The technology landscape in the automotive industry has expanded significantly with the increasing penetration of software in the vehicle, thanks to megatrends like Connected Vehicle, Autonomous Driving, and Electrification. Kishor Patil, MD and CEO, KPIT Technologies, said, “the new domain and zonal vehicle architectures of tomorrow will demand very high-performance computing infra (HPC). The continual increase in software complexity coupled with high-performance computing infrastructure needs a robust and dependable middleware solution.” As the importance of advanced software technologies in the automobile grows, India’s stature as an engineering base would be at par with countries like Germany, USA, and Japan. The adoption of connected vehicles and ADAS technologies is set to grow swiftly in India too, necessitating stronger computing power in a vehicle, he said.
Q. Would you say that the Connected Vehicle megatrend, in terms of the scope of its influence inside and outside the vehicle, is the most significant among all megatrends in the automotive/mobility industry space?
If we take a period of next 10 years, I will certainly say so. Integrated digital cockpits offer enormous personalisation for consumer, rear seat entertainment and interaction of the vehicle/user with the outside world (V2X, OTA etc) will open significant opportunities in this space. Launch of 5G will make this adoption much faster.
Q. In one of our earlier conversations, you had mentioned that L2 and L3 features will be common in India by 2025. As things stand now, do you think the timeline could change?
I think that would happen with marginal delay. OEMs are working on developing software in-house but are also partnering with software companies. Vehicles with L2 and L3 features have already started to become key selling propositions in some vehicles. Consumer adoption and their willingness to pay a price for these will play as factors in the early adoption for medium to high-end vehicles.
Q. How do you see the megatrends of connected vehicle tech and autonomous driving progressing in India? Between the two, which one could penetrate the market more?
In my view, connected vehicle technologies would lead the penetration. OEMs have started offering rich connected and intelligent features in the products for the Indian market. Considering the Indian population mix, adoption of connected technologies – taking the mobile experience inside the vehicle will be the draw for consumers. China leads in this trend, but I think we will see a lot of new features in our market. OTA updates, V2X tech use cases will add another layer of attraction for consumers. Having said that, L2, L3 features require significant investments from OEMs. Gradually these features will become more mass-market with increased adoption.
Q. How big a contributor is the set of connected vehicle tech projects for KPIT Technologies? What is the share of the overall revenue pie?
KPIT mostly works on new age technologies. Electrification, Connected and Autonomous form the largest chunk of work we do. Connected is an important pillar in ‘CASE’ (Connectivity, Autonomous, Sharing/Subscription and Electrification). We have invested and built ready-to-use platforms and accelerators in the connected vehicle space. If you look at the vehicle architecture, it is going through fundamental changes and the ‘cockpit domain controller’ is one of the pivotal domain controllers for the next-gen vehicles. This is one of our top offerings.
Q. As the connected vehicle and autonomous driving megatrend progress, what kind of influence are they having on the computation ability of the vehicle?
As I mentioned earlier, the new domain and zonal vehicle architectures of tomorrow will demand very high-performance computing infra (HPC). The continual increase in software complexity coupled with high-performance computing infrastructure needs a robust and dependable middleware solution. We have invested and are building enhanced middleware technologies and infrastructure to accelerate clients’ journey towards software-defined vehicles.
Q. With most of the major new disruptions being software technology led, and with the software engineering talent pool available in India, could it be that India could become what Germany, USA or Japan has been in automotive engineering in the traditional ICE vehicle industry?
Certainly. The challenge for the mobility ecosystem is core software competence and scale. This domain also needs extensive system understanding. At KPIT itself, we have been taking several steps to become a net new talent creator – since ready competencies are not available at scale. NASSCOM ER&D members also recognise this and several initiatives are in progress. This combined with our colleagues in Germany, USA, Japan or Korea who have been in this industry for a long time, an excellent combination of skill and scale can be formed.
Q. What is the size of KPIT Technologies’ engineering team (between India and Germany), and at what rate has it grown over the past 5 years? What percentage of the team strength is dedicated to connected vehicles and autonomous driving tech development?
We are arguably one of the largest software development and integration partners globally for the mobility ecosystem. We are currently 7000 KPITians strong only in new tech and have been growing consistently.
Q. Do you plan to set up any more technology development centres in India or overseas? At what rate could the engineering team grow in the coming years?
I can only say that we are increasing our talent footprint as much as client ones both in India and in all parts of the world. We are very bullish on being a meaningful player in these exciting times to the mobility industry when everyone is reimagining mobility and its role.
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dSPACE provides simulation and validation solutions for the automotive industry, allowing original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their suppliers to test software and hardware components of a new vehicle before launch. The company’s areas of expertise include connected cars, self-driving cars and electric vehicles.
