SDV: When the Industry Needs Partners Who Design Speed

The transition to SDVs can no longer be explained simply in terms of technological superiority. Real competitiveness lies in how effectively complex development and validation can be brought into an execution system thatoperatesboth quickly and reliably. Through LTS Group, this article explores why the automotive industry now requires not just technology providers, but partners capable of designing execution speed. What ultimately matters is not a familiar name or country of origin, but whether credibility has already been proven through recognized standards and real project experience. In April, we met Phung Thanh Xuan, CEO of LTS Group, at Automotive World.
 


The automotive industry is quietly passing through a turning point. Software-defined vehicles (SDVs) are no longer a concept of the future. Most OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers are aligned in the same direction, and the transition toward centralized architectures, high-performance computing, and cloud-based services has already become a clear trend.
However, the real issue facing the industry is not technology. It is speed. More precisely, what is lacking is an execution system capable of actually delivering that speed.
And here, a company is attempting to present an answer from a position that is neither OEM nor traditional Tier 1. A player that stands in between not creating technology, nor finalizing it, but taking responsibility for execution. A partner that transforms in tangible software into tangible performance: LTS Group, an IT service company based in Vietnam.
Founded in 2016 with a focus on quality assurance (QA), LTS has evolved into a global execution partner covering automotive software development, validation, and data solutions for ADAS and AVs.


 

The transition to SDVs cannot be completed through the adoption of a single technology. Moving from a distributed ECU structure to a centralized or zonal architecture is not simply a matter of hardware integration - it is a restructuring of the entire organization.
As a single high-performance computing unit begins to handle ADAS, infotainment, and body control functions simultaneously, development can no longer be separated by individual domains. With the addition of hypervisor-based parallel systems, cloud-based services, and continuous OTA updates, the paradigm of automotive development itself is changing.
The reality, however, is that the industry is struggling to keep up with this shift. Many OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers still operate with hardware-centric organizational structures. Software talent is limited, and testing and validation have become major bottlenecks. Projects are delayed, labor costs are rising, and experienced engineers are scarce.
Some Tier 1 companies, in particular, have come to realize that the challenges they face - talent shortages, long working hours, and rising costs - are not simply operational issues, but structural limitations.
Phung Thanh Xuan, CEO of LTS Group, whom we met at Automotive World in COEX this April, describes the essence of the problem:
  Honestly, it  s rarely a lack of technology that blocks progress. The problem is that multiple functions have to be developed simultaneously while validation keeps up - but the system to support that simply isn  t there. In the end, speed is not a technology problem. It  s a problem of execution structure.  
Once the core problem becomes clear, the direction of the solution also changes. The automotive industry now requires a new type of player to bridge this gap.


 

 
LTS Group did not begin with development, but with quality. Phung Thanh Xuan previously worked as a QA director at a software company, where she gained experience in global projects. Through that experience, she repeatedly observed a structural issue: development progressed quickly, while validation was pushed to the end, causing quality risks to accumulate in the later stages of projects.
LTS Group was built from that very realization to elevate QA from the final step of a project to a system that operates along side development from the beginning. This is why defining LTS Group simply as an outsourcing company is insufficient. Its origin in QA isa key to understanding its identity.
Today, in the automotive industry, discussions are shifting from development to validation. As SDVs advance, software size grows exponentially, interdependencies between functions become more complex, and the scope of testing expands beyond physical vehicles to include simulation, data, and AI models.
  Typically, development teams and testing teams operate separately. Testing begins only after development is finished, which is why problems explode at the end. We put them in the same team from the start. Test engineers need to sit together from the design stage so feedback can move faster.  
LTS Group provides not only development, but also the system to validate those outcomes in parallel. It has capabilities across the full stack - from BSW, MCAL, middleware, and HMI development to CI/CD, functional safety (ISO 26262), cybersecurity (ISO/SAE 21434), and ASPICE compliance. This is not merely coding support, but an organization capable of integrating directly into OEM development processes.
Today, LTS Group operates an end-to-end technology service ecosystem through its affiliates: LTS (software development), LQA (software testing), LTS GDS (digital BPO and AI data), LTS EDU (IT education), and ManNet (HR solutions). It has offices in the United States, Japan, and Korea, and serves clients across four continents.


 

 
In the SDV era, competitiveness is no longer determined by code alone. Particularly with the expansion of ADAS, autonomous driving, and in-vehicle AI features, the performance of automotive software is increasingly determined not by algorithms themselves, but by data.
What data is collected, how it is refined, and how training and evaluation are conducted have become critical factors.
LTS Group  s AI capabilities are not a side business - they are embedded directly into the automotive software development structure. LTS GDS provides data solutions covering the full lifecycle of large language models (LLMs), including pre-training datasets, instruction-response and reasoning data, human preference and safety data, multilingual and multimodal datasets, as well as evaluation and benchmarking data.
Its capabilities also extend to RLHF (Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback), DPO (Direct Preference Optimization), model evaluation, and Red Teaming.
  When you look at why ADAS models fail, most of the time it comes down to data. No matter how good the algorithm is, if the training data is flawed, itwon  twork.That  swhy we aim for 99% labeling accuracy.It  snot just labeling - we get involved from data collection to refinement and validation so we can take real responsibility for data quality.  
These capabilities manifest even more directly in the automotive domain. LTS Group provides labeling for camera, LiDAR, and sensor fusion datasets used in ADAS and autonomous driving, expanding into the domain of data quality that directly affects vehicle perception performance.
Through collaboration with BSW and ASW development teams, LTS has begun to participate in global OEM AD/ADAS projects. Earlier this year, it also launched its AI operations platform, Beacon, designed to support companies in building, deploying, and operating AI systems in compliance with global regulations such as GDPR, SOC 2, and the EU AI Act.



