Vector strengthens position in automotive software market with ArcCore acquisition

Vector, the Stuttgart-based embedded software specialist for automotive embedded electronics, has acquired the Swedish embedded software specialist ArcCore.

The acquisition strengthens Vector’s portfolio of products and services in the field of AutoSar, the global automotive software standard for intelligent vehicles.

ArcCore was founded in 2006 and currently employs 80 people worldwide who work on developing and distributing products and services in the domain of embedded based solutions, primarily for the automotive market. 

Since 2009, the focus is on the global ECU software standard AutoSar. Headquartered in Gothenburg (Sweden), ArcCore has subsidiaries in Linköping (Sweden), Munich (Germany), Bangalore (India), Palo Alto (USA) and Shanghai (China).

For Dr Thomas Beck, managing director of Vector, the acquisition offers many advantages for automotive customers, not only in Sweden but far beyond.

Beck says: “ArcCore is a strong addition to our embedded software portfolio and contributes to the success of worldwide customer projects.

“A special focus will be on the ongoing development of AutoSar Adaptive, the new standard platform for application computers in vehicles.

“The powerful development team enables us to provide useful innovations for our customers.”

Michael Svenstam, CEO and co-founder of ArcCore, says: “ArcCore is excited to join the Vector family.

“For the past five years, ArcCore has grown to be a recognized global partner in the AutoSar market. Adding ArcCore offerings to technologies and capabilities from Vector will further extend the ability to serve current and new customers.”

Vector is not new to the Swedish market. The wholly owned Vector subsidiary VecScan is headquartered in Gothenburg and has been serving customers since 2002 with software tools and embedded components mainly for the automotive market.

In the meantime, VecScan has established a solid position in Scandinavia and will continue to expand it in the future.

Development work on AutoSar Adaptive software for automotive ECUs is currently in full progress in the IT industry.

While the development of conventional ECUs was driven primarily by stringent real-time and safety requirements, today aspects such as updating and upgrading capability are primary considerations.

These involve dynamic reloading of software components, the use of standard libraries – such as for image analysis – self-learning of functions and accelerated production cycles.

The main use cases are automated driving and “over-the-air” updating as well as multimedia applications.