Profile: SME Interview on Designing Software-Defined Vehicles

So what we have seen is something which only happened recently and especially in China. And kind of like a sign of that was at the China Shanghai motor show. I think it was in March. You could see that the customers are going to the Chinese OEMs rather than the than the multinational and the traditional OEMs. And part of the reason is that they are offering in their cars things which are interesting for them.

And in my generation, I was growing up with this horsepower thing, the biggest displacement, acceleration, all of that stuff. But today it's about the convenience, the connectivity, and of course, also the safety. And this is already something which is more software-defined. And that means if a car is software-defined, you need first of all more electronics. To handle all the electronics in the car, then it has a change also to the physical layer which is the business we are in. And that means something which sounds at the first sight, far away, like software. We are not a software company of course but it will change the way how cars are designed and how a car is put together. 

We are in a transition. We have still the legacy OEMs and we have some which are kind of like, let me call them challengers. The ones who are really doing it in a very software-defined way. And we have all these gray areas in between. But to talk about how the challenges are approaching it is, they are looking from the system point of view. They are looking from the software point of view to this entire thing. So it's not anymore that you have subsystems like an airbag subsystem, like heated seats, any other body function, the engine control, the braking systems. In traditional cars, these are all subsystems which then somehow are getting together to a whole system in a traditional vehicle. The new approach is from the beginning, you have a systemic approach so the software is in the middle. And then you have in the end all they serve the system, they bring it together so that it is a centrally approached design and not so much diversified in terms of systems as we have today.  

If we start, for example, with companies who have adopted the autonomous driving early on. If you want to do autonomous driving, you need to have a computer thar is doing that. You have of course the software. And then there is a computer that is doing it for you. It means you have a higher content of electronics for that purpose. And if you have that, you can then start to add other things to it, which are, for the traditional OEMs, done in a different way. And the fuse box is a good example.

In a traditional OEM, you have a fuse box, which is hardwired. You have it with those melting fuses, you have it with the electromechanical relays, and so forth. When you have already electronics, you can do that also electronically. And while you are doing it, you are getting more benefit out of it. Because if, for example, a circuit is protected by an electronic fuse instead of a melting fuse, it means you can also monitor the state of health of that circuit, and you can switch it off and on depending on the requirements. And you can even change that over the lifetime. So the electronification of the architecture gives you a lot of advantages. And also managing the entire car and managing, for example, the circuit sizes you have.  

I think what is making this possible now is for sure the user request for it. And this will give really a boost if you think about ADAS, it's not new. And we were five years ago, we were a lot talking about it. And we thought, yeah, that is the next big thing. But we were getting to a limit to a technical limit. But the difference now is that people want it more. It's this software defined vehicles with all the convenience what you have. You can connect it to the infrastructure you have on the passenger seat. You can watch movies in the rear. The kids, they can play games. And while you are driving to work, you can be already on a conference call because you are connected already and everything is so convenient. This has been now seen as something which is very interesting for the consumers, so they are buying those cars. And consequently, everybody is now looking at software-defined vehicles, because it seems that is then going to be the move in society. And if I may add, it's not really decided now if this will happen in all places. We see it very strongly in China, and we know that those Chinese brands are also coming to Europe and the Americas. But we need to wait and see how the consumers there will decide. Are they going to adopt that? Do they have the same thinking? Do we have a difference there? So it's something which is evolving. And that's why it's so interesting for us because we have a lot of change points and opportunities. 

Oh, yes. What's happening then basically, together with the software-defined vehicles is also as a setting, they are always EVs. So you could think about having an ice engine, of course, a combustion engine with software-defined vehicles, that's technically possible. But somehow it doesn't fit because that's the old way. The new way is it's an EV, it's software-defined. And then what comes together with it is the vertical integration of how a car is put together. And this is more segmented. You have seen maybe on YouTube or elsewhere those pictures how a car is in a different way now put together than traditionally, and then in itself means you have a different architecture. They call it also zonal architecture. And with that zonal architecture you are getting different requirements for us. If the harnesses are getting smaller, it means they can also more likely be produced automatically. And by the way, they are also going to be put into the cars in a greater part automatically.

