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Wipro has enjoyed a partnership with Marelli, one of the world’s leading global independent automotive suppliers. The synergies of this multi-year partnership have helped Marelli drive speed to value and realize its vision of transforming the future of mobility in collaboration with its customers.
Building on this relationship, Marelli has benefited from Wipro’s advanced expertise in developing its cabin digital twin, being among the first to achieve this important milestone in the transition toward software-defined vehicles (SDV).
Marelli’s cabin digital twin enables OEMs to quickly introduce innovative connected vehicle services to the market. This cutting-edge technology aims to simplify simulations, validation, and testing processes, eliminating the need for multiple physical cabins and reducing prototyping cost by up to 30%. Instead, a virtual cabin replica can operate numerous instances concurrently in the cloud, leading to up to 70% reduction in development time – and associated cost. Moreover, Marelli’s solution facilitates over-the-air software updates, empowering OEMs to quickly address customer demands while significantly reducing the time to release new software updates to the market.
Why Software-Defined-Vehicles?
Legacy automotive software is challenging to maintain and augment. Once a new project begins, the duration from start to launch is considerable, incurring a high cost. Industry participants need the ability to update vehicles at speed and keep them relevant during its lifetime. The growing role and complexity of software and data requires the automotive industry to build deep software competence in the cloud that expedites development cycles, reduces go-to-market timing, and enables frequent updates throughout the vehicle’s lifetime. Fortunately, forward-looking companies like Marelli and Wipro are embracing a different way to develop the “brains” of a vehicle.
Leverage Proof-of-Concept to Achieve SDV Goals
As with any new technology, the transformation to SDVs requires iterative steps. Marelli chose to leverage Wipro’s Cloud Car framework components to create the first cabin digital twin minimum viable product. Wipro’s Cloud Car framework includes accelerator solutions for designing and deploying cloud-driven containerized microservices deployment to Safety OS, Real-Time OS, and Android Automotive OS.
Wipro partnered with Marelli to realize the possibilities of a digital twin, connecting with AI and ML technologies, to help Marelli create a smart, automated solution on cloud to test, validate, and update SDV features, like transforming and deploying conventional automotive apps leveraging cloud-native technologies (apps-on-automotive as containerized microservices) deployed and controlled from the cloud.
The test environment confirmed agility and scaling when developing, validating and deploying solutions using a hybrid approach (in-vehicle + cloud). Further, it endorsed leveraging modern development, deployment tools, and frameworks running on the cloud. In addition, it authenticated a means to enable software updates for containerized microservices (conventionally available in cloud native deployments) to be made available to embedded platforms, like automotive.
"Marelli has already made significant strides in the SDV field, thanks to focused investments and the exploration of numerous business opportunities, driven by a passion for innovation. Wipro has been a valuable partner in developing Marelli's digital twin, showcased at CES 2023. Accessing Wipro's broad SDV talent pool provided Marelli with the essential support to create this groundbreaking innovation” – said Roberto Secchi, Head of Software Platform and DevOps at Marelli Electronic Systems.
Wipro’s contribution to Marelli’s development of its cabin digital twin helped it meet its objectives and quickly create and deploy containerized microservices. With cloud and microservices, Marelli can achieve faster implementation of new features and automated deployment in an agile development environment. This results in cost savings, reduced project completion time and frequent and easy software updates throughout the vehicle’s lifetime, providing higher value to customers.
“Working with great partners, such as Marelli, is key to bringing together software and connectivity to help redefine the next generation in the driving experience. Combining traditional solutions with innovative platforms enables OEMs to help deliver a better car everyday” – said Yves-Antoine Brun, Vice President, Head of Wipro Engineering Edge Europe.
First Step in a Cloud-Based Future in Automotive
The first step to a cloud-based future in automotive is to test a mechanism for developing, testing, analyzing and pushing software updates utilizing the cloud. In this case, the results of this endeavor will enable the supplier to transition to SDVs, and ultimately better meet market demands. Wipro’s Cloud Car platform helps suppliers begin making that change. The Cloud Car platform enables development, validation and software upgrades in the cloud at an unmatched digital scale.
Participants in the auto industry need to reduce development cycles and go-to-market timelines and find a way to keep a vehicle updated and relevant over the next 10+ years. The success of this collaboration means that customers can benefit from faster feature development, keeping suppliers ahead of their competition. This critical first step will expedite any supplier’s move to the Cloud and software-defined platforms, giving their customers the promise of SDVs and a cloud-based future – even for automobiles.
