Navigating the Future: The Impact of Karpenter on BMW's Connected Drive Ecosystem

Orbit, the backbone of BMW’s Connected Drive, is a dynamic ecosystem with over 360 EKS clusters supporting more than 22 million connected vehicles. As part of our continuous improvement, Orbit is transitioning from Cluster Autoscaler to Karpenter, marking a significant step towards operational excellence and cost-effectiveness. We will discuss how Karpenter’s features improved resource utilization, have reduced costs and streamlined operations.Additionally, we will highlight the enabling capabilities of ARM nodes within Karpenter, focusing on the advantages of utilizing ARM chipsets in our infrastructure. Our rollout strategy has ensured a seamless migration while maintaining the reliability essential for Connected Drive’s mission-critical services. This session will provide insights into the operational and financial benefits of Karpenter and ARM nodes, sharing our experiences, best practices, and the measurable impact on our infrastructure’s performance and sustainability.