’s foresight in this regard.

GM was among the first automakers to create an integrated and dedicated global Product Cybersecurity organization, a team of experts within the company focused on protecting against the potential risk of unauthorized access to vehicles and customer data.

GM implemented years ago a security vulnerability disclosure program to engage more closely with the research community. It has matured to become a formal “bug bounty” program that continues to further strengthen GM’s cybersecurity efforts.

GM also chairs the Auto-ISAC (Automotive Information Sharing & Analysis Center), a community of private and public-sector partners that shares and analyzes intelligence about emerging cybersecurity risks for the automotive industry.

The electronic platform was developed at GM facilities across the globe by a team of electrical, hardware and software engineers.

*Even while using Super Cruise driver assistance feature, always pay attention while driving and do not use a hand-held device.

The new system can handle 4.5 terabytes of data an hour, five times what’s possible today. Detroit Free Press columnist Mark Phelan wrote it’d be like having the capability to read a little less than 26 million books every two hours.
The car will be able to quickly talk to itself and to external parties using 100 Mbps, 1GBps and 10 GBps Ethernet.

GM also can upgrade it remotely with over-the-air updates, similar to a Tesla.

“Over-the-air software updates will allow GM to improve engine performance, fuel economy, ride comfort, steering, navigation and almost every feature on a vehicle, possibly even including updates for safety standards that come into effect years after the vehicle was built,” Phelan wrote May 20.

Over-the-air updates might not have much of an effect on scan tools checking the electronic systems for issues, AirPro operations Executive Director Chuck Olsen said in an interview Thursday.

“I don’t have much of an issue” scanning those vehicles, he said. It doesn’t really affect the tool’s capability, he said.

However, he predicted in a few years that OEMs would just build diagnostic software in the the vehicles themselves.

“You’re gonna log in to the car remotely,” he said, and it should be a “game-changer.”

Olsen also said that various electronics on vehicles are starting to generate data streams besides merely diagnostic trouble codes.