Perforce Software, together with the Eclipse Foundation, has published the results of the 2026 State of Automotive Software Development Survey, offering a detailed look at current practices and emerging trends in the automotive software sector, including the growing role of open source. Conducted in the fourth quarter of 2025, the survey collected input from over 450 automotive development professionals worldwide.
Industry challenges, SDVs, AI, Rust
The report covers a wide range of opportunities and challenges for the automotive industry and software professionals working in it.
Here are some general key findings from the report:
- As in the previous year, respondents identified “maintaining industry competitiveness” (57%) as their top concern. Although it declined by 10 percentage points, “maximising existing resources” remained the second most-cited challenge.
- A majority of respondents (57%) report that they are actively working on software-defined vehicle architectures, and as many as 81% say electric vehicle architecture is included within their organisation’s broader SDV strategy.
- Across all vehicle types, 71% of respondents report integrating AI into their vehicles, with 24% using it to drive overall vehicle design and 47% applying it to specific components. Notably, respondents in Africa (50%) and the Middle East (47%) reported the highest levels of extensive AI use in vehicle design.
- Regarding programming languages, Python usage, widely preferred for AI and machine learning applications, has surpassed C++, with 48% of teams now using it, marking a 12% increase year over year. Rust usage rose (11%) slightly by 2% compared to last year, while other programming languages remained largely unchanged. Its growing importance in safety-critical environments, including automotive, is driven by built-in features that help prevent unsafe code.
Open source software
Chapter 13 of the report contains interesting findings on the use of open source software (OSS) in the automotive industry:
- More than half of respondents (53%) reported using open source tools and/or contributing to open source projects in vehicle software, an increase of 3 percentage points from last year.
- Among respondents who are not using or contributing to OSS, intellectual property (IP) concerns emerged as the leading barrier, rising sharply by 14 percentage points since last year.
- Safety and security concerns also increased by 6% compared to last year.
- The challenge of vendor lock-in increased slightly (by 2%)
- Security concerns (56%) remained the top challenge for automotive development teams integrating OSS with proprietary systems, consistent with last year’s findings and aligning with a 6% rise in safety and security barriers to adoption.
- Licensing issues ranked as the second most significant challenge (49%), followed by concerns around insufficient long-term support (45%).
Clearing the roadblocks to open source adoption
These findings underscore the need for robust governance frameworks to help organisations safely and effectively adopt open source in automotive development, an area where the Eclipse SDV Working Group stands out. With its vendor-neutral structure, proven open source governance processes, and strong focus on transparency, security, and IP management, the Eclipse Foundation provides a trusted environment for collaboration across the automotive ecosystem. The Eclipse SDV Working Group brings together industry leaders to develop shared standards, improve long-term support, and address safety and security challenges collectively, enabling companies to innovate faster while reducing risk.
Download the full report here: https://www.perforce.com/resources/sca/2026-state-automotive-software-development-report
Cover image by RDNE Stock project: https://www.pexels.com/photo/women-having-a-meeting-7648223/
