How Will NXP Capitalize on Its CoreRide Platform, and How Should Other Vendors Respond?

NXP announced its Open S32 CoreRide platform in March 2024, targeted toward automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) that are struggling with the software and hardware integration challenges that are impeding the Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) transition. This is a move toward conducting more direct business with OEMs, a continuing trend in the automotive industry. The platform is a combination of the S32N family of processors, advanced vehicle networking, system power management, and pre-integrated software that has been collected through the collaboration of NXP’s partner ecosystem, including BlackBerry QNX, Wind River, Elektrobit, Sonatus, and Valeo, among others. Already with one OEM in development with S32 CoreRide and Bosch Mobility announcing a partnership for the S32N family of processors for its vehicle integration platform, NXP’s approach is clearly resonating with OEMs seeking platformization for their compute systems. During a period when software discussions are preceding hardware discussions, platforms like NXP’s will yield many advantages for OEMs.

The one-stop shop supplier positioning is a popular one in the automotive industry, due to the cost efficiencies and logistical advantages of simplifying the supply chain. NXP’s consolidation of hardware and middleware solutions does exactly this, allowing it to present OEMs with a complete solution for a centralized compute platform that controls everything except Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) systems. The lack of control over these domains may initially be seen as a missed opportunity for NXP to provide a full platform solution to OEMs, but the focus placed on the other domains allows NXP to capitalize on its strengths, rather than going after ADAS and IVI processing in which other vendors have more expertise. This approach mirrors recommendations for Tier Ones in the digital cockpit domain, outlined in ABI Research’s The Evolving Role of the Tier One Supplier in the Digital Cockpit report (PT-2783)—building component-agnostic solutions that can integrate third-party and even OEM-designed software or hardware into their platforms.

NXP has also outlined the scalable and flexible applications of the platform, allowing OEMs to consolidate Electronic Controller Units (ECUs) into flexible architectures such as domain, zonal, or completely centralized. Meeting different OEMs where they are in terms of the journey to ECU consolidation is a significant value proposition for the industry, which is at vastly different stages in the SDV transition.

NXP’s move is a strategic adjustment to a changing automotive ecosystem, where Tier Ones are building new relationships with both OEMs and Tier Two suppliers. It’s a significant step for a Tier Two supplier to move up the supply chain and take on more of the technology stack, so it won’t be feasible for much of the Tier Two ecosystem to make the same move. To avoid making the same mistakes as its Tier One incumbents, NXP has positioned its platform around its existing strength in compute networking and focused on a more open ecosystem approach to fill in the gaps, resulting in a robust integration platform for OEMs to utilize, rather than attempting innovation across the entire software stack for their value proposition.

Tier One suppliers may lack the semiconductor expertise to build a solution that directly rivals NXP’s, which is especially important to OEMs as their choice of System-on-Chip (SoC) has become one of their most crucial decisions for vehicle compute.

For Tier One and Tier Two suppliers to remain competitive following NXP’s announcement, they can, alternatively:

• Fill in the blank spots of NXP’s platform: ADAS and IVI compute. These are both specialized domains with unique compute requirements, so OEMs will be looking for vendors that can provide a hardware and software suite that helps them deploy complete SDV plans.
• Join and contribute their expertise to NXP’s partnership ecosystem; the list of collaborators is extensive, and as NXP continues to develop and improve the solution, they will benefit from a growing and collaborative partner ecosystem.
• Form competing solutions with their own partner ecosystems; with a similar hardware leadership from industry-leading silicon vendors that can collect the expertise of other vendors to provide complete compute systems that integrate the domains that NXP have left out.