The update process should be simple but may be buggy while things are ironed out. Installing a second copy of Automatic1111 would allow you to test SDXL without causing issues with your current setup, in case it takes a while.

New loras/embeddings/etc will have to be created for SDXL. Any pre-existing loras will only work with older models, so the community will have to spend time training new ones for SDXL