US-20260126990-A1 - SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HANDLING CONFIGURATION OF A VEHICLE

Abstract

A method is performed by a vehicle system for handling configuration of a vehicle. The vehicle system obtains a request for a service to be provided on-board the vehicle. The vehicle system compares a current configuration with a required configuration of network capabilities that the vehicle is required to have to be capable of hosting the service. The network capabilities comprise one or more containers and/or one or more logical networks connecting containers to one another and/or to one or more offboard resources. When a result of the comparing indicates that the current configuration is different than the required configuration, the vehicle system triggers the vehicle to reconfigure its current configuration of network capabilities such that the vehicle comprises the required configuration of the network capabilities and is thereby capable of hosting the service.

Inventors

• Joshua SHIRE

Assignees

• VOLVO TRUCK CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20251219

Priority Date

20220307

Claims (13)

1. 1 .- 12 . (canceled)
2. 13 . A method performed by a vehicle system for handling configuration of a vehicle, the method comprising: inflating one or more containers, where a container is a logical structure representing a segmented part of the vehicle's operating system resources and that are separated from other operating system resources of the vehicle; and initiating configuration of one or more Electronic Control Units, ECU, comprised in the vehicle to connect the one or more containers.
3. 14 . The method according to claim 13 , comprising: initiating configuration of one or more logical networks to support the one or more containers.
4. 15 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein the one or more logical networks support a service on-board the vehicle.
5. 16 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein the segmented part of the vehicle's operating system resources that the container represents are assigned to a service on-board the vehicle.
6. 17 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein inflating the one or more containers is adapted to vehicle hardware, vehicle software, vehicle operating region and vehicle product class.
7. 18 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein the container is associated with communication related to a service on-board the vehicle.
8. 19 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein the container is implemented using Linux namespaces.
9. 20 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein the vehicle system is partly or completely located offboard the vehicle, or wherein the vehicle system is partly or completely located on-board the vehicle.
10. 21 . A vehicle system for handling configuration of a vehicle, the vehicle system being adapted to perform the method of claim 13 .
11. 22 . A vehicle comprising at least part of the vehicle system according to claim 21 .
12. 23 . A computer program comprising program code for performing the method of claim 13 when said program code is run on a computer.
13. 24 . A non-transitory computer readable medium carrying a computer program comprising program code for performing the method of claim 13 when said program code is run on a computer.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The invention generally relates to a vehicle system and a method performed by the vehicle system. More particularly, the invention relates to handling configuration of a vehicle. The invention can be applied in heavy-duty vehicles, such as trucks, buses, and construction equipment. Although the invention will be described with respect to a heavy-duty vehicle, the invention is not restricted to this particular vehicle, but may also be used in other vehicles such as trailers, wheel loaders, articulated haulers, excavators, backhoe loaders, passenger cars, marine vessels, working machines, etc. The term vehicle will be used herein when referring to any of the above types of vehicles. BACKGROUND Vehicles today comprises numerous applications, e.g. software applications. Services may be implemented, supported or delivered by software, e.g. an application, on-board the vehicle and provided by the vehicle manufacturer, the vehicle owner or a third-party. An example of an application may be a driver time management system, fleet management system, body builder equipment control, passenger media control, etc. Applications to support or deliver services may be installed and configured on-board the vehicle at manufacturing or at some later time instance. There is a constant need for further improvements related to such service in vehicles. It is necessary for the vehicle to have a certain vehicle configuration to be able to enable the application. An application may or may not require a change or upgrade of the vehicle configuration. Sometimes, an application is installed on a vehicle even though the current vehicle configuration is not completely sufficient in order to enable the application, and this may lead to that the application does not function optimally. Some applications can be installed on-board and run on the vehicle without any change or upgrade of the vehicle configuration, i.e. the current vehicle configuration is sufficient for the application. For example, an application that requires direct internet access does not necessarily result in a change of the vehicle configuration, it only results in installation of the application. It is necessary to ensure that a vehicle is properly configured to host a desired application or service. Further improvements related to applications and vehicle configuration is necessary. Different applications supporting, implementing or delivering services running on a vehicle may require communications to different remote, offboard end points. Often, this endpoint is located on the internet. Other times, these endpoints are located on private networks accessible by a private Access Point Name (APN) or a Virtual Private Network (VPN). This can cause routing challenges if the VPNs or APNs have conflicting Internet Protocol (IP) address spaces. Further, these services or their communications may have different quality, security or safety requirements. Therefore, solutions for how to configure the vehicle in a dynamic way, based upon services bought by the customer, which allows for conflicting IP routing or forwarding tables needs to be provided. It may also be necessary to ensure that communications are segregated and segmented at the logical link level for quality, safety and security. Other issues to consider may be how to support services delivered by applications which may not be designed specifically to run on automotive Electronic Control Units (ECU), and thus demand more traditional internet connectivity as one would expect from a consumer mobile device. Therefore, there is a need to at least mitigate or solve this issue. SUMMARY An object of the invention is to improve handling configuration of a vehicle. According to a first aspect of the method is performed by a vehicle system for handling configuration of a vehicle. The vehicle system obtains a request for a service to be provided on-board the vehicle. The vehicle system compares a current configuration of the vehicle's network capabilities with a required configuration of network capabilities that the vehicle is required to have to be capable of hosting the requested service. The network capabilities comprise one or more containers and/or one or more logical networks connecting containers to one another and/or to one or more offboard resources. The container is a logical structure representing a segmented part of the vehicle's operating system resources assigned to the service and that are separated from other operating system resources of the vehicle. When a result of the comparing indicates that the current configuration of the network capabilities is different than the required configuration of the network capabilities, the vehicle system triggers the vehicle to reconfigure its current configuration of network capabilities such that the vehicle comprises the required configuration of the network capabilities and is thereby capable of hosting the service. By the provision of the method, the hand