Blog

Uncategorized Implementing Remote Software Verification and Validation Using a Real Vehicle – InfoQ.com

Live Webinar and Q&A: Developing and deploying secure code with AWS Lambda (Jan 20th, 2022) Register Now
Facilitating the spread of knowledge and innovation in professional software development


As ransomware and phishing attacks increase, it is evident that attack vectors can be found on the inside in abundance. Zero Trust Security can be thought of as a new security architecture approach where the main goals are: verifying endpoints before any network communications take place, giving least privilege to endpoints, and continuously evaluating the endpoints throughout the communication.
What is the single best API technology you should always use? Thomas Betts moderated the discussion, with the goal to understand some of the high-level features and capabilities of three popular technologies for implementing APIs. The discussion covers some of the pros and cons of GraphQL and gRPC, and why you might use them instead of a RESTful API.
In this article, author Juan Pan discusses the data sharding architecture patterns in a distributed database system. She explains how Apache ShardingSphere project solves the data sharding challenges. Also discussed are two practical examples of how to create a distributed database and an encrypted table with DistSQL.
Psychological safety is a work climate where employees feel free to express their questions, concerns, ideas and mistakes. We cannot have high-performing teams without psychological safety. In this article, you will learn practical ideas, interesting stories, and powerful approaches to boost psychological safety in your team.
At QCon Plus, Mathias Schwarz, a software engineer at Uber, presented safe and fast deploys at planet scale. Uber is a big business and has several different products. They are, in most cases, deployed to dozens or hundreds of markets all over the world.
How do traditional security approaches scale in Cloud Native architectures? Register Now!
Learn from practitioners driving innovation and change in software. Attend in-person on April 4-6, 2022.
Uncover emerging trends and practices from software leaders. Attend online on May 10-20, 2022.
Your monthly guide to all the topics, technologies and techniques that every professional needs to know about. Subscribe for free.
InfoQ Homepage News Implementing Remote Software Verification and Validation Using a Real Vehicle
Jan 13, 2022 5 min read
by
Ben Linders
Bosch is doing automated regression testing and user testing using a real car instead of a simulated one. Their aim is to test the software as quickly as possible, both from the test engineer’s and user’s perspectives. The car can be accessed remotely, and team members can work without being in the car.
Pavel Hubenov, senior test engineer at Bosch Bulgaria, shared experiences from remote verification and validation of self-driving vehicles at QA Challenge Accepted 2021.
The continuous integration testing process is based on an automated system that builds software every night and runs tests to monitor regressions, as Hubenov explained:
We have partial validation every night based on the last implemented changes. In detail, it means that we are testing during the night affected features for regressions based on predefined priorities. It is possible every night configuration of the test set to be different. The results are dozens of reports for analyzing. Another fully automated system with quite complicated criteria which reads, filters, and analyzes, finally makes a conclusion for the whole test execution and all team members are informed in the morning.
Bosch is following the traditional V cycle with the exception that they have included a real car in the last two waterfall levels of testing:
To ensure that our device will work the same way in a real car and on the Hardware-In-The-Loop bench, we realized that we must include a real vehicle in our continuous testing process.
In addition, they organize additional testing sessions from the user’s point of view during the day. Hubenov mentioned that they use vehicles with different equipment levels from a commercial point of view to ensure all model modifications work the same way. One of them is their "hero of the day" which is included in the automated process, Hubenov said.
The car is a special prototype car. It is not allowed to be driven on the road but only used in specially approved parking places, Hubenov mentioned. It has all the necessary terminals to monitor whole communication.
Having a vehicle modified as a test bench, they were able to face challenges which global pandemic of Covid-19 brought to them, as Hubenov pointed out:
Having this unique bench gave us the flexibility not to stop working and to continue delivering the excellent quality our customers deserve. To mention: access is only from within the Bosch internal network and is given only to well-trained people from the project team.
InfoQ interviewed Pavel Hubenov about testing with a remote self-driving vehicle.
InfoQ: What challenges did you face in verifying and validating self-driving vehicles?
Pavel Hubenov: The challenges which we face are not only related to self-driving vehicles. Automotive is a very sensitive sphere, as avoiding possible mistakes may save a human life. With the increasing complexity of the functionality and in-vehicle software itself, test engineers can ensure excellent quality and safety of the product.
In Bosch Engineering Center Sofia, we realize that having highly skilled test engineers is a must, but it is not enough. We also work on the mindset of the test engineers – to give their best to achieve premium quality on each level of v-cycle following the standards and the company processes and not to forget that quality in every aspect is a must.
InfoQ: How did you automate and upgrade your testing with an implemented real car instead of a simulated one?
Hubenov: Based on simulation testing, we decided to reuse tests for the vehicle. We redesigned and adapted tests to run in the car expecting well-known results. For example, setup on the Hardware-In-The-Loop simulation is configured with the real gateway device and surrounded by simulated virtual nodes representing real ECUs from the vehicle. The testing concept on HIL is to send requests to the device and wait for responses in a specified time interval. But, in the real situation in the car, real devices are sending these same requests and waiting for related responses. So, the test is monitoring based on those real requests, and waiting for the triggered responses, without real events from our side which may toggle changes into the system.
In conclusion, for this kind of testing, the test itself is not a direct action maker, but just an events handler, synchronized with the transmitted events and measuring expected time interval for responses. To control the whole system or to affect the system communication, we are only using physical buttons of the car and the keyless remote control with specially-developed and implemented hardware equipment.
InfoQ: How is remote testing done?
Hubenov: In the automotive domain, due to the enormous volumes of tests that we execute for every delivery, we highly rely on automation testing. Manual testing is used mainly for defects reproduction and as an additional activity to deliver better quality. We rely on an automated system for nightly testing to ensure stability and non-regressions. Testing in Automotive is a 24/7 activity, and people might get tired; they need rest, but test benches can work instead of people all the time.
Remote access is allowed only for team members, no matter the location. Every team member has permission to book a slot for car usage and to run manual tests or automated ones. Sometimes, when a critical issue is to be reproduced and fixed as soon as possible, the agenda is paused, and team leaders are the decision-makers. Cases like this are processed with collaboration between developers and validation members. They can control the vehicle with a specially-dedicated pc and hardware designed for the robotics industry, and adapted for our prototype vehicle.
InfoQ: What have you learned on your test automation journey?
Hubenov: I understand that when automation is a team effort, everything is possible. I am happy to share that I had my team behind my back and colleagues from other departments during my journey. We are about 450 highly-skilled engineers in Bosch Engineering Center Sofia, and I know that I can rely on each of them when I need help or advice.
Our management highly supports this friendly and positive environment and knows that we all are one team. I can share that I see one of my dreams come true. I can start looking for new challenges which might look quite impossible or unrealistic. I believe that we, as a team, can find a technical solution for every idea, even if it seems crazy at first glance. Every proactive suggestion is discussed, estimated and accepted or postponed by the management based on project priorities and needs. Since the process is dynamic, we need quick feedback to give an idea of ours new life, and they know it perfectly. Communications between members and leads on all levels are inspiring and positive. The whole family has the same futuristic vision in achieving our goals.

