COREDUMP #009: Zephyr’s Meteoric Rise and What It Means for the Future of Embedded

The embedded world is shifting rapidly. Once dominated by proprietary, siloed solutions, today’s most forward-thinking teams are embracing open source RTOSs like Zephyr to build scalable, secure, and collaborative systems. But why now, and what’s next?

In this episode, we were joined by Kate Stewart, Vice President of Dependable Embedded Systems at the Linux Foundation, to unpack what’s fueling Zephyr’s rise and where it’s headed. We also explored the potential impact of upcoming regulations like the CRA on open source projects like Zephyr and the broader ecosystem.

This session covered:

• Why Zephyr is gaining adoption in industries ranging from wearables to industrial IoT

• How open source is reshaping embedded development—both technically and culturally

• The role of AI in accelerating open source adoption and how LLMs trained on open codebases could change how we build embedded software

• What developers and organizations should consider when moving to an open RTOS

• The challenges ahead: how new regulations may impact open source projects, and what governance, security, and scaling in an open source world could look like

Why You Should Watch the Recording
Whether you’re shipping millions of devices or building your first prototype, this episode offers practical and strategic insight for:

Embedded and IoT Engineers

• Learn how Zephyr compares to traditional RTOSs in real-world deployments

• Understand the tooling, ecosystem, and community support shaping Zephyr today

• Get perspective on where AI and open source tooling may take embedded development next

Product & Engineering Leaders

• Discover why leading teams are adopting Zephyr and how it impacts time-to-market, security, and long-term maintainability

• Hear how open source RTOSs are driving innovation while reducing vendor lock-in

• Gain insight into the future of Zephyr development and how it might impact your roadmap