Stellantis, who are a global mobility player made up of 14 motor brands including Vauxhall, Peugeot, Fiat, Citroën and Jeep, have mapped out its software strategy to deploy next-generation electric vehicle (EV) technology platforms.
They will build on existing connected vehicle capabilities to transform how customers interact with their vehicles and to generate approximately €20 billion (£17 billion/$22.5 billion) in incremental annual revenues by 2030.
This transformation will move Stellantis’ vehicles from today’s dedicated electronic architectures to an open software-defined platform that seamlessly integrates with customers’ digital lives.
It expands the options customers have to add innovative features and services via regular over-the-air (OTA) updates keeping vehicles fresh, exciting and updated years after they have been built.
Carlos Tavares, Stellantis CEO, said: “Our electrification and software strategies will support the shift to become a sustainable mobility tech company to lead the pack, leveraging the associated business growth with over-the-air features and services, and delivering the best experience to our customers.
“With the three all-new AI-powered technology platforms to arrive in 2024, deployed across the four STLA vehicle platforms, we will leverage the speed and agility associated with the decoupling of hardware and software cycles.”
Stellantis plans to invest more than €30 billion (£25.5 billion/$33.8 billion) through 2025 to execute its software and electrification transformation.
The Stellantis software strategy works hand-in-hand with the company’s vehicle electrification plans, detailed at EV Day in July 2021, which targets that more than 70 percent of its vehicle sales in Europe and more than 40 percent of vehicle sales in the United States will be low emission vehicles (LEV) by 2030. Each of Stellantis’ 14 iconic brands are aiming to offer best-in-class fully electrified solutions.
Stellantis have also formed a strategic partnership with Foxconn, the Taiwan-based smartphone manufacturing giant, who make the Apple iPhone. This collaboration aims at designing a family of purpose-built micro controllers to support Stellantis and third-party customers.
The partnership is intended to develop four families of chips that will cover over 80 percent of the company’s micro-controllers’ needs, helping to greatly simplify the supply chain. Adoption and installation of products into Stellantis vehicles is targeted by 2024.
Stellantis also continues its dedicated projects with Waymo. As Chrysler Pacifica Hybrids equipped with the Waymo Driver provide thousands of fully autonomous rides in Phoenix, Arizona (USA), Stellantis and Waymo have now expanded their partnership to local delivery services.
Building on Stellantis’ leadership in light commercial vehicles and investment in electrification, the partners are collaborating on work streams focused on commercial development. Engineering teams will get their hands on Stellantis prototypes in 2022.
Launching in 2024, Stellantis’ three new electric vehicle platforms will be deployed, at scale, across the four vehicle platforms of Stellantis over the following two years. The heart of the transformation to customer-centric services is the new electrical/electronic (E/E) and software architecture, STLA Brain.
STLA Brain is fully over the air capable, with 30 modules addressed, versus 10 today, making it highly flexible. It is a service-oriented architecture fully integrated with the cloud that connects electronic control units within the vehicle with the vehicle’s central high performing computer (HPC).
It breaks today’s bond between hardware and software generations, enabling software developers to create and update features and services quickly without waiting for a new hardware launch.
These over the air updates dramatically reduce costs for both the customers and Stellantis, simplify maintenance for the user and sustain vehicle residual values.
Through software and on-demand features, Stellantis is providing customers with the ability to tailor their vehicles to individual needs and desires through over the air updates.
To support this transformation, Stellantis is creating a software and data academy to retrain more than 1,000 internal engineers in multiple roles and develop its software community. The Company is also hiring top software and AI talent from technology and other industries globally.
By 2024, Stellantis targets having 4,500 efficiency-driven software engineers, creating talent hubs around the globe. Those engineers will ensure the perfect execution of Stellantis’ software ambitions and operate within the ecosystem created by Stellantis partnerships.
