QNX said automotive developers spend 35 percent of their time below the application layer
The vendor's second annual survey of 1,100 embedded automotive software developers found a third of their effort goes to integration work beneath the vehicle application layer, and that only 22 percent of their organizations extensively reuse a foundational software platform across vehicle programs.
QNX, a division of BlackBerry, released its second annual Under the Hood: SDV Developer Report on October 21, a survey of 1,100 embedded automotive software developers. It found that 35 percent of developer effort goes on average to software integration work below the vehicle application layer rather than to building differentiating consumer features, with 19 percent of respondents spending at least half their time on that integration work.
Seventy-five percent said the lack of a common, reusable software foundation slows software-defined vehicle development, and 76 percent agreed that manufacturers should prioritize application-layer innovation over software infrastructure. Asked to choose two options that would free up time for application work, respondents most often chose better integration across development tools and environments, at 46 percent, followed by greater software reuse across vehicle programs at 38 percent and a pre-integrated foundational software platform at 34 percent.
The report puts a figure on how much reuse exists, on page 9, and the press release does not carry it. Only 22 percent said their organizations extensively reuse foundational software platforms across different vehicle programs or electronic control unit domains. That share was highest in the United States at 28 percent and South Korea at 27 percent, and lowest in China at 12 percent. A further 68 percent reuse such platforms somewhat, meaning for some programs while customized software is used for others, a figure that rose to 82 percent among Chinese respondents.
On security, 48 percent named it among their three biggest concerns about the future of automotive software development, up from 43 percent a year earlier and more than any other option, and 83 percent expected software-defined vehicles to become a major target for cyberattacks within three years. Expectations of artificial intelligence moderated: a quarter now describe it as transformational, down from 36 percent, while 62 percent call it significant and integrated into workflows.
The research was commissioned by QNX, which sells the foundational software its findings argue for, and conducted by the market research company OnePoll between July 20 and August 4, 2026.