Architectural guide to transforming mainline Linux into an automotive-grade real-time system using PREEMPT_RT, threaded interrupt handlers, and CPU core isolation.
Deploying Linux in safety-relevant central controllers requires rigorous latency profiling under stress. Running cyclictest while simulating heavy memory bus traffic, NVMe writes, and GPU loads reveals hidden SMI (System Management Interrupt) spikes and cache thrashing that must be tuned through BIOS/bootloader configuration.
Automotive architectures run perception, planning, and telematics in isolated OCI containers. By combining PREEMPT_RT with cgroups v2 CPU weight controllers and core cpuset pinning, high-priority drive loops remain completely unperturbed by background container deployments or telemetry logging bursts.