Stellantis Aims To Access India's Engineering Capabilities To Become A Mobility Tech Company

Stellantis, the world's sixth-largest automaker, has said that it wants to be seen as a mobility tech company rather than a car manufacturer. To that effect, the company is targeting an incremental income of Euro 20 billion from software-driven vehicles by 2030. While the larger aim is the have 34 million connected vehicles by the end of the decade, a closer goal is to make most of its new vehicles capable of receiving over-the-air updates by 2024. And India is set to play a major role in this.

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With software being the key aspect of this plan, Stellantis, which has three technology centres in India - in Chennai, Pune, and Hyderabad - wants to tap into the engineering prowess of the country. Mamatha Chamarthi, Head of Software business and product management, Stellantis, has told ET Auto that by 2024, the company will have 100 per cent of its components and features equipped for over-the-air updates. So, over the next 3 years, the company aims to have 12 million connected cars, with 6 million over-the-air updates.

Stellantis aims to have 34 million connected vehicles by the end of the decade, with an an incremental income of Euro 20 billion from software-driven vehicles

Out of the three technology centres, Setellantis' Hyderabad unit will be critical for software-intensive projects with autonomous driving and connected vehicle technologies, as the focus there is on artificial technology and software engineering. The centre was set up by Fiat Chrysler last year. Chamarthi wants to double the number of engineers at Stellantis' Hyderabad tech centre and plans to hire about 4500 software engineers across the company's technology hubs. In addition to the standard hiring process, the company is also looking at partnerships with universities across India and the rest of the world to generate a talent pool.

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Stellantis will be investing around $30 million in EVs and software

Stellantis' engineers at its India tech centres will also be working on new AI technology platforms - STLA Brain, STLA Smart Cockpit and STLA Autodrive, which will be launched in 2024. The company will have up to four new EVs on these platforms - STLA Small, STLA Medium, STLA Large, and STLA Frame. In fact, Stellantis will be investing around $30 million in EVs and software.

Stellantis is also working on some strategic partnerships, and one then is a joint venture deal with Foxconn for a technology platform. In fact, the company will reveal more strategies in due course, some of which could be announced at the next Consumer Electronics Show or CES 2022.

Source: ET Auto