Red Hat In-Vehicle Operating System

May 20, 2025•
Resource type: Datasheet

Overview

Red Hat® In-Vehicle Operating System (OS) is a production-grade, safety-certified, open source Linux® platform built for software-defined vehicles (SDVs). Built on strong foundations of industry-leading Red Hat Enterprise Linux, it combines functional safety certification [International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 26262:2018 Automotive Safety Integrity Levels (ASIL-B)] with automotive-grade optimizations. Red Hat In-Vehicle OS empowers automakers to adopt SDV architectures that prioritize safety, security, and long-term maintainability while supporting continuous innovation through open source communities.

Safety certified Linux for software-defined vehicles

Core capabilities

Description

Functional safety

Red Hat In-Vehicle OS is certified as a Safety Element out of Context (SEooC), as per ISO 26262:2018, to support ASIL-B applications on a predefined set of target hardware platforms. A tailored approach that uses part 6 as an assessment framework and is aligned with ISO/PAS 8926:2024 supports the certification of pre-existing open source software components, notably selected Linux application programming interfaces (APIs), libraries, services, and kernel subsystems. Supporting documentation—including Assumptions of Use (AoUs) and safety guidance—helps automakers achieve system-level compliance with ISO 26262.

Mixed-criticality

Red Hat In-Vehicle OS safety certificate includes a mixed-criticality claim, allowing safety-critical applications (up to ASIL B) and nonsafety applications to share a single, ASIL‑qualified Linux kernel. Isolation is achieved through Linux-native capabilities and specialized configurations, eliminating the need for a separate guest OS for each workload and reducing startup time and memory footprint compared to VM-based approaches.

Platform security

Red Hat In-Vehicle OS incorporates multiple layers of security, including SELinux to enforce mandatory access control (MAC) and ensure security-focused isolation. The platform further enhances security through integrated firewalls, comprehensive audit tools, file integrity verification mechanisms, LUKS-based disk encryption, kernel lockdown protections, and hardened container environments.

Cybersecurity

Red Hat In-Vehicle OS provides cybersecurity controls, including secure boot, TPM integration, image signing, rollback protection, and isolation between in-vehicle systems to support secure, multidomain deployments. Red Hat In-Vehicle OS is developed according to Red Hat Secure Development Lifecycle practices, which align with NIST SP 800-216 Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF).

Real-time performance

Red Hat In-Vehicle OS uses the PREEMPT_RT kernel to allow bounded, low-latency scheduling for time-sensitive workloads, such as Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS). By prioritizing predictability over raw latency, PREEMPT_RT facilitates critical tasks to execute within well-defined time windows suitable for real-time automotive applications. System-level tuning further enhances responsiveness and timing consistency across critical workloads.

Power efficiency

Red Hat In-Vehicle OS uses power management features from Red Hat Enterprise Linux, including dynamic central processing unit (CPU) frequency scaling, tickless idle, and workload-aware tuning. In Red Hat In-Vehicle OS, the availability and use of these features may vary depending on system configuration, hardware, and safety requirements. These mechanisms effectively support energy-efficient operations across industries and suit SDV-dynamic workloads, balancing power savings with real-time responsiveness.

Deployment options

Red Hat In-Vehicle OS supports flexible deployment models to meet the demands of modern automotive systems. It can run directly on bare-metal hardware for full platform control or, potentially, as a virtual machine on a platform hypervisor where required. These options allow automakers to build scalable, mixed-criticality systems optimized for high-performance compute platforms.

Fast boot

Red Hat In-Vehicle OS optimizes boot performance to meet automotive requirements, ensuring the rapid initialization of user-facing systems (e.g., infotainment) and safety-critical systems. Through system-level optimizations and hardware-aware tuning, it supports tight boot latency targets defined by automotive OEMs, enabling fast system readiness for time-sensitive operations.

Diverse use cases

Red Hat In-Vehicle OS supports a wide range of automotive applications, including infotainment, advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS), telematics, gateways, and domain controllers. Its flexibility provides smoother deployment in both centralized and zonal compute architectures, addressing the scalability needs of modern SDVs.

