Automotive software is facing a step change – where on top of the established hardware-driven value chains, software is becoming an unfettered field of innovation. This offers an opportunity for establishing cross-brand software ecosystems for in-vehicle software, and a chance to re-think large parts of how this software is created, managed, and operated. We believe that the only way to succeed at scale is to build the core software stacks in the open-source space, in an industry-spanning collaboration between major players from both IT and automotive segments. This is the goal of the Software-defined Car initiative, which aims to become a focal point for skilled attention on creating the next generation of vehicle software.