Traditionally, it's a big piece and it's a big hassle for the traditional OEMs to put that into a car and make all the connections. It's a big chunk of work. So if this can be automized, then it means for us the components on the wiring harnesses which we produce, they have to have different requirements. They need to be ready to be automated, automatically put into the vehicle, but also that the harness is automatically produced in a more efficient way than we do today. This goes to bed together, by the way, with miniaturization, which is good for sustainability. The less material we have, the more sustainable it is besides having the material itself sustainable.  

I know it's not a direct link. This is the cars, the consumers will kind of demand the cars, and the cars will change the architecture. And with the change of the architecture, we are affected with our business. And of course, if I reverse it, our ability to adapt to this new architecture, our ability to understand what's going on in the market, of course then makes us ready for having the right components for our customers and in the end, for the consumers to make that entire thing happen.  

This is what I was trying to mention also earlier, it will change the architecture and architecture means. I talked already about all the subsystems, which are independent to each other before in the traditionally designed vehicle. And if this is now centrally designed with putting the software in the middle, and also the so-called zonal architecture, it gets a new picture. It is a different way of how you put the things together. So this is how it changes. It's the indirect approach to it. I mean, the indirect customer requirement, which is changing the architecture.  

You see, if it's more software, it means also everything you want to do with software similar to your iPhone, everything you want to do with software needs already be available in the physical layer. And that's basically to start with, it's good news for us. Because we are making the components for the physical layer. And it means if the physical layer is complete, if it's always high version, it means we can sell more components. So basically that's good news. On the other hand, as I said, if the architecture is changing and the requirements are changing, also it gets more commoditized. So it's not anymore so much customized for each of the OEMs, the solutions. It will get more...everything is getting more systemic. And so also the connectivity is getting more systemic. And we see it already in data connectivity very strongly, where those connections to the cameras and connections to these high performing computers for the for the data exchange, they are pretty much standardized already. So that is going to be a challenge. So to define the standards to be first in the standards right to design the standards. That is going to change in our business.  

Well we will see. This is really the end users, the consumers who are going to decide that. To your former point, you're absolutely right. If you have a mobile phone or your smartphone, and there are few things you decide on the physical layer when you are buying it. And one of the things is the memory. And if you opt for a small memory and then maybe if it's not enough, you suffer later on. And this is going to be maybe the same thing with the physical layer in the cars. If you are not buying the high version, then you will have some limitations. Of course it will be a little bit different. Let me point out again, one thing is there is not one software-defined vehicles. The companies will compete in what it is. And you will have the approach of companies who are saying, okay, I'm more on the on the low cost area of it. I'm not going to do all this fancy things. I have a certain budget. And I have a certain customer in mind who is buying that. So there are these things, which is maybe then even more commoditized. And then there will be for sure those luxury car makers and the high end car makers, on the other hand, who will drive it to the extreme, to the positive extreme, where still the customer feels all that, that availability he can have and all the things he can get in that car in the most convenient way and the most surprising way. Maybe later on with AI, you don't even know what's going to happen when you enter your car. But you feel good.  

The circuit does not mean necessarily that it is a wire. What we know traditionally from the wiring harness is the circuitry of a car is basically in the wiring harness. And then you had some electronic in an electronic module, which is then running whatever system you have. And with the software-defined vehicle approach and with the high performance computing centers, the circuitry is also moving. It is moving a little bit away from the wiring harness and more into those electronic modules. And that means that the harness complexity can be reduced, which is a good thing also for the wiring harness makers. The complexity, all these different variants, that's really an animal to work with. And if this is done in a control module or if this is done in a headlamp, just imagine a headlamp with incorporated electronics or other modules which contain their own electronics and the zonal modules. So it's a little bit shifting. And what you see then between those centers of electronics, then between is a data transfer, and the data transfer will get more and more.   

