Hypervisor Virtual Machine Hot Update for Electric Vehicles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems lack a safe and reliable method for updating software in electric and autonomous vehicles, which can lead to life-threatening situations due to bugs or errors during the updating process.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle computing system that employs a hypervisor to manage multiple virtual machines, allowing for a 'hot update' process where an updated operating system is verified before taking control, ensuring safety and minimizing downtime by using a hot spare VM to take over and test the new OS while the old OS remains active for verification.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If software is updated on electric and autonomous vehicles, then the vehicle can receive new features and improvements, but bugs or errors can create serious and life-threatening situations
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the software update process into separate virtual machines: a first VM running the current operating system and a second VM running the updated operating system. This segmentation allows the updated software to be tested in isolation before being deployed to the main system, preventing potential bugs from affecting the running vehicle systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The updated operating system is loaded into the second virtual machine before being deployed to the first VM. This preliminary action allows for verification and testing of the updated software in a controlled environment before it takes effect, ensuring safety is maintained during the update process.
2Reliability
If a virtual machine approach is used for hot update, then the updated OS can be verified before taking control, but the system complexity increases with multiple VMs and hypervisor
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a copy of the operating system in a virtual machine rather than modifying the running system directly. This copying approach allows the updated OS to be developed, tested, and verified in an isolated environment before being deployed to the production system, maintaining reliability while managing complexity through virtualization.
Solution Approach 2:
A hypervisor is introduced as an intermediary layer between the physical hardware and the virtual machines. This hypervisor manages the execution of multiple VMs and handles the transition between different operating systems, simplifying the complexity by providing a dedicated control layer that coordinates the hot update process.
3Productivity
If the updated OS is deployed immediately, then the update speed is fast, but any errors take effect immediately causing safety issues
Solution Approach 1:
The updated operating system is loaded into a second virtual machine before being deployed to the first VM. This preliminary action allows for verification and testing of the updated software in a controlled environment before it takes effect, ensuring safety is maintained during the update process.
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains a backup of the current operating system in the first virtual machine while the updated system is being tested in the second VM. This beforehand cushioning allows for rapid rollback if errors are detected, minimizing the impact of potential software failures on the running vehicle systems.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems of an electrical vehicle and the operations thereof are provided. Embodiments include an electric vehicle, rechargeable electric vehicle, and/or hybrid-electric vehicle and associated systems. The electric vehicle includes a computing system with a processor executing two or more virtual machines that operate, install, execute, spin down, delete, etc. one or more versions of software, e.g., the operating system. A hypervisor can communicate with the virtual machines (VMs) and function as an intermediary between the VMs and one or more hardware interfaces that communicate with one or more hardware functions of the electric vehicle. The hypervisor can transfer inputs to the two or more VMs from the hardware interfaces, even if one or more of the VMs is operating updated software that has not been verified. Outputs from the VMs can be transferred to the hardware interfaces, unless the software is unverified.