Elly Yates-Roberts |
Vehicles are becoming more connected, communicating with systems outside the vehicles to deliver brand new mobility experiences. This has resulted in a profound shift in how the automotive industry thinks about vehicles, looking towards a software-driven approach.
“What we see in the automotive industry is a paradigm shift with today’s hardware-defined cars transforming into software-defined transportation platforms,” said Ronny Kraehe, vice president of connected mobility at DXC Luxoft. “Software components are now going directly into the vehicle and enabling data-driven applications. Vehicles are becoming personalised and updateable, and to do that you need a secure digital service platform end-to-end, from the vehicle to the cloud.”
According to Kraehe, this transformation will be driven in large part due to consumer demands.
“Automakers expect that innovations and new features are brought way faster into the vehicle, as they are used to that model from the mobile industry,” said Kraehe. “This means that development cycles will become way shorter, and automakers that aren’t currently software-oriented will find this to be a huge challenge.”
One example of an area in which connected vehicles will introduce change is in diagnostics.
“If we have increasingly complex vehicles, the classic diagnostics won’t work anymore,” says Ferdinand Arndt, senior director of connected mobility at DXC Luxoft. “Third-party applications and services are part of the vehicle and are spread across the cloud, so to find a solution to a problem you need a completely new strategy. You will need over-the-air (OTA) remotely managed self-repairing software inside the vehicle and in the cloud to quickly identify the issue and fix it.”
DXC Luxoft has committed to designing, creating and deploying turn-key solutions and services to help its clients adapt to the new future of the automotive industry.
“At DXC Luxoft we are able to combine embedded automotive know-how with IT business leadership. We can provide solutions as to the right strategy for an automaker’s migration towards a truly digital platform. We also invest in streams to create solution accelerators, such as technology blueprints on how to integrate with connected vehicle platforms, and we are very proud of our solutions for advanced diagnostics.” adds Kraehe.
These solutions are being accelerated by DXC Luxoft’s relationships with key technology partners, including its collaboration with Microsoft.
“Our role as a strategic partner in the automotive engineering services also allows us to bring key ecosystem partnerships,” says Kraehe. “By leveraging the Microsoft Connected Vehicle Platform, DXC Luxoft will enable and accelerate the delivery of vehicle-centric solutions and services. Our collaboration with Microsoft gives automakers control and flexibility for creating highly differentiated, intelligent and beneficial connected mobility experiences for their customers.”
This article was originally published in the Winter 2020 issue of The Record. To get future issues delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for a free subscription.