How open source is transforming software-defined commercial vehicles

Beyond passenger cars, software-defined technologies are increasingly shaping the commercial vehicle industry. This is also reflected in the growth of the Eclipse SDV Working Group. In the following interview, conducted at Open Community for Automotive 2026, Carlton Bale (Cummins) and Priyaa Gurunathan (Allison Transmission) discuss how leading commercial vehicle companies are collaborating on open source, non-differentiating software to accelerate the transition toward software-defined vehicles. They talk about the challenges of interoperability, cybersecurity, diagnostics, and fleet integration, while sharing insights from their joint work within the Eclipse SDV and COVESA ecosystems. Together, they outline how industry-wide collaboration can reduce complexity, lower costs, and help establish common standards for the next generation of commercial vehicle platforms.

What specific challenges do commercial vehicles create for cross-company collaboration on non-differentiating software?

Carlton Bale: In the commercial vehicles space, everything is driven by cost. We are very constrained by cost because if it doesn’t immediately add customer value, we can’t justify taking it to production.

The other large challenge is the high degree of variation from vehicle to vehicle. Each vehicle can have multiple options for transmissions and engines, all from different manufacturers. So we have to figure out how to work together as an industry to get our software functioning in the same level of compatibility that our hardware is.

Priyaa Gurunathan: Absolutely. I think, you know, the opportunity for us to collaborate on the non-differentiating software enables the OEMs to have better fleet interoperability when it comes to the lifecycle management of tier-1 products, as well as kind of achieve a consistency across their product portfolios and enabling them to focus on their core feature development as well. So establishing consistency, leveraging the cost diversification across the tier-1, as well as focusing on their core feature development.

What are the advantages of collaboration?

CB: The advantages of collaboration in the commercial vehicle space are magnified because there are so many tier-1 suppliers that work with so many different OEMs and we are all collaborating together on the same capabilities. But typically we had our own individual software stacks that created a huge amount of cost and proliferation across our different vehicle ecosystems. So now that we’re working through open source and we can identify a standard fundamental way of delivering software, that allows us to not focus so much on the infrastructure to deliver the software, but rather on the features that we deliver to our fleet customers.

PG: Also, for the OEMs to have a common telematics control unit instead of having a telematic control unit for every tier-1 and for us to kind of co-exist on the same landscape, if you will, it helps us to collaborate in that space and establish common KPIs for the software that we would implement on those hardware platforms. So those are definitely value-driven opportunities for us to collaborate in non-differentiating software.

CB: And to add to that, many of our Cummins engines that ship, they have an Acumen device, which is a telematics device mounted on the side of the engine that provides engine telematics features separate from vehicle telematics features.

And that was a short-term solution because we were not able to do the software integration. Longer term, we’re completely focused on eliminating that hardware and putting our software features in the OEM’s telematics device. So that’s going to add more value to the customers due to the software integration and due to the fewer number of connectivity devices in the vehicle.

PG: Also, the different tier-1s can still work on their communication protocols, can still work on their hardware operating systems, and yet kind of converge into a unified hardware platform by adopting these open source technologies.

What insights have you gained from the reference implementation you are presenting at OCA, and how have real-world conditions influenced the evolution of the prototype?

PG: The reference architecture provides us the opportunity to standardise the data signals across the industry partners. It provides us an opportunity to containerise the applications, such that it is agnostic to the underlying hardware and operating system, establish some of the regulatory aspects when it comes to cyber security and protecting IP as we isolate the runtime execution environment.

And like I said a minute ago, having a unified protocol that abstracts the underlying different communication standards that our industry partners choose to use while we all deliver to this common threshold of the KPIs.

CB: And as I mentioned several years ago, Cummins launched our Acumen telematics device, but it’s on somewhat an older connectivity architecture. Open in principle, but certainly doesn’t have all the latest technologies.

That’s why I’m really impressed with what Allison Transmission has done to adopt all the latest software stacks and capabilities, improve their viability through their current platform. And we’re looking forward to working with OEMs so we can incorporate these technologies into their platforms going forward and have a common interoperable ecosystem for all of us to use.

What are the most critical missing functionalities identified so far, and how do you envision collaborative efforts shaping future standards and software development to address them?

