Chapter 1: Challenges and Priorities

Maintaining industry competitiveness without compromising quality remains the top strategic focus for automotive companies. However, “maximizing existing resources” and “educating existing talent” both dropped, while “modernizing the tech stack” rose. It appears that companies are recognizing the shortcomings of their development tools and are no longer able to make do with what they have. 

With most respondents (57%) developing or deploying Software Defined Vehicles (SDVs), we can surmise that many of these teams are bumping up against siloed tooling and outdated legacy platforms that struggle with large binaries and manual traceability. They might be hindered by overcomplicated branching and poor visibility when managing shared assets or limited in how they collaborate between cross-functional teams. Regardless of the obstacle, modernizing is a key priority in 2026.  

Digging deeper, when we look at what prevents teams from reaching their desired quality levels, we see that complexity is the primary issue holding them back.

At this critical juncture, where software and hardware are increasingly intertwined, 53% of respondents said that managing complexity is their biggest quality concern. Maintaining safety, security, and productivity (all top concerns) in the digital age will require an enhanced approach.