New growth for Stellantis and Foxconn
Stellantis is building a series of development centers in India to lead its global development of software. The next generation of platforms’ software is being developed in three major areas:
The core operating software for the vehicle (STLA Brain),
Driver-oriented interaction and entertainment software (STLA Smart Cockpit), and
ADAS Level 3 software for autonomous operations (STLA AutoDrive).
The development centers will be an expansion of existing centers in India and adding a new center. The existing centers are in Hyderabad and Bangalore. The added center will be in Pune. There is an additional existing audio engineering center in Bengaluru which is likely to get additional software development tasks. The 50:50 Joint Venture with Foxconn is in Bengaluru (MobileDrive).
The MobileDrive Indian development center, a JV with Foxconn, will hire up to 100 software developers by year-end 2023. Stellantis will double its existing workforce of 1100 software engineers in India. Additional support and administrative staff are likely. The hiring will progress over the next 12-18 months depending on the platform requirements.
The MobileDrive Joint Venture will also supply software products on an OEM basis to other vehicle manufacturers. The Stellantis development will support global platform brands like Jeep, Chrysler, Fiat, and Citroen. Market entry points are uncertain as not all brands are still global (Jeep is no longer a participant in the Chinese market for example.) Stellantis has not been as aggressive in pursuing a electric vehicle strategy as other traditional global manufacturers. Tesla and the Chinese EV/NEV manufacturers have asserted dominance in global markets with uneven results in the largest markets.
The key reasons for Stellantis to select India to be its global center of software development expertise are similar to those presented by Mercedes for the MB.OS development in India. These are:
The availability of India technical staffing
The speed and business agility of Indian teams
Entrepreneurial attitudes across agile and aggressive teams
Strong process orientation delivering large scale projects in short timelines.
Strong skills for mindsets making local decisions
High sales potential from growth in the world’s #3 market
High acceptance of connected (Internet) services usage in vehicles
Key technology advances also require talents available in India. India has experience, and is developing, talents for Artificial Intelligence know-how for application to Smart Cockpit, big data and data sciences for ADAS, and digitalization experiences for connected features.
The key reasons fit with the corporate schedule, for Stellantis, of bringing the first functionality to market at the end of 2024. Regardless of existing progress this schedule is attractive for global vehicle platforms.
For additional analysis and notes on a Dynamic India see http://www.ekalore.com/india-business
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