Electronics Era: According to you how the various cloud services like IoT, AI, ML and cloud computing changed the whole e-mobility scenario?
Suraj Nair: It’s hard to imagine e-mobility itself without the foundation provided by the advanced digital technologies that you mentioned.
IoT helps realize telematics which is fundamental to e-mobility cases around vehicle tracking, real-time monitoring of vehicle health (battery performance, charging levels), route optimization, remote vehicle management for smart charging and more. Telemetry data from vehicles enable insights for R&D teams in the e-mobility space to continuously improve related technology to enhance EV adoption. Data is also used to enable more features (range prediction, state of charge, charging points enroute etc) that make it convenient for vehicle users to use electric vehicles.
AI is foundational to autonomous electric vehicles and a number of ADAS & infotainment features like Driver Monitoring, Blind spot detection, Lane-keep assist, Driver Monitoring etc. Machine Learning algorithms are fundamental to e-mobility requirements like range prediction, battery end of life prediction, driving behaviour optimization, charging behaviour optimization.
Cloud computing provides the dynamically scalable infrastructure needed for hosting platform services that provide the connected e-mobility features. These are also fundamental to providing the infrastructure needs for ingesting and managing large amounts of vehicle generated data needed for supporting training needs for AI and ML requirements.
The influx of software driven by the technology domains indicated, has resulted in new business models like shared mobility and concepts like circularity, managed charging, driving behaviour coaching, multi/micro modal capabilities which contribute to the larger objective behind the adoption of e-mobility – that is to build a more sustainable planet.
Electronics Era: How Quest Global assisting automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers in navigating the digital landscape and integrating new solutions into their operations?
Suraj Nair: Quest Global is strategically placed for the automotive market thanks to the sheer spread of industry verticals that we have been servicing that have significant overlaps with requirements in the automotive market. For example. Energy, Hi-Tech, Semi-Conductor, Communications, Aerospace are some of the (many) markets that we service which enables us to ideate on how domain and technology learnings from these vertical industries, can help realize the needs of the automotive market. Given that software driven innovation is table stakes today , our strong digital technology capabilities, alongside our strong mechanical and embedded capabilities, are being leveraged by OEM, Tier 1s and even Tier 2s to help differentiate with software in the market. Some examples of work that we do with automotive customers in the digital domain include Digital Cockpit, ADAS/AV, Telematics, cloud based Connected Platforms and other complementary segments in automotive involving the need AI including Vision based and Gen AI based solutions. We are also working with players in the automotive ecosystem (OEMs, Tier 1s, Tier 2s) to help prepare the software ecosystem for software defined vehicles.
Electronics Era: According to you what are the Challenges and opportunities automotive OEMs are facing in 2024 in adapting IoT solutions for different markets and regions
Suraj Nair: Automotive OEMs are transforming into software and mobility companies. This is driven by the fact that the new generation of customers in today’s consumer vehicle market, are tending to focus on software and digital driven features in the vehicle as an important point of differentiation.
In the past, development of connected solutions for a market used to be driven by the corresponding region-specific entity and so, as a result you would find different features in different markets for the same vehicle brand. Today the base solution is typically built for the global market by a core team and then localized or extended for region specific requirements. Within the broad essential categories of Safety & Security, Infotainment, Convenience and Vehicle Health – there are unique features being developed based on learnings from across regions around consumer expectations, regulatory demands, security regulations, vendor partnerships – which provide opportunities and challenges as well.
The miniaturization of hardware, explosion in compute capability and ubiquitous connectivity continue to push feature capabilities in connected vehicles – as customers expect consumer electronics features in vehicles and also consider a car as a natural extension of their digital lifestyle. OEMs are also experimenting with new and innovative business models that are attractive to customers and yet provide them continuous revenue beyond the sale of the car.
However, challenges exist as OEMs require to keep up to innovative cybersecurity threat vectors, adhere to global and regional regulatory requirements (safety and security, data privacy, carbon accounting etc.), negotiate impact of political situations on supply chain impacting vendor partnerships, consider disparity in regulations and connectivity & datacentre infrastructure across regions, remain flexible to rapidly evolving technology ecosystem and satisfy increasing consumer expectations.
Electronics Era: As of now more and more vehicles made will be shifting over to EVs. Autonomous driving vehicles will be seen in greater and greater numbers as well. With these changes, cars may become just a means of transportation rather than luxury items. What do you think consumers will expect and require from these next generation cars in the future? Will consumers expect new and different things from these new and different cars?
Suraj Nair: A lot has been said about the future in-car design changing from being ‘car-like’ with instrument clusters, steering wheels etc. to transforming into living and working spaces. Consumers will continue to expect seamless safety and security features both, when on the road and when stationary. The car interiors would be hyper-personalized and would be expected to serve entertainment as well as offer tools for work productivity as cognitive driving load becomes zero, in the absence of a driver. Cars would be expected to have a near zero carbon impact and have longer life span as then, driving efficiency would not be dependent on individual driving styles. Also, consumer behaviour trends indicate that the next generation consumers would actively move away from car ownership to using cars in a “as-a-service” model.
Electronics Era: What is your vision for software in cars and how the inclusion of Artificial Intelligence is making possible to offer drivers a pleasant driving experience while keeping the complexity of software in car now?
