Karma Automotive announces its collaboration with Intel Automotive to co-develop Software Defined Vehicle Architecture (SDVA) that will underpin its upcoming vehicles including the Karma Kaveya super coupe, anticipated to arrive in 2026.
Through the shared expertise from their respective industries, the companies will demonstrate and validate critical concepts for the advancement of open standards for SDVA that can be shared to support the transformation of the broader automotive industry, according to officials.
Today’s vehicle typically has over 100 ECUs, each delivering a single function, requiring over a mile of copper cabling to connect. Layer upon layer has been piled atop a foundation that can no longer support the future of the automobile, the company noted.
A solution can be found in the Information Technology (IT) industry, which long ago moved away from single-function devices to high-performance computing systems where multiple workloads run on a single, centralized system. Similarly, SDVA looks at the vehicle systems as a whole, and allows for the seamless movement of workloads between software-defined central “compute” systems.
“Karma Automotive, together with Intel Automotive, will realize SDVA’s full potential to create innovative, intelligent Karma automobiles,” says Marques McCammon, president, Karma Automotive. “For Tier 1’s and OEMs not quite ready to take the leap from the old way of doing things to the new, Karma Automotive will play as an ally, helping them make that transition with business-to-business SDVA solutions.”
“At Intel Automotive we can see that the industry is facing a perfect storm of unprecedented change. Intel has assisted other industries with such transformations in the past and we’re honored to do the same in Automotive,” says Jack Weast, Intel fellow, vice president, general manager, Intel Automotive.
The Karma Kaveya super coupe, with up to 1,000 horsepower, optional all-wheel drive and a sub-three second 0-60, will be priced from approximately $300,000 when it arrives in 2026, and will be the world’s first vehicle developed from the ground-up with SDVA. All future Karma automobiles to follow the Kaveya, including the potential production version of Karma Automotive’s “GT-UV” Design Study which makes its premiere at The Quail, on Friday, Aug. 16, in Monterey, California, will follow this same path, utilizing SDVA co-developed with Intel Automotive.
