Gone are the days when automakers were looking for ways to tackle the challenge of electrification. With innovation after innovation, 14% of all new cars sold in 2022 will be electric, a threefold increase in 2020. But manufacturers shouldn’t be too quick to rejoice as softwareization’s next big challenge is to leverage software solutions instead of traditional hardware. Solving the problem – is coming. As the automotive industry moves toward smart devices on wheels, manufacturers must adopt tools that help develop, deploy, and maintain software. These challenges are why the emergence of generative AI (GenAI) represents a huge opportunity for manufacturers. In this article, we look at how GenAI can help solve softwareization challenges, where GenAI is already being used, and how other companies can adopt his GenAI.
become a software company
Modern vehicles are gradually becoming computers on wheels. Its computer platform consists of high-performance, high-speed connected “vehicle servers” containing more than 100 million lines of code. Therefore, it is important to integrate and update these systems across the supply chain of existing and new partners to ensure safety, longevity, durability, sustainability, and performance.
As the automotive industry rapidly evolves, software and connectivity are transforming the next generation driving experience. These advances pose challenges for traditional manufacturers whose hardware-centric culture is not aligned with the needs of a software-centric world. Today, most automakers’ software engineering departments are notoriously over-recruited and under-resourced. For traditional manufacturers, this is definitely a problem, but for forward-thinking automakers, it’s an opportunity to innovate.
But here’s the conundrum. Companies known for developing great hardware may have a hard time imagining themselves as computing or AI companies. However, the number of automakers investing in AI is expected to reach a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.7% from 2023 to 2030, and these companies will need to do so to remain competitive. there is.
Vice President of Wipro Engineering.
Global race towards generative AI in auto manufacturing
Automakers may have a hard time thinking of themselves as software companies, but we’re already seeing this phenomenon with the rise of Tesla. Among global automakers, it seems to be a technology company first and a car manufacturer second. As a software company that manufactures cars, the company has leveraged its AI at vehicle scale to develop new innovations faster. For example, they recently began using state-of-the-art generative modeling techniques that can consistently predict possible outcomes from past observations across multiple camera views. In fact, this is a prime example of the power of GenAI, making it easy to transform ideas into software functionality.
But the United States is not alone in taking brave steps toward emerging technologies. Approximately 1.4 million Chinese engineers qualify each year, six times as many as in the United States, and at least a third of them are in the field of AI. For example, Chinese automakers such as BYD are 70% to 80% vertically integrated across their supply chain, while the US is less than 25% vertically integrated. For example, batteries can be manufactured much more cheaply. These savings give us much more freedom to aggressively price all of our vehicles. The bottom line is cheaper vehicles mean more vehicles on the road, which means more data.
China is well aware of Generative AI’s ability to drive softwareization, and has the technology infrastructure and engineering talent to turn that potential into reality. Vehicle affordability has always been important, and softwareization is key to providing value at the time of purchase and increasing residual value as the vehicle ages.
Adopt generative AI today
Automakers can gradually start adding software features to their vehicles, but this will not be an easy process as hardware remains a challenge, especially when it comes to storage. Essentially, vehicles must be shipped with more than the minimum amount of computing power.
GenAI allows manufacturers to run software sandboxes on every vehicle they ship, analyze software performance against human usage baselines, and test new features on a limited number of vehicles. Additionally, manufacturers can generate new ideas while gleaning valuable insights into how new software features work. This means new features are available faster and the risk of failure is minimized.
Turning to the benefits for drivers, GenAI allows vehicles to inspect driving behavior and personalize and optimize the driving experience for every driver. Essentially, as the driver gets used to the new car, the new car gets used to the driver. This is a strong selling proposition for any car company.
Additionally, by having enough computing space for innovation, manufacturers can use vehicle-specific data to help service personnel better understand the user experience. Personalized messages will therefore be able to be shared with vehicle owners via email, text and, in the future, the dashboard itself.
Softwareization is inevitable!
The future of the automotive industry lies in software, and emerging technologies that are becoming more widespread have the potential to drive innovation faster and easier than ever before. Given the potential of generative AI to deliver better and more personalized driving experiences, manufacturers should take notice. Now is the time for automakers to get behind the wheel and pivot, remembering that they are the pioneers of the next generation.
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