Suraj Nair: The influence of software in the automotive industry today is profound, so much so that, there is no conversation in the industry without reference to “Software Defined Vehicles”. There has been a proliferation of software across the automotive ecosystem and as a result automotive companies transforming themselves to be called “software” and “mobility” companies. The impending focus on software is significant, given that automotive companies are re-evaluating their in-car E/E architectures to transform from existing distributed architectures to domain/zonal/centralized ones, powered by chips that are evolving to support multi-modal workloads on a single hardware device. This will enable powerful compute to be continuously available for deploying a wide variety of software defined features over the lifetime of the vehicle.
AI is foundational to the automotive industry as is evident in the progress being made in the industry over time, in achieving higher levels of autonomy as defined by SAE. Thanks to rapid advancements in chip design targeting AI, AI driven features are expected to significantly improve safety and security of vehicle occupants, increase vehicle life and enhance driver convenience as it takes over more and more of the cognitive driving load of the driver. There are already products in the market that offer in-vehicle voice assistant with Gen AI capabilities to enable seamless conversations and quick responses with in-house technology to reduce inaccurate hallucinated responses.
Electronics Era: In your views what are the Role of connected vehicles in promoting sustainability and reducing environmental impact
Suraj Nair: Data received as telemetry from connected vehicles, provides insights that can realize emission optimization. Vehicle Health Reports generated enable early detection of anomalies that cause reduced mileage and increased emissions. Telemetry data also provides information on driving behaviour – which in turn enables feedback to drivers on what needs to be corrected to improve vehicle efficiency.
The ability to remotely control vehicle features via the Connected Platform, enables features like Managed Charging, where the electric vehicle can be configured to charge only when for example, the source of energy on the grid is renewable, thereby maximizing renewable energy usage. This capability could also transform a vehicle into a distributed energy source by contributing energy to the grid when there is peak load on the grid. Given that statistics have indicated that the transportation sector contributes significantly to overall carbon emissions, there has been intense pressure on the sector to reduce emission impact through regulations. Connectivity in vehicles enable data collection, which opens up opportunities to significantly monitor and control vehicle emission.
Infotainment systems in vehicles can help integrate multi and micro modal transport options into a planned trip as part of the navigation feature. This enables climate conscious users to reduce their carbon footprint by opting for options suggested. Intelligent navigation can also enable route optimization based on multiple factors – current charge, terrain, charging points enroute etc. to guarantee convenience in reaching the destination.
As you would notice, the integration of vehicle telemetry data, remote vehicle control and API based integration with multiple other sources of related information, enable building innovative features in electrical vehicles through the vehicle’s connected car platform.
Electronics Era: How Quest Global is shaping the industry’s trajectory in the Perspectives on the future of IoT and telematics?
Suraj Nair: Our customers are increasingly adopting of IoT in their digital transformation initiatives across consumer, industrial, enterprise, medical and commercial segments. A number of forces have combined to provide a significant push to IoT adoption in enterprises – including technology advancements enabling hardware miniaturization with growing compute, dropping hardware costs, ubiquitous connectivity, maturity of 5G deployments, AI achievements in the industry and advancements in cloud computing services from the hyper-scalars.
At Quest Global, we enable engineering and business transformation for our customers. We cater to eight major industry segments (Energy, Aerospace & Defence, Automotive, Healthcare, Semi-conductors, Hi-Tech, Rail and Communications). Our presence across these verticals helps us identify use cases and technologies that are common across verticals, and also help us recommend unique use cases that could be cross seeded across segments. We also work across all technology segments that are relevant to realizing end-to-end IoT solutions in the industry – right from embedded software, hardware design, connectivity technologies, cloud platform engineering, data platform engineering, AI & ML and end device delivery (wearables, mobile devices etc.)
Electronics Era: According to you what are the recent trends and developments in the automotive industry and how these trends shaping the future of mobility?
Suraj Nair: CASE (Connected, Autonomous, Shared and Electrification) continues to be the foundation for a future where mobility is more sustainable, efficient and personalized. Connected, autonomous and electrified vehicles continue to be the focus of extended development with evolving technology enabling newer use cases. Shared Mobility is another trend that is seeing an upsurge with the current generation of users preferring ride sharing & ride hailing than vehicle ownership, resulting in new business models emerging.
Customers experience expectations are also changing in tune with happenings in the consumer electronics world. New generation of digital savvy customers expect the car to be an extension of their digital lifestyle across other devices that they interact with – including smartphones and home assistant devices and so capabilities to interact with the car go beyond the vehicle interface to other devices outside.
The top semiconductor players continue to focus on the automotive market, building chips that are both domain specific and also multi-modal, in order to cater to OEM’s move towards new E/E architectures. The global drive towards achieving higher levels of autonomy have also required semi-conductor players to significantly focus on AI offerings for the automotive market. Voice assistants within cars are becoming more accurate and responsive with improvements in audio technology and integration of Generative AI with custom implementations to reduce or eliminate hallucinations.
With a need to push electric vehicle adoption, governments have invested in building charging infrastructure in urban areas. The energy sector is working closely with the automotive industry both by upgrading legacy grid infrastructure to be ready to handle the increasing charging load, and also incorporating features like ‘Managed Charging’ that attempt to reduce load during peak load and also ensure maximization of renewable energy.
Electronics Era: How Quest Global accomplish the Global’s initiative to comply with evolving data regulations and industry standards
Suraj Nair: Quest Global has comprehensive Information Security policies with respect to data regulations of all the countries that Quest Global operates from. These policies cover all the necessary requirements for all our employees as well as vendors that we engage with. In addition, we also have comprehensive data security and data privacy policies as part of the Quality and Information Security Management System. Quest Global is certified for ISO27001 and TiSAX wherever applicable.
