More Horsepower with the Click of a Download
1.
ABSTRACT
Connected cars, in combination with the rise of electrical propulsion and autonomous driving, is
a tectonic shift which will impact the way electrical and electronic systems (E/E) in cars are
designed. It will change business models and will be reflected down into the organizational
structure of car manufacturers.
Imagine the following scenario: You park your car in the garage and go to bed, just to discover in
the morning that your car suddenly has 50 more “horses” under the hood; without ever going to
a dealership or garage, simply by an over-the-air (OTA) update – basically the same mechanism
we recognize from our Smartphones. What sounded like science fiction a few years ago will be
reality in almost every new car very soon. Digitization will affect everyone and every industry,
especially the automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEM) – as vehicle manufacturers
like to call themselves. Apart from Tesla Motors who have pioneered this technology already, all
other automotive companies still have to adjust to this customer-centric approach, in which the
car is defined through software rather than physical attributes. A prominent example is the
Autopilot1 feature which appeared overnight in all Tesla’s Model S cars built after October 2014.
For some car owners, a new download while at home sleeping instead of going to a dealer is a
very impressive leap forward in customer service, vehicle maintenance, and car owner
convenience. Improving a car over time is a challenge for most automotive companies. Now it is
not only about giving cars new features and functions via OTA updates, but the same holds true
for software bug fixes.
Some may ask why Smartphones are not used as the general interface to their car, and in fact
some cars feature a Smartphone application (app) to perform certain functions such as switching
on the air-conditioning (HVAC) or locking and unlocking the car. One key problem is that the car
will still have to work, even when the owner has forgotten the Smartphone at home. Therefore,
the main computer with its