 
To understand LTS Group, one must also understand the environment it is built upon - Vietnam. Vietnam is no longer simply a low-cost production base. It has approximately 560,000 IT professionals, with more than 60,000 new graduates entering the field each year. Additionally, around 800,000 people are capable of working on AI data-related tasks.
More important than the numbers themselves is the fact that this workforce is continuously replenished and scalable.
Vietnam  s role in the automotive industry is also evolving. There are approximately 370 automotive-related manufacturing companies, around 80 suppliers meeting global standards, and 1,709 FDI enterprisesoperatingin the country. As major OEMs and supply chain players continue to expand into Vietnam, the country is transitioning from a consumer market to a hub connecting development, production, and supply chains.
  Korean partners often look at Vietnam initially for cost reasons. But once we start working together, the conversation changes. The real value is that you can scale teams up quickly when needed - and scale them down as well. That flexibility is what truly matters.  
The qualitative level of talent is also notable. Vietnam consistently ranks among the top globally in developer and freelancer competitiveness. In addition to English, the workforce is highly adaptable to multilingual environments, including Korean, Japanese, and Chinese.
Samsung has established its largest R&D center in Vietnam, while companies like Marvell and Alibaba affiliates have made significant investments. Combined with political stability, an open trade environment, and government support for the technology sector, Vietnam has become one of the most effective bases for building scalable execution organizations.


 
This foundation is not theoretical - it has already been validated through real projects.
One case involves a wireless charging system development project for a Korean automotive supplier. What the customer needed was not simply additional manpower. With limited MCU resources, multiple vehicle variants, and tight timelines, what was required was a structure in which development and validation could operate together from the beginning.
LTS Group took on development based on Classic AUTOSAR, covering Network, CAN, Diagnostic, Cybersecurity, NFC, Charging, and CAN Validation. At the same time, design and coding were carried out in the Vector DaVinci environment, while validation was performed in parallel using Helix QAC, vCast, and vTestStudio.
The project reached full ramp-up in approximately two months, resulting in a 13% reduction in operational costs and a 26% reduction in internal workload.
  This wasn  t about simply adding more people. Development and validation moved together from the start.That  s why we were able to catch issues early instead of letting them surface at the end.  
Another case illustrates the same conclusion from a different angle. In this project, the core requirement was not technology, but speed. After winning a global project, the customer needed to establish an execution organization within a short time frame, while continuing to scale the team as the project progressed.
In response, LTS Group rapidly built a task-oriented team structure to reduce dependency on the client and minimize communication and training time. Approval layers were reduced, and direct communication channels wereestablishedwith key stakeholders. At the same time, onboarding and development environments were standardized so that new members could be deployed into projects immediately.
  In projects where speed is critical, the first thing we reduced was the approval process. People needed to communicate directly and make decisions immediately. We also set a rule: daily progress tracking and resolving issues within 24 hours. The biggest change customers noticed was that they could finally   see what was going on.    
Ultimately, both cases point to the same conclusion. Competitiveness in automotive software projects is no longer determined by how many people are added, but by whether development and validation can move as one and how quickly such a structure can be established and scaled.
GDC is not merely a cost-saving tool, but an execution model that enables both speed and quality.


 

 
The global automotive industry is facing two simultaneous pressures. One is the speed of China, and the other is global software competition.
Chinese OEMs are rapidly bringing products to market based on short development cycles and integrated supply chains, while continuing aggressive investments in software and AI. Under these conditions, it becomes increasingly difficult to compete through internal capabilities alone, making global collaboration essential for achieving scale.
  I can feel that Korean companies are changing the way they look at Vietnam. In the past, it was seen as a cost-saving option. Now, the question is how quickly they can scale their organizations. I believe that  s the right direction. That  s exactly what we aim to do fill the gaps where Korean teams are struggling.  
With a 97% customer satisfaction rate, more than 275 completed projects, a client portfolio spanning over 10 countries, ISO 27001 certification, and recognition from Clutch as a global provider, LTS has built credibility that goes beyond being a low-cost alternative.
In the SDV era, competitiveness is no longer defined by functionality alone. The question is not who has better technology, but who can execute faster, more reliably, and in a repeatable manner.
LTS Group is a company that designs and delivers that execution system. At a time when execution itself is becoming increasingly difficult, the need for partners who can provide execution capability from the outside has never been greater.

AEM(오토모티브일렉트로닉스매거진)

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