And this is a place how we could enable that with our data connectivity, which is transferring the data in a safe and reliable way. Then of course we are getting from one module to the other module, the data, and also the energy. What is not changing? Also to say that is in the end all the sensors and actuators. This is maybe even getting more so on the other side of the circuit. If you want to do autonomous driving, you need radar. You need those proximity sensors, you need cameras. All of that is growing. And also you need a lot more actuators to make things happen in the car. Also, that is getting away from mechanical or maybe electromechanical and it's more into electronic things. So those actuators and things the car does is going to be expanded. That means on one side we are getting more. You're absolutely right. But on the other side, the circuitry gets kind of integrated into modules. And this in return is changing. Then also in our business, the connectivity between those modules.   

What you see is actually with the vertical integration. So the software-defined vehicle is also enabling a different way how a car is put together with its own architecture. And you see this modularization also inside of the car production. You heard about terms like Giga Press and then others say they take it over. Also to go into a similar direction with huge body parts for example. But then if you go with a huge body part, it also means that you need to pre-assemble something on that body part before you really put it together. And that means you have a different way of connectivity in it and automatically applied and maybe also in a different way. It's not going anymore to be around wire, but maybe a flexible circuit or a busbar, and this kind of thing. So these are the enablers for those software-defined vehicles. It's a give and take. One goes with the other. Software-defined vehicle goes with EV and software-defined vehicle goes with this vertical integration of how it's produced, which is why are people doing it? It is because you can reduce the production cost of a car significantly. And we see also that the contenders, the challengers, they are coming with those vehicles with lower cost, basically. And that makes them good for the new market. And the traditional ones are a little bit challenging. And they have to overcome, of course, this gap in costs and they are going into a similar direction.  

That is a good question. And the definition of a good question is if you know or you don't know the answer.  I think we are in the midst of it. I don't see anything which is really holding it back. It is really a movement which is starting. And you have those challengers who are trying to do it in a different way. But technically we have it. And I think, like with AI, it will even get another boost. It will get a boost because software-defined vehicles will even become more stronger and just better for the consumers, more connected, more easy. So we will see with all of the things from the low cost cars to the luxury cars, from the challengers to the traditional ones, I think we will see maybe some who will survive, some not everybody will try. I appreciate this current situation really, because in my 30 years I'm in business now, I never saw a time with so many changes. Not only on TV, there are also other topics, but that's really a lot what's going on. And for me, it's a heaven of opportunities and this is what it makes so great.   

I think the barriers is kind of like at the moment, it's the availability. Not every car maker, not every OEM is having that yet. Everybody is working on it and everybody is having  the first approaches, the first sales of doing so. But you see very clearly that there are companies doing it and companies a little bit behind. It's not really behind. They're having a different approach. We will see who will win that. The barrier, what we will have is for sure the connectivity then to the infrastructure.

And I'm coming from Germany, I'm living in Germany, and I cannot be proud of the connectivity in Germany because even compared to India, I think we are not as good connected with our cars to the infrastructure then we are in in other countries. And China is maybe leading there. They have a lot of good infrastructure, at least in the bigger cities. They are using it also for other purposes. That's clear. But you know, they can use it also for the connectivity, for making these software updates in the cars, for having a better navigation for having vehicle-to-vehicle connectivity. And this infrastructure in many other countries, including Germany, I think is a little bit behind.  

Our role is on that physical layer. Pretty much clear. We are not writing software, that's for sure. But with all the changes going on, what I said before, we can deliver those components in a customized way with our OEMs. But also in a standardized way with, for example, our data connectivity, to make that happen. I think we are prepared and if I may say, our understanding of what's going on in the market is, I think, crucial for having those components with our advanced engineering projects and the technologies we are looking at. And so I'm glad to be with TE, because here we have the ability to look at those market trends and to work on those technologies. We have the freedom to do that so that we can have the right products for our future.  