Technical specifications

Upstream project

Red Hat In-Vehicle OS is an enterprise automotive Linux distribution built downstream from the Automotive Stream Distribution (AutoSD) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Developed by the CentOS Automotive special interest group (SIG), AutoSD provides early access to foundational software components optimized for automotive use cases. Red Hat In-Vehicle OS extends AutoSD with platform-specific enhancements, functional safety certification, and commercial readiness for deployment on certified automotive hardware. Learn more at CentOS Automotive SIG.

Automotive kernel

Red Hat In-Vehicle OS includes an automotive-specific Linux kernel designed to meet the demands of modern vehicle architectures. Red Hat In-Vehicle OS is based on kernel 5.14, building on the CentOS Stream and Red Hat Enterprise Linux kernel, incorporating significant backports from kernel 6 series—for modern capabilities with long-term stability. The kernel is provided in multiple variants, which include production (optimized for runtime and safety), debug (with diagnostic instrumentation), and GNU Compiler Collection coverage (Gcov) (for code coverage analysis).

Safety scope and included packages

Red Hat In-Vehicle OS includes the complete Red Hat Enterprise Linux package set and automotive-specific components. The safety-certified scope encompasses key Linux kernel subsystems, including memory management, process scheduling, file systems, networking, clocks and timers, and in-tree device drivers. Safety-certified user-space components include systemd, dbus-broker, Podman, and a curated subset of the glibc standard libraries. While nonsafety workloads may use the full standard libraries, safety-critical code is restricted to the certified APIs and components defined within the Red Hat In-Vehicle OS safety scope.

Delivery mechanism

Red Hat In-Vehicle OS provides signed, qualified binary packages through security-focused repositories with installation and runtime metadata. These packages serve as inputs for custom image creation using the Automotive Image Builder (AIB), where manifest files define the package set and system configuration.

To ensure hardware compatibility, traceability, and safety assurance, customers must use Red Hat signed binary packages to create custom images rather than building the OS from source. 

While third-party components can be added, only validated packages are allowed in ASIL partitions. Users are responsible for verifying the integrity of any additional software, with a preference for upstream-accepted components.

Application development

Red Hat In-Vehicle OS provides a safety-qualified compiler toolchain for developing automotive applications, eliminating the need for a separate Software Development Kit (SDK). Development and prototyping can begin on AutoSD, Red Hat In-Vehicle OS, or other compatible distributions, such as CentOS Stream 9 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, all of which share the same APIs and Application Binary Interface (ABI). However, to meet ISO 26262 certification requirements, all safety-critical software must be built natively on Red Hat In-Vehicle OS using the qualified toolchain.

Compliance is maintained through a curated subset of glibc APIs, aided by a compiler-integrated safety plug-in. Depending on system requirements, applications can be packaged as RPMs or containerized with Podman.

Hardware enablement

Red Hat In-Vehicle OS supports ARM AArch64 and x86-64 architectures, supporting compatibility with a wide range of automotive-grade SoCs. Hardware platforms currently supported include:

  • Renesas R-Car S4 (Red Hat In-Vehicle OS safety scope)
  • Qualcomm SA8775

For the latest hardware enablement status from partners such as Intel, NXP, MediaTek, and Texas Instruments, contact Red Hat.

Lifecycle and over-the-air (OTA) Readiness

  • Long-term lifecycle support with backward compatibility
  • Regular security patches and bug fixes
  • Support for OTA updates with A/B partitioning and rollback
  • Immutable image management with ComposeFS

Subscription benefits

  • Access to Red Hat In-Vehicle OS source and binaries
  • 24/7 support with service level agreements (SLAs)
  • Continuous safety certification support
  • Standard commercial software terms (e.g., IP indemnity and warranty)
  • Reference architectures and solution blueprints
  • Ecosystem collaboration and certified partner integrations

For more information, contact the Red Hat In-Vehicle OS team

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Tags:Security