PG: In terms of Eclipse and COVESA projects, it offers us, like I said, various different benefits, but it does not address the requirements around the UDS protocol, which is the fundamental protocol when it comes to automotive in the commercial sector. And we are looking into forming a special interest group with an Eclipse consortium with the tier-1s and OEMs to develop an open source service-oriented vehicle diagnostics framework, which would address this missed opportunity as it delivers to the encryption, to the authentication of the signals, as well as the connection to the conventional CAN adapters as well.

CB: The CAN access and the security related to that have certainly been our largest challenges throughout our integration efforts through the industry. We contributed a project called CANought several years ago as an attempt to address this, but in the meantime, the OpenSOVD and the SOVD standard has emerged as a superior offering to that. And we’re certainly not tied to any specific solution or implementation. So we’ve quickly switched over for that to be our focus. And really, we’re looking for that to be able to solve our cybersecurity and standardisation capabilities. Because, when we look at the connectivity device, it’s very critical that we have security when that device communicates with the embedded ECUs within the powertrain. So using this SOVD as a standard and perhaps adding some additional security layers to it, we think will be the long-term solution that we’ve been trying to achieve for several years now.

You mention in your abstract that this reference architecture has been deployed on an internal test fleet. What do you think, when will it be ready for real-world deployments?

PG: The goal and the prototype that Allison’s Connected Tools team has developed is to ensure that we meet and explore and brainstorm OEM requirements in the space. So, in terms of readiness, it would come out as an outcome of the special interest group that we are forming with the OEMs and the tier-1s as we uncover more missed requirements and pivot accordingly. So I would say 2026-2027 is where we would be close to identifying the end game of this.

CB: And I think it’s key that we work together and to some extent expose our longer-term strategic roadmaps as far as when we can adopt these technologies.

Typically, we haven’t communicated that well throughout the industry. But as we’re looking to adopt new architectures, these take revisions in the hardware platforms and new programs as well to launch inside each company to adopt these new software architectures. So it really has highlighted the importance of long-term strategic planning. Some level of transparency there at least is when the open technologies will be adopted and then plans for testing and validation and productionisation after that.

What is the goal of the new commercial vehicles interest group under the umbrella of Eclipse SDV?

CB: The commercial vehicle special interest group, the focus group … we want to figure out the real-world problems that we need to solve through open source. So that is the basis as we’re starting with the problems we have today that we think can be addressed through open source.

PG: And especially around giving that opportunity to the OEMs to drive some of these open source projects directly addressing their concerns so that the technologies that we have developed thus far, which are extremely valuable, can then be translated into a production production software platform that OEMs can adapt.

CB: So what we’re doing is starting with a list of use cases that have been identified by the group, prioritised by the group, and then we’re taking those top use cases. We’re starting with some of the easier ones first and identifying blueprints or architecture diagrams around that that identify key open source projects. And then we’re starting to do prototyping with those projects to make sure they fill the capabilities we need. And as we solve these first use cases, we will dive into more complex use cases and hopefully be able to develop the platform we need in commercial vehicles to solve all of these problems that have been with the industry for decades.

What types of companies would you like to invite to participate in this initiative?

CB: We’re open to everyone and I think some of these use cases are perhaps automotive specific as well. So I think this would be particularly interesting to any tier-1 supplier across the passenger car or the commercial vehicle group. And where we’re excited to have more involvement is with commercial vehicle OEMs who either have already joined or have signalled intention to join. So I think that’s really the critical answer is commercial vehicle OEMs and commercial vehicle tier-1s working together to productionise this architecture.

PG: Absolutely and as Carlton said, definitely we’re open to any company or institution interested in joining us with our extreme focus centered around the OEMs, of course, because at the end of the day we are trying to solve the real world problems. We are also open to inviting our industry partners in the software and technology sector as well.

I would encourage people to join Eclipse. I would encourage people to join our group and then together to solve the problem as we evolve into our software defined vehicle architecture which is our next-generation architecture.

Priyaa Gurunathan is an executive MBA graduate from Great lakes Institute of Management. She has masters in embedded systems and bachelor’s in telecommunication. She is a board member of USF digital marketing advisory council. Priyaa has worked in various places in the automotive industry for 20 years, both in business partnership and engineering management capacity. She currently works for Allison Transmissions as engineering manager for connected tools team.

Carlton is a technology-obsessed engineer and MBA working in the commercial vehicle space and focusing on collaboration between companies to create industry-changing advances. His experience spans from leading the tech-focused strategies for large companies to being the founder of an IoT startup. When not immersed in tech, he spends time with his family and enjoys building and creating electronics, automobiles, and motorcycles and activities such as camping and skiing.