Modern vehicles are packed with advanced software and electronics, enhancing performance but also changing how manufacturers assess benefits and risks. To stay competitive in today’s market, automakers must embrace digital transformation, moving from mechanical to software-defined vehicles. This industry shift is driven by three trends: the rise of EV powertrains, the spread of semi-autonomous driving capabilities, and the expansion of digitalization into manufacturing. As hardware and software converge in products, so too must design, manufacturing and maintenance evolve for a digital age.

Revolutionizing Collaboration for Success in EVs

Electrification has pushed automakers to rethink traditional automotive design and manufacturing. Companies now have to reconsider the information needed by EV drivers and how vehicle software and E/E systems are architected. Meanwhile, the future of battery electrification hinges on advancements in battery technology and charging infrastructure. This includes new battery management system software to extend battery life by learning drivers’ charging behaviors. Comprehensive integrations across supplier networks are essential for managing the interdisciplinary architectures of EVs.

Digital threads facilitate this integration by establishing a structured data flow across the product lifecycle, enabling every design discipline to access relevant data for optimized product design. Digitalizing development allows real-time, two-way exchanges with suppliers, ensuring updated requirements and understanding part availability. Strong connections in the digital twin from design to manufacturing ensure a smooth transition between these domains, enhancing traceability and enabling accurate over-the-air updates throughout a vehicle’s lifetime. Companies that can leverage software to innovate and adapt to this dynamic market will gain a competitive edge.

Updating Development Workflows for Autonomy

While EVs are still gaining traction, autonomous vehicle features are becoming standard, with many manufacturers offering Level 3 capabilities. However, achieving higher autonomy levels requires closer integration of mechanical, electrical, electronic, and software systems, increasing development complexity and cost. This stems from the verification and validation challenges of dynamic city streets.

Streamlined interdisciplinary collaboration is crucial for making autonomy a viable business strategy. The digital twin helps engineers uncover potential issues during early simulations, allowing for problem-solving within the context of a digital twin of the entire vehicle. A fully digital solution enables greater design exploration across all domains. But breaking down traditional silos between these domains requires defining and communicating system requirements digitally. A digital process helps manage the complexity and cost implications of increased electronics and software.

Delivering system requirements dynamically to suppliers allows for early validation of subsystems in conjunction with connected systems. For example, sensors for autonomous capabilities can be validated against control boards, mechanical interfaces, and software-in-the-loop tests early in the process. The comprehensive digital twin provides traceability and data accessibility, mitigating risks and ensuring a rigorous workflow without slowing development.

Digitalization also adds value once a vehicle is on the road. A digital feedback mechanism between the factory and the vehicle allows OEMs to update and improve software-based functionality. Data from vehicles in the field can improve the digital twin and provide over-the-air updates, enhancing existing and future vehicles. This continuity of data offers the flexibility and scalability needed to implement new autonomous technologies, driving innovation and improving safety.

Delivering Products Faster with Smart Manufacturing

The complexity of building autonomous features and overhauling powertrains for electrification extends to manufacturing as well. OEMs are adopting smart manufacturing technologies to achieve flexible, efficient, and sustainable operations. Faster implementation on the factory floor allows businesses to pivot quickly when facing supply chain issues.

A digital twin of production also enables manufacturers to optimize production virtually, exploring all configurations and commissioning machine operations with minimal downtime. Connecting design and manufacturing through the comprehensive digital twin helps businesses optimize time while meeting quality, sustainability, and time-to-market goals. Digitalization streamlines data flow between these worlds, fostering adaptability and innovation.

Cross-functional collaboration powered by the comprehensive digital twin enables flexible operations, advanced automation, and proactive sustainability. Merging the real and digital worlds brings new mobility generations to market successfully, with actionable insights before physical commissioning and throughout production. This shift-left approach drives high-quality and sustainable manufacturing in SDVs.

A Software-Defined revolution through digitalization

Designing and manufacturing a software-defined vehicle for tomorrow requires greater collaboration across engineering domains, automotive manufacturers, and the global supply chains they rely upon. A digital transformation of automotive design and manufacturing is the solution for addressing the increased cost, time, and risk software and electronics bring to the automotive industry. Creating a comprehensive digital twin of the SDV and a robust digital thread between all the key disciplines helps ensure that the overall system requirements are met and validated. Digitalization provides the framework and accessibility to make success sustainable for the next big transition in the automotive industry.

• The writer is Nand Kochhar, vice president of Automotive and Transportation at Siemens Digital Industries Software.