TOKYO, Oct. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- TIER IV, the pioneering force behind Autoware*, the world's first open-source software for autonomous driving, is excited to announce the launch of a joint initiative with Hitachi Astemo to advance autonomous driving systems and software-defined vehicles (SDVs). This collaboration, leveraging Autoware's capabilities, builds on both companies' engagement with the Autoware Foundation (AWF) and Scalable Open Architecture for Embedded Edge (SOAFEE) initiative. With their sights set on 2030, the companies are intensifying their efforts to deliver innovative solutions for mass production vehicle models.

Amid major shifts in the automotive industry, a new class of suppliers dubbed Tier 0.5 is emerging, offering value-added solutions that go beyond conventional Tier 1 models. Positioned as a Tier 0.5 supplier, Hitachi Astemo provides comprehensive system solutions that consider the entire vehicle's architecture. In line with this goal, the company is developing a reference system (Internet of Vehicles Platform: IoV PF) for system development tailored to the needs of automakers. Hitachi Astemo is also pioneering a cloud-native software architecture that facilitates development and standardizes specifications on the cloud. These innovations will significantly enhance development efficiency, elevate product quality, reduce costs, and enable faster time-to-market. The architecture will integrate Autoware as the core autonomous driving software.

TIER IV has been actively collaborating with key members of AWF and SOAFEE to define industry-standard and expand the reach of the Open AD Kit, a comprehensive referential development kit for autonomous driving systems built on Autoware. Looking forward, TIER IV plans to enhance clound-native environments for the kit and support the development of autonomous driving systems based on the SOAFEE-compliant SDV architecture. This collaboration will leverage Hitachi Astemo's reference system to accelerate the next-generation Open AD Kit project.

In addition to these efforts, TIER IV is accelerating the development of a large-scale, cooperative machine learning operations (MLOps) infrastructure and embedded edge AI models specifically designed for autonomous driving systems. With the launch of the Co-MLOps project in January 2024, TIER IV will spearhead the creation of a global framework that allows companies worldwide to collaborate and share data, accelerating advancements in machine learning and edge AI development. These capabilities will be integrated into the Open AD Kit and will also be aligned with Hitachi Astemo's reference system.