The answer I want to give there is for the data connectivity. And the data connectivity, you can imagine, you have more and more cameras in your car. If you look at that and the cameras need to be connected. Now, the cameras are pretty much connected then also to the high performance computers, and they are driving or part of the drive is very much safety-related. Autonomous driving, even if it's a little thing like parking your car and the camera helps you not only as a driver, but also in the system with some OEMs, they're using the camera at least as part of the of the parking aid. And if you have that, you cannot afford that you bump into something. You don't want to hit the bumper of the next car. You don't want to have that. And that means that the system needs to be reliable. And part of the reliability is, for example, the latency, the so-called latency of how quick a signal can be transferred from the camera to the HPC, to those computing units. And if our products are more reliable, if our products have a high performance there, that they can deal with the amount of data and also deliver the amount of data in a good quality, then of course, I can say we are enabler for that part of software-defined.  

Also here you have a variety of approaches as the OEMs have different approaches. There are some where we work very closely now, again regarding the data connectivity. And this for example with simulation of this link. If you have a link from the camera to the computer unit, in the end you can simulate these days how good the link is. The latency, the return signal, the performance of that, the performance of the wire, too. So we can provide support to our customers of how this link looks like. Is it good for you? Is it not good for you? And then we have others where we are working very much on customized connectivity solutions to make things happen. For example, if you have a high performance computer, then you need to have connectors to that. And these connectors, they can be modularized so that you have depending on the content, you have more or less modules on that. And also together with the automated design to automated assembly, we can work on these requirements. And we are working on these requirements for connecting them with a robot. So this field we have. So it goes from standardized connectors until really customized solutions which are for specific.  

We have some which are going ahead and which are showing what's possible. And just to give you an example, I saw a nice video yesterday. How a driver is putting on his screen, pointing on a free parking spot, and then the car is going into that parking spot automatically. Basically, he doesn't do anything. So we will see more and more. We will see that this gets adopted. And the most important thing is we will see how the markets will react to that. And there are maybe markets which don't want that so much and other markets where you see that way stronger. But the technology will advance, and we will see all of these opportunities. And I think we also will see that this autonomous driving is getting stronger. We have now the first cars which are going to level three. They have it, they have it approved and they can do that. And slowly but surely, this will advance. And I think it will all get together to a new way of how we look at cars. And maybe in the future we will see also that the car is autonomously going to the EV fuel station to get some electricity and dropping the kids at school on the way to it. We will see. But what I love so much is that this opportunity is there, that this is moving. And it's a big move. It's not an incremental move, really. Something bigger is changing now in the industry.  

It gets also there more systemic. We have seen it already. Now a mobile phone is a system in itself and it's very well working these days. And it's software-defined in a way. And a car is not a mobile phone for sure. But in a similar way, we will see also this systemic approach. The next step is then how this all gets together. How do we make sure that all the mobile phones, all the smartphones, are compatible to the cars. And all the cars are compatible to the infrastructure. And it doesn't stop when you go over the border to the next country. You know, in Europe we are not so big. So if we drive through from Germany to France, for example, to make sure that it stays connected. And you see that companies and governments are working on that to have that standard defined. And you see also in the industry that there is a way forward where they are different OEM by OEM, but in a way similar and compatible to each other. So we want to see competition in the future between the OEMs what is software defined vehicle is. But on the other side, we also want to see that there is some compatibility between the systems so that things can be exchanged.  

They can go to TE. The entire movement means we need, for example, data scientists. It's one of the things also our way of working will change with more software-defined and AI. So data scientists is something that is needed in the future. In general, I would recommend that people look around with open eyes. The CES is coming up in January early in Las Vegas. That is always a great, great place where you can get a glimpse of the future, what the companies are thinking about. So again, there's a lot of opportunity, a lot of competition. And that's why it's so great time to be in and to be an engineer.