Stellantis Uses Amazon Cloud To Reduce In-Car Software Development To A Day

Stellantis and BlackBerry will collaborate on a new virtual cockpit that the company hopes will enable quicker development and more affordable production.
The system, which is a component of the business' Virtual Engineering Workbench, is intended to "up to 100 times" shorten development turnaround times by replicating automotive controls using the data cloud of Amazon Web Services.


The declared objective is to guarantee that new infotainment technology is developed and then swiftly and effectively released to the public. It sounds like something that could help with the software issues that come with modern cars. Bug-prone ECUs weren't really a problem when cars were more mechanical.
Stellantis reported that months of development time had been "down to 24 hours in some cases" and that it could now create "realistic virtual versions of car controls and systems, making them behave just like they would in a real car, but without needing to change the main software that runs them".

In 2022, Stellantis—the third-largest automaker in the world based on sales—and Amazon announced a collaboration whereby Stellantis will leverage Amazon Web Services to create software-based products for its vehicles and offer frequent over-the-air updates.

"With our virtual cockpit, we're revolutionizing not just our approach, but also that of our suppliers and partners in the industry," Stellantis chief software officer Yves Bonnefont said in a statement. "We're able to get closer to our customer's needs through this technology with faster development cycles."

New Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are putting pressure on legacy automakers to shorten their vehicle development cycles, as they can produce new models in a fraction of the time.

In-car infotainment and software development has been spearheaded by Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers, transforming their vehicles into mobile smartphones.

Stellantis claimed that the virtual platform, which makes use of tools created by BlackBerry, "offers little to no difference between running" systems "in the cloud versus on real hardware."

BlackBerry, a Canadian technology company, has shifted its focus from hardware and devices to enterprise software and cybersecurity.

It can also expedite consumer feedback regarding a specific brand and car, according to Stellantis, and "make changes in real time to optimize the experience for the driver."