The 37th annual Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exhibition (EVS37), the longest-running international event devoted to EV technologies, concluded last month in Seoul, South Korea with a series of presentations by industry and academic leaders from around the world. Karma Automotive President Marques McCammon, serving as session chair for the software-defined vehicle session, delivered a presentation extolling the virtues of open standards, a proposed collaborative process between vehicle manufacturers that could create a sustainable industry in a software-defined world.
“Everybody in the auto industry is running the same race on their own,” said McCammon. “It’s time to make that a relay race where everybody works together, which will result in decreased costs and risk. Open standards are the pathway to the software-defined vehicle (SDV). Businesses within an industry that share a set of standards can bring huge value to themselves and to customers.”
The theory is that the expansion of connected, automated, shared and electric vehicles has opened the auto industry to the potential of activating vehicle data to create new product experiences and market propositions.
“To realize the full value of this exciting new frontier,” said McCammon, “the industry must transition to SDV architectures instead of tackling the design challenge independently and seeking competitive differentiation, which is financially impractical. OEMs are lagging behind start-ups in the SDV transition because they have more to risk and more built-in legacy.”
McCammon, who assumed the Karma helm in March 2023, has helped reorder the company’s manufacturing priorities with the recent introductions of two software-defined vehicles: the Gyesera, Karma’s first all-electric sedan; and the Kaveya, the first all-electric super coupe GT. There’s also another new vehicle intro slated for later this year. Additionally, Karma recently acquired the technology assets of Airbiquity, whose software product portfolio delivers connected vehicle solutions that include over-the-air updates, software development tools, data management and analytics.
“The movement to true SDVs necessitates a complete reimagining of the vehicle architecture, not simply electrification of what already exists,” says McCammon. “With slowing demand for EVs, automakers are being forced to make pragmatic decisions about investment and velocity.
“Karma is poised to lead the SDV revolution, combining flexible and scalable hardware with fully abstracted software to create a compelling production application. Our unique approach encourages collaboration and knowledge sharing with key industry partners, which accelerates development and speeds time to market.”
SOURCE: Karma Automotive
