The code battle between Rust and C feels like it’s been heating up all year, and some folks are starting to pick a winner, at least in particular cases. Rust and C can both offer good performance and control for embedded hardware and systems, but the differences seem to end there.

For a few years now, using the open source model in safety-critical applications has felt like the next frontier. There’s no doubt about the diverse, innovative technologies and products that have sprung from open source software. So, it’s not surprising that the open source model has caught the attention of companies that deploy mission- and safety- critical applications, such as in the aerospace and defense, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, industrial, and autonomous vehicle industries, and made them wonder: Can we get some of that?

When I started the research for this article, I was looking for how OEMs could keep their systems safe from hackers. By the time I finished the research, it became clear to me that my vision was not accurate. You can not design a system that can’t breached, unless it’s one that does not connect to the outside world.

Over my 30+ year career, I've worked in various roles within the hardware value chain and have been amazed (and frustrated) at the extraordinary capability that’s being enabled out of effectively refined sand, in addition to the inability of the industry to extract relevant value for those hundreds of millions of transistors.