In the end, we just drive a car. Without ever stopping to think about how much technology governs it compared to even just ten years ago. Automakers have had to totally reinvent themselves to satisfy consumer desires, to keep up with increasingly cutthroat competition and ever-shrinking time-to-market demands. The need for greater environmental sustainability has given a strong acceleration to the electric drive, to this challenge has been added the desire for autonomous driving or, at least, greater driving support in terms of safety and comfort.
And these challenges are overcome thanks to technology, and above all to software. Today, according to research by the Boston Consulting Group, 90% of innovations in the creation/definition of a vehicle are enabled by the software, reaching the point of talking about software-defined vehicles. And when we talk about software, we necessarily talk about data.
The data relating to production, those that travel between the applications that manage the supply chain and, last but most important in a customer centric vision, those generated by users, both in the preliminary phase of the purchase and during the use of the vehicle. Huge amounts of data to be correlated to achieve the goal of production that optimizes times and models and increasingly proactive assistance, guided by the user’s desires and habits.
Imperative to unify data sources
Although digital has been governing a car for years, the automotive revolution is not over yet. There are still those who place the product at the centre, to the detriment of the consumer, those who use platforms that are neither open nor standard, making application integration and data exchange difficult. And then there are the problems related to the supply chain, a direct consequence of macroeconomic or geopolitical phenomena, which can only be overcome with a resilient approach in which, once again, data and their analysis prevail thanks to predictive algorithms that exploit AI.
Google Cloud is among the most committed companies in the automotive sector, as evidenced by very high profile references and projects of different nature such as those developed for Ford, Toyota and Volkswagen, Renault, Jaguar, Nissan, Mitsubishi, KIA and Subaru, among others.
Although in the automotive sector the challenges to be faced involve areas that are apparently distant from each other, such as production and marketing, the data driven approach of Google Cloud makes it possible to put the consumer at the center with a data platform that brings the customer’s needs closer together with the offer of the car manufacturer.
A model based on four pillars
The model proposed by Google Cloud to accelerate the digital transformation of the automotive market is based on four pillars.
First, it is necessary to lay the data behind this transformation. Every automotive company must become a truly data driven company, capable of transforming data into detailed information relating to interaction with customers, personalization of experiences, up to the creation of content and marketing strategies directed by customer inputs.
Secondly, Google promotes an open cloud model that allows a continuous and deep dialogue between applications and services – which are already present in the company – in multicloud and hybrid environments. For this reason, the client company needs a cloud provider like Google Cloud, open to technological partnerships that enable application development, customization of services and integration with what already exists in the company and which must be protected.
For Google Cloud, collaboration is a key driver of innovation and agility. Google Cloud works hand-in-hand with partners and customers to address today’s challenges, but with an eye to future opportunities. A collaborative approach in Google’s DNA which, for example, manifests itself with Google Workspace, the collaboration and productivity offer that has already allowed companies to break down barriers and silos and to introduce greater speed in business growth and in cultivating future opportunities.
The fourth, but no less important pillar of the Google Cloud paradigm for automotive is security. For Google Cloud it is essential to ensure that customers and partners are able to protect their intellectual property, but above all the privacy of users. In a sector where the supply chain is particularly long and articulated and in a scenario where user data is managed, guaranteeing protection and security must be an essential principle.
Finally, Google helps customers decarbonise their digital infrastructure and applications by embedding features natively in Google Cloud to help organizations take action today, and this is even more important in a market like Automotive, which is located particularly involved in dealing with sustainability issues.
It is by following this paradigm that Google Cloud has established itself by collaborating with major automotive companies such as Ford, which has reinvented the connected vehicle experience with the support of Google Cloud or Volkswagen, which uses Google Cloud services based on Artificial for the development of the cars of tomorrow.