This article is sponsored by Siemens Digital Industries Software. In this Voices interview, Engineering.com spoke with Nand Kochhar, Vice President of Automotive and Transportation at Siemens Digital Industries Software, to discuss how software-defined vehicles (SDVs) are transforming the automotive and transportation industry. Kochhar shared insights on how digital transformation and comprehensive digital twin technology can help manufacturers manage complexity and accelerate innovation.
Engineering.com: Please tell us about your background and your role at Siemens.
Nand Kochhar: I spent nearly 30 years working at Ford Motor Company in roles of increasing responsibility. I was a chief engineer in multiple functions, including global safety systems, where I was responsible for vehicle crash safety of all Ford and Lincoln products globally. I also held many engineering roles in product development and manufacturing at Ford.
I was on the Ford Technical Advisory Board and held an additional responsibility as the Executive Technical Leader of Simulation, shaping future automotive and transportation technologies. During my tenure at Ford, I served for several years on the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) in several different roles. I served as Chairman of the Motor Vehicle Council for seven years, and later as Vice Chairman and then Chairman of the Technical Standards Board. I worked closely with SAE International to develop standards for autonomy, where we brought in the definition of SAE levels one through five for autonomous vehicles, which most of the industry has adopted globally.
I also had the opportunity to work in Germany for three years, launching a product for Ford Motor Company. I focused on building automotive capabilities in Asia Pacific as well.
I joined Siemens in 2020 as Vice President of Automotive and Transportation. I’m responsible for the automotive and transportation vertical, driving product development input for future capabilities, and supporting the marketing side of the organization by working with sales within our global sales and customer satisfaction organization.
What has caused the shift toward software-defined vehicles, and what is the impact of SDVs on the automotive and transportation industry?
Over the last few decades, more electronics and semiconductors have been introduced — not just in vehicles, but in the majority of consumer products, whether it’s your cell phone or appliances at home. It’s even more fascinating that today’s automobiles now include many of those same chips, semiconductors, printed circuit boards and electronic control units. Many people refer to modern cars and vehicles as computers on wheels.
Software has to work on something, and that something is electronics. That’s the logic behind bringing more electronics into the vehicle — and it’s what has caused everything, whether it’s a user function or connectivity, to be driven by software. That, in my mind, gave rise to the term software-defined vehicle. Some people originally called it a software-driven vehicle, but that’s the foundation behind the shift.
The impact of SDVs on the automotive and transportation industry is huge. The auto industry has matured around traditional powertrain technologies and how vehicles function. But in recent years, trends like connected vehicles, autonomy, and electrification have all emerged — and they’re enabled by software-defined vehicles.
In other words, all those trends — connected, autonomous, shared mobility and electrification — are embraced and delivered through SDVs. Electronics and semiconductors now play a major role alongside the electromechanical functions that vehicles have relied on for years. It’s bringing the two worlds together.
The software-defined vehicle is a channel that brings together electronics, semiconductors and the vehicle itself to deliver both the user interface and new business opportunities for OEMs and the broader automotive supply ecosystem.
There’s a level of expertise in the automotive industry. The software industry brings its own processes, like Agile product development. Now those two worlds have come together so companies can develop a holistic experience for the end user. That’s the importance of SDVs in this industry.
What are some challenges facing automakers as they transition from hardware to software-based innovation?
There are legacy companies — what we usually call brownfields — the ones that have been developing products, and then there are the newcomers. Each faces different challenges.
Established companies all over the globe, in every region, have siloed functions they have developed over the years. Chassis, body, electronics, electrical — and they have developed those functions separate from each other. The skillsets they have hired, matured and trained over the years are all focused on, even in a model-based systems engineering context, developing holistic systems.
But now, with software-defined vehicles and software-based innovations, it’s a different skillset. Either companies must retrain their workforce, or they need to bring in new people.
While legacy companies must figure out how to bring these two different skillsets together to deliver the end product, the greenfield companies — the startups — are often starting with a clean slate so they can build a team that has the new skillset. The newcomers, instead of being faced with a different set of challenges that includes infrastructure requirements, which carries a significant investment in development tools, cost management, time-to-market pressure and quality assurance.
How important is digital transformation to auto manufacturing in navigating the complexities of software-defined vehicles?
I would say digital transformation is the key — and it’s a journey. The business is complex today for many reasons: how you engage the entire ecosystem, how you work with suppliers. From time to time, there are different pressures: where the raw materials are coming from, COVID-related challenges, then the chip shortage, and now the reshoring of things in terms of tariffs.
Now, you lay another layer on top of that with the software-defined vehicle, and the complexity goes through the roof. One of the best ways to address that complexity is digital transformation. Instead of being challenged by it, digital transformation allows companies to turn complexity into a competitive advantage. Companies that adopt digital transformation can run “what if” scenarios, perform simulation and leverage tools like the digital twin and digital thread — all of which help them manage complexity and deliver business results.
This shift also presents new opportunities, including entirely new business models. Connected and autonomous vehicles enable new ways of generating revenue that the industry wasn’t focused on before.
In the case of the software-defined vehicle, one important feature is the over-the-air update. It helps improve quality, reduce warranty costs and — when there’s a recall — software-related issues can be fixed remotely, potentially saving millions of dollars.
It impacts not only automotive companies but also the entire ecosystem. The role of suppliers is changing, whether they’re technology providers or traditional component manufacturers. It’s quite a bit of disruption. On the positive side, you could say everybody is creating new business models — not only at the OEM level, but across the entire ecosystem. It is bringing the worlds of electronics and semiconductors together with mechanical systems.
How does the comprehensive digital twin help optimize product design, enhance interdisciplinary collaboration and ensure seamless over-the-air updates for SDVs?
Everybody is talking about digital twins. This is one of the key differentiators for Siemens, we talk about the “comprehensive digital twin.” The digital twin brings the real and virtual worlds together. What makes it comprehensive is that it’s not just in the design phase. It builds into the manufacturing of the same product for the same companies — and more importantly, after the product has left the factories, into the operations or the lifecycle of that product. Bringing this digital twin to have trusted traceability, and a continuous thread from product development to manufacturing to service, is what makes it unique. That’s the comprehensive nature of it. And that part of over-the-air updates for SDVs I already touched on — that’s one element of the comprehensive digital twin.
In each phase, there are different values that come out of a comprehensive digital twin. These are enabled by interdisciplinary collaboration. For example, when you use these technologies in product development, you can optimize for weight and cost, continuously learning from the field and having a closed-loop process. You’re bringing the lessons learned from the launch and from the field back into product development and incorporating them.
There are very important systems, like electrical and electronic systems. These technologies allow you to reduce the amount of wiring used in an electric vehicle — not only saving weight but also cost. So, there is a lot of innovation happening because of the comprehensive digital twin.
What should companies do to manage the challenges around SDV development, and how can they benefit from it?
Adopt these technologies — and it’s a journey. It’s not something that gets done in one quarter or two. You might have a small win with your biggest challenge, which helps companies learn and see the benefits of deploying these SDV development methods — and then grow that outward from that particular area.
In terms of benefits — in design, manufacturing and beyond — the biggest one we already touched on is quality improvement, warranty recalls and software-enabled updates. Those are happening, along with things like optimization and innovating your next generation of products. And you can beat the time to market — that’s the biggest one.
The mobility industry is at the cutting edge of innovation and changing every day. The solutions we experience today will evolve into new features and functions each year, along with the introduction of new business models driven by these technologies.
To learn more about how Siemens Digital Industries Software is helping companies on their software-defined vehicles journey, visit sw.siemens.com/en-US/digital-thread/mbse/software-defined-vehicle/
