Customer Experience Driving the Shift in Vehicle Architecture

IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Industry Outlook, Latha Chembrakalam, Vice President, Head of Technical Center India, Continental Automotive India shares her insights on the automotive R&D segment, safety of vehicles, the growing significance of automotive connectivity and more.

The mobility landscape is expected to transform over the next 10 to 15 years, with ACES trends—autonomous driving, connected cars, electrified vehicles, and shared mobility—amplifying their impact. In this regard, how is the automotive R&D segment developing today?

The <a href="https://www.theindustryoutlook.com/machinery-and-equipment/panorama/how-new-technologies-are-being-used-in-automotive-testing-nwid-2111.html">automotive industry</a> is transforming rapidly and over the next few years, most of the features in vehicles will become fully automated. The vehicles of today feature connectivity, digital displays, advanced safety, and advanced HMI technologies. As we move towards autonomous and electric vehicles, these features will become more advanced and interactive. Digitization and new business models will be additional dimensions, thereby, requiring more features in the same physical space of a car.

This change needs to be supported by vehicle architecture and electronics. <b>Customer experience</b> is driving the shift in vehicle architecture, with software serving as a crucial differentiator. To keep up with consumer expectations, more and more software is being incorporated into vehicles. The transition from distributed electric control units to server-based architectures in automotive electronics involves more than just a technical advancement. Products, work and development processes, and business models, are all undergoing significant changes.

To fulfill the growing and changing needs of the customers, Research & Development has become an important segment for the automotive industry. It has always been one of Continental’s key focus areas and Technical Centre India’s (TCI) engineers have made significant contributions to the development of advanced technology for India and the world. TCI is involved in several India-level and global-level projects and product development, ranging from a for-the-market solution like one-channel ABS solutions for 2-wheelers to highly sophisticated technologies for domains such as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Artificial Intelligence.

R&D is an essential component of any automotive organization. It is one of the most important tools that automotive companies use to differentiate themselves from one another. India's position as an automotive R&D center contributes to a diverse set of market opportunities, talent pools, and industry policies. These factors make India an ideal location for the establishment of several R&D centers, in which many MNC and Indian automotive players are interested.

As automotive R&D is asset-heavy and requires significant investment upfront, not all activities can be migrated to local R&D centers. This has restricted automakers’ abilities to scale their activities and deliver on the promise of market-responsive local R&D. How do you propose to overcome this situation?

Increasing software focus in the mobility business is a boon to India. Advanced software and simulation technologies combined with the use of remote capabilities are helping us to overcome the earlier myth that R&D has to always be asset heavy. The Covid-19 pandemic has enabled this much more.

India is a growing automotive hub and that makes it an ideal and the most sought-after location for Research and Development. The country offers a diverse mix of market opportunities and talent pools. This is attracting many automotive giants and MNCs to open their Research and Development centers in India. The Indian population is English speaking, and the people are equipped with STEM skills along with competency in coding, which makes India the ideal choice for big companies to set up their R&D centers.

Continental’s Technical Centre India (TCI) in Bangalore is the largest R&D center out of all the centers. More than 4000 engineers are currently working at TCI who cater to the needs of both global and local markets.

A significant challenge for automakers is achieving reliable connectivity. Maintaining broader coverage, state-of-the-art connectivity, and network security is challenging and even a slight lag in connectivity services can ruin the customer experience and could potentially lead to inappropriate judgment in case of emergencies. How can reliable automotive connectivity be attained?

Connected vehicles are soon becoming a reality. Vehicles are becoming ‘mobile living spaces’ as more and more people are starting to spend hours in their vehicles. People now expect a lot more from their vehicles, they have now transformed from just a mode of transport to a computer on wheels. Data transfer rate is presently an issue that can be solved with the advent of 5G technology. 5G will dramatically strengthen autonomous mobility because of its lightning-fast speed, and improved latency rate, which will therefore consume lesser power.

With connectivity comes the challenge to keep the vehicle secure from intruders and hackers. Cybersecurity can have a huge impact on the ecosystem in the case of autonomous and electric vehicles. If a device gets infected, the entire ecosystem - the charging station, the generation stem, etc., will be impacted. At Continental, cybersecurity is a major focus area for our Research and Development Centre which has a separate team that exclusively works on cybersecurity. The 5G technology seems promising and with its faster speed and lower latency rate, it can help address the issue of connectivity in the automotive world.

How do you see the automotive R&D domain evolving in near future?

Automotive Research and Development is commonly perceived as the benchmark R&D for many industries because of the innovative spirit which paved the way for many newer technologies in a short period. India is a growing automotive hub and the demand for the latest technologies at affordable prices is increasing. For instance, Continental’s R&D team at TCI is working on developing sophisticated technologies such as ADAS products for the Indian market to make them more affordable, and value is driven without compromising on quality and functionality.

As software is becoming an important part of the automotive industry and the country is moving towards autonomous mobility, technology is becoming much more complex. Cars have multiple electronic control units that are critical for the functioning of the vehicle as they control all aspects of safety and other features like connectivity, navigation, and remote diagnostics that help in the maintenance of vehicles. Today, there are about 100 million lines of code in cars and by 2030, it has been predicted that it could reach 300 million lines of code along with an increased number of connected devices.

With all the technological advancements, automotive software is becoming a critical component to provide a holistic experience to the consumer. India will soon lead by example in terms of R&D by anticipating possible failures, keeping in mind the Indian architecture and the needs and demands of the Indian market. Collaboration between the different players is also becoming inevitable for success in the market.