The automotive world is being forced to evolve to growing customer demands and increasing societal pressures. Drivers want true mobile app integration, not systems that piggyback the car’s IVI; they want richer in-vehicle experiences and high-level automated driver aids (ADAS). Alongside this, society is pushing the transition to electric power and for improvements in vehicle safety.

This shift to EVs isn’t just challenging drivetrain engineers. In-car user interface designers are up against it too. They must define how to share critical EV information, like battery state and charging locations, with drivers. Carmakers also must figure out how to build IVI systems faster so that they mirror our digital lives, where apps and features are developed and updated regularly. On top of that, they must develop ways to keep IVI systems fresh for the life of the vehicle. What’s happening for carmakers, suppliers, and OEMS is more revolution than evolution. Revolution brings big changes in how business is done. While it’s too soon to say exactly how the industry will change and restructure, automotive businesses are beginning to see what lies ahead and what they must do to capitalize. Cesar Arego, Business Development Manager Digital Cockpit at TomTom, says we’re witnessing a new wave of disruption in automotive. We sat down with Cesar to find out how the automotive world is changing and what carmakers need to do to prepare for what lies ahead.

Back in those days, tier ones would take a map from a supplier, like TomTom or its competitors, and do something called compilation. This is essentially repackaging the map for their own applications. In some cases, it took hundreds of people to repack the map; each car line, each customer and each car brand got a slightly different flavour.

In parallel to map compilation, using the repackaged maps, tier ones began developing in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) navigation software by themselves for a small number of luxury-focused clients. But creating navigation systems is very labor- and capital-intensive. These companies constantly faced resource, engineering and development challenges. It was a laborious process and ultimately proved unsustainable.

“We’re at the dawn of a third wave of disruption in automotive, in-vehicle tech. Tier ones were doing it all. All the software structures from the bottom up themselves. And now we are seeing, with the arrival of Android Automotive, a new way to build digital cockpits. One which will provide better solutions for everybody,” says Arego, TomTom Business Development Manager, Digital Cockpit.

Source: TomTom