Presented by: Andy Piper – VP of Engineering at Diffblue
Save your seat
A round-up of last week’s content on InfoQ sent out every Tuesday. Join a community of over 250,000 senior developers. View an example

We protect your privacy.
You need to Register an InfoQ account or or login to post comments. But there’s so much more behind being registered.
Get the most out of the InfoQ experience.
Allowed html: a,b,br,blockquote,i,li,pre,u,ul,p

Allowed html: a,b,br,blockquote,i,li,pre,u,ul,p

Allowed html: a,b,br,blockquote,i,li,pre,u,ul,p

A round-up of last week’s content on InfoQ sent out every Tuesday. Join a community of over 250,000 senior developers. View an example

We protect your privacy.
QCon, the international software development conference, is returning (in-person and online) in 2022.
QCon brings together the world’s most innovative senior software engineers across multiple domains to share their real-world implementation of emerging trends and practices.
Find practical inspiration (not product pitches) from software leaders deep in the trenches creating software, scaling architectures and fine-tuning their technical leadership to help you make the right decisions. Save your spot now!
InfoQ.com and all content copyright © 2006-2022 C4Media Inc. InfoQ.com hosted at Contegix, the best ISP we’ve ever worked with.
Privacy Notice, Terms And Conditions, Cookie Policy

source

Author Details

Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to
date with tech news!