The Automotive Industry on the Way to the User-Defined Vehicle

"When defining the Software-Defined Vehicle, it often revolves around expectations of the technology and too rarely about the added value for the customer," explains Benjamin Steinmetz, Product Management Director Europe at NIO, during his keynote. The goal is to move away from technology thinking and towards experience thinking. This approach is not new, says Steinmetz. For example, in the gaming industry, feedback from users and corresponding data have been incorporated into updates for 25 years.

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This is how Nio realizes "China Speed"

In the area of the Software-Defined Vehicle, development cycles can be shortened through appropriate platform strategies. It is especially important to develop hardware-agnostically and to consider customer wishes. "We don't sit in a quiet room and ponder what the user wants," says Steinmetz. Instead, they rely on intelligent data analysis and exchange with customers.

The development cycle of Nio takes about six months. Thanks to two simultaneous cycles, a major update can be offered approximately every four months. Part of the "China Speed" is to give developers freedom instead of engaging in micromanagement. Regarding the hardware used, they try to consider the possibility for updates and new functions in advance and provide the necessary computing power.

The Software-Defined Vehicle is a team sport

For a collaborative mindset in SDV development, representatives from Magna and Continental are advocating at the automotiveIT car.summit 2024. Manufacturers need to collaborate much more strongly on non-competitive topics in the area of the Software-Defined Vehicle and be more open with their own developments, explains Steven Jenkins, who is active at Magna as Vice President, Technology Strategy, Electronics.

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Vehicles are becoming increasingly complex, and new functions require greater effort, which is often passed on to customers in the form of additional costs. To counteract this problem, the focus of development should be on user benefits. Helpful in this regard are guiding questions such as "What are the functions I want to offer and how can I implement them with the minimal amount of sensors possible?" explains the Magna expert. This type of mindset also requires moving away from existing solutions and overcoming corresponding resistance within the company. A similar mindset must also prevail in cooperation across company boundaries. Instead of silo thinking and fear of loss, common standards and collaborative use of innovations should come to the forefront. Unnecessary duplicate developments among multiple players are a waste of resources and talent in the case of non-competitive topics.

Partners must be sensibly integrated

“No company can cover the entire scope alone,” emphasizes Martin Schleicher, Head of Software Strategy, Continental. In addition to the increasing complexity in vehicles, the expert also highlights the steadily growing adaptation speed of customers for new technologies. The balancing act of managing more complex development tasks with new time-to-market requirements is currently a key success factor. Continental is therefore relying on new models of collaboration: both internally (for example, in the context of hackathons) and with partners like AWS, Eclipse, or Autosar. Within its own technology stack, Continental offers developers Cloud Workbenches that can be regularly updated and synchronized. Through the Continental Cooperation Portal (CCP), development statuses and software versions can also be synchronized to simplify exchanges with partners. The development is currently moving from ECUs to the SDV stack, from the Product Life Cycle to DevOps, and from customer-supplier relationships to value networks.

This article was first published at automotiveit.eu