Reinventing the Wheel: Impact of Software Solutions on the Automotive Industry

We are now witnessing fundamental changes taking place in the automotive industry. It has become clear that the future of innovations on the market is in technology rather than mechanics. Computers and software applied in the automation industry are game-changers and significantly improve customer services.

At least the facts mentioned below prove the importance of software solutions for the automotive industry:

1. The Volkswagen Group is going to invest about $27 billion in digitalization by 2025 to increase the share of its own vehicle software development products from the current 10% to 60%. The group’s board plans to transform the company from a pure automaker to a digital company.
2. Bosh creates a separate division engaged in automotive software development.
3. It is expected that in the near future, until 2030, high-tech electronic systems will gradually increase on the market by 15% annually.
4. About 90% of innovation in the automotive industry occurs in software and electronics.
5. In 2010, any vehicle software had 10 million lines of code. Now, such car software consists of up to 100 million lines of code.

[by Ryan Duffy]

Impressive, isn’t it? Now, let us take a look at the key areas of change in this industry.

Pivot for the Future: How Software Will Dominate the Automotive Industry

Innovations in automotive industry are being implemented in many directions. Some changes are more noticeable, and others are not so evident. We would like to focus on those that will lead to the greatest leaps in the automotive industry.

1. Connected Car Technology

A modern vehicle is equipped with lots of sensors, gauges, and microchips. Connected car technologies allow for timelier vehicle maintenance, fewer malfunctions, and more data for further analysis.

A mere means of transportation turns into a personal device that is part of a complex digital ecosystem with IoT solutions. At the same time, big data processing and security measures are becoming new challenging tasks in the industry.
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Further digitalization also provides an opportunity to increase production while reducing the number of defects.

2. Automotive Cloud Solutions

Updates over wireless networks should relieve car owners of the necessity to visit an authorized garage to carry out this procedure. Just like with s regular smartphone, you can anytime and anywhere download the latest software version for your vehicle via the Internet.

If a vehicle has a cloud connection, it is possible to keep its software up-to-date throughout its service life and expands its capabilities due to the computing power of remote servers for data exchange, aggregation, and processing.

3. Autonomous Driving

Up until recently, self-driving cars have been the lot of science fiction writers, but now this concept is closer than ever to becoming a reality. Autonomous vehicles will crucially impact the market and people’s behavior.

When computers start controlling vehicle movements, many categories of people who cannot drive now because of restrictions (senior citizens, people with disabilities, children) will break free of this limitation.

Machine learning and computer vision technologies have already reached a sufficient level of development. Consequently, the widespread use of automotive software solutions for self-driving cars can be considered a prospect for the nearest future.

Car manufacturers have found good allies in technology companies to work in this direction. Thus, in February 2021, Volkswagen and Microsoft agreed to create a joint cloud platform Automated Driving Platform (ADP). Based on it, the companies will develop solutions for automated driving, unmanned parking, and future self-driving vehicles.

With no need to concentrate on driving, people will have more time to do other things while traveling. Both directly and indirectly, this trend will impact the economy in the most positive way.

4. Mobility as a Service

Having appeared and developed, such startups as Uber and Lift, as well as car sharing (such as Zipcar), make transportation services a lot more affordable.  Self-driving cars will eventually instigate the transition from privately owned cars to their use according to a service model. This trend is still gaining momentum, but companies comprehend its potential very well even now.
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Mobility as a Service (MAAS) means the transition from the necessity to buy a personal vehicle to the possibility of using a car on demand. In many countries, this change will shift people’s attitude toward the car from a status thing to something mundane like public utilities.

This process will benefit automakers as well, as it will provide them with guaranteed orders and service profits. However, the benefits for customers will be a lot more significant since mobility as a service will allow them to save huge costs, starting from the initial car purchase and finishing with maintenance and other related expenses.

Takeaways

Digital technologies are transforming the economy, and the automotive industry has to adapt to this new environment. However, it is not worth focusing only on risks since digitalization will further penetrate all human activity areas, creating many new business opportunities.

Automotive software development is an important component of success in this competitive market and allows manufacturers to satisfy the customer demand for better services.

If you are interested in automotive software development services and are looking for a reliable technology partner, contact us, and let us discuss the details.