By : RACHNA TYAGI
MUMBAI :
“A landmark collaboration,” is what the new Joint Venture (JV) between the BMW Group and Tata Technologies is being hailed as, and rightfully so. Afterall, it is not every day that two giants from the auto and tech space come together to develop next generation software and digital solutions for vehicles of the present as well as the future; not to mention, Software Defined Vehicles (SDVs), which the BMW Group is pioneering.
Warren Harris, CEO & MD, Tata Technologies, sees this “joining of forces” as an “incredibly important moment for India.” The partnership, which was inked after a “thoughtful and rigorous selection process,” is all set to go live in November 2024. This partnership will not just demonstrate “India’s technological capabilities to the world,” but will also pave the way for prospective “groundbreaking advancements” while developing the “much-needed high-end jobs in this country,” while setting a “precedent for future partnerships in this space,” says Harris.
“For the past 25 years BMW cars have been connected,” and not only does BMW have “22 million cars out there on the field,” but it also has “9 million + cars” with fully updatable OTA (Over-The-Air)” updates, along with “12 billion cloud service requests daily,” says Dr. Christoph Grote, Senior VP, Electronics and Software, BMW Group.
While the car’s ‘infotainment,’ ‘drivetrain,’ ‘ADAS,’ ‘charging,’ and ‘security,’ stand to benefit greatly from software, “it’s also got to be scalable” to go from “the smaller cars” such as “the MINI” to the “larger” ones such as “the Rolls Royce,” explains Dr. Grote. All of this… really is an “amalgamation between a software factory and an automotive factory,” he says.
Acknowledging that the “buzz word” these days is ‘SDV,’ Dr. Grote, says that he is keen to see the “rapid deployment of the new generation of systems across all powertrains – BEVs, PHEVs and ICE.
Talking about how the BMW Group is driving the digital transformation in a changing business environment, Alexander Buresch, CIO & Senior VP, BMW Group IT, says that their plants are “the most modern and most efficient car plants in the world,” and describes how IT has a supporting function for the BMW car company. Now, with “insourcing technology” because of “want[ing] to do everything ourselves,” the teams in India are tasked with managing “production critical BMW systems, based on SAP and Cloud solutions.” “We want to educate people about the BMW way in building cars,” says Buresch.
Aditya Khera, CEO, BMW TechWorks India, says that “the bar is set very high.” With handpicked homegrown talent, 100+ Tata resources from TCS and Tata Elxsi, the team is all set to work on “mission critical systems” and “blur boundaries between man and machine.” “Our mandate is huge; it straddles across Digital Car, Automotive Software, and Enterprise IT. There are multiple domains and products that we will be working on. Because we will be owning the product strategy, right from releasing new digital experiences for customers, to creating digital touchpoints, to leveraging AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language) across domains, AIML for automotive driving, to make the car more intuitive, AIML to digitize manufacturing processes, to making them more scalable, more efficient… all of this is something that the JV will do. Digitizing the factory, making the retail customer journey more seamless while ensuring that the requirements for a customer, right from configuring the vehicle, to getting financial services, everything [will be] smooth and digitally enabled. All of this will be part of the JV,” says Khera.
And who should be applying for a job here? “Nothing defines innovation better than BMW and they’re pushing the boundaries of SDVs (Software Defined Vehicles), so it’s a call for anybody obsessed with technology, obsessed with software development, and is keen and enthusiastic to see their work come to life in terms of products. They can say with pride that “I designed this feature, this infotainment screen, for this model of BMW. That’s the product association and product ownership that we’re looking for. Talent who defines their own product strategy, collaborates with different regions of the world, and owns the strategy for the product. So, really a Software Developer at heart,” says Khera.
An inclination towards cars is “preferable,” but I don’t think it’s a “must have,” says Khera.” “Somebody who is a good Software Developer, for instance, could be very useful in Enterprise IT with a certain orientation… they would be a very good fit in Automotive Software as well. We would look at skills too. If somebody has really good skills, let’s say C++, Java, Python… why not” says Khera.
However, this JV hasn’t happened overnight. In fact, it has been an 18-month long work-in-progress. Nachiket Paranjpe, President & Sales Head, Global Automotive Business, Tata Technologies says that their company was one among 14 companies being courted by BMW, including a few international ones. “BMW is the world’s most respected brand and many Tata Group Companies have aspired to work with them. BMW evaluated many companies, but I think, the Tata Group’s culture, values, mindset, the importance given to ethics, as well as our long-term vision really resonated well with them,” says Paranjpe. “The technology focus that BMW brings to the table, the innovation… is something that can work both ways. BMW will benefit from our synergies, our technology capabilities, and we will also learn something about future technologies” he says.
So, what made the BMW Group inclined towards Tata Technologies to partner with for this JV? Santosh Singh, EVP & Global Head, Marketing & BE, Tata Technologies says that while “BMW already has centres in different countries such as Romania, China, and Portugal, [among others,] the scale that they were seeking was missing.” “With India, that scale is what we’re trying to deliver,” says Singh. “The JV will not just ramp up the development part and accelerate the process of development, but will also provide the scale that BMW needs… the development that needs to happen on AI, Gen AI, and in digitalising the manufacturing processes. We’re going to work with them to develop their software and bring in the best of third-party apps, and hopefully, BMW customers will feel a better experience,” says Singh. “It is the goodness of Tata Technologies and the vehicle expertise of BMW which together makes for a powerful combination,” says Singh.