The automotive industry is almost completely automated. Nevertheless, OEMs and suppliers are under enormous pressure to transform. Autonomous driving, the e-car, networking, and changing customer behavior are forcing manufacturers to transform themselves into mobility service providers. As early as 2025, up to 40 percent of revenue will come from business models outside of the actual vehicle production.
Automotive manufacturers and suppliers are currently pursuing a dual strategy. On one side, they must optimize existing core processes and continue to digitalize. On the other, they are developing new business models for the mobility of the future – which goes far beyond driving your own car. Mobility is developing into a digital ecosystem, inside of which means of transport, which previously were largely separate, are merging into a holistic service.
At the same time, technologies such as electric drives, autonomous driving, and interaction with the car require a massive restructuring of the existing product range. In the future, the vehicle will be software-driven and contain hundreds of millions of lines of programming. In this ecosystem, digital services, connectivity, and data are linked in a secure end-to-end approach. To achieve this, the automotive industry must develop new competencies, forge new alliances, and invest more in IT and communication technologies.
Autonomous, connected, electric, and shared (ACES): These are the four ingredients of the digital strategy for the future of the automotive industry. The automotive industry must be able to cope with the increasing product complexity of the vehicle, IT backend, networking and infrastructure, safety and security requirements, Car2X, 5G, the switch to the e-car, and cloud solutions. The transformation to a software-driven company with electrified mobility systems in an intelligent road infrastructure requires increased software competence, a new approach to product development (systems engineering), a new manufacturing strategy, a new partner landscape of IT specialists and tier-1 suppliers, and a new go-to-market strategy.
Through the merger with the former IT subsidiaries of Daimler and Volkswagen – debis and gedas – “Automotive” has been an important pillar of T-Systems’ image since the beginning of the company’s history. For more than two decades now, 13 out of 20 of the biggest manufacturers and more than 3,000 dealerships and international suppliers have trusted us. Independent industry rankings regularly show T-Systems to be the number one ICT partner for the automotive industry. With around 4,000 international automotive experts, T-Systems offers technical expertise as well as in-depth process and industry knowledge from a single source.
T-Systems supports the automotive industry with an integrated overall approach along the value chain. The technological basis is formed by the core areas of cloud and infrastructure, connectivity, digital services, and security. Automotive-specific solutions from engineering to digital commerce and connected mobility services round off the portfolio. This includes solutions for digital services inside vehicles, over-the-air updates, and the development and operation of modular, scalable platforms – for example for autonomous driving. In this way, T-Systems is creating the basis for the further development of the automotive industry’s new business models.
According to a recent study by the Information Services Group (ISG), T-Systems is one of the front-runners for connected car platform services with more than 12 million vehicles. As a member of the 5G Association, T-Systems is working together with partners on smart 5G use cases for networked and autonomous driving. T-Systems has many years of experience in the development, integration, and global operation of mobile vehicle services.
Even today, a vehicle offers around four million points of attack through software and electronic components. Car owners fear that attackers could manipulate critical security functions in the vehicle to cause an accident. They consider the manufacturers to be responsible for the cybersecurity of a connected vehicle. With Europe’s biggest Automotive Security Operation Center (Auto SOC), T-Systems is creating a protective shield for connected vehicles. Together with Argus, a subsidiary of Continental specialized in cybersecurity in vehicles, T-Systems is developing components for a comprehensive security concept. In the Auto SOC, safety-relevant data from the vehicle itself, the vehicle environment, as well as from development and production are processed. T-Systems’ security experts classify possible security breaches and immediately initiate counter measures. We also look for security vulnerabilities in the components and systems of control devices. Intrusion detection systems installed in cars detect attacks on the connected vehicle.
