Elie Girard, Bernard Charlès, Luca de Meo, Jean-Marc Chery and Patrice Caine — respectively the chief executives of Atos, Dassault Systèmes, Groupe Renault, STMicroelectronics and Thales — have announced their intention to join forces to create the Software République, a new ecosystem for innovation in intelligent mobility.
By pooling their complementary expertise, the partners plan to develop and market together systems and software to provide an enriched and sustainable mobility offer for cities, regions, businesses, and citizens.
Artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, connectivity, embedded electronics, and virtual twin technology will contribute to the excellence of these new products and services. This open innovation ecosystem, founded by five leaders in the automotive and technology fields, will welcome new members and develop open collaborations.
A matter of sovereignty
Mobility is changing and offering new opportunities. According to the Boston Consulting Group, the global mobility market will grow by 60 percent by 2035 to reach 11,000 billion euros. This growth is mainly driven by the emergence of technological disruptions — electric vehicles, new components, new after-sales services, and other value-added services — whose share will increase from 5 to 45 percent of the global mobility market.
Major industrial players on other continents, with state support, are already positioning themselves to develop many of these new technologies through enhanced integration strategies. Today, the founding members of the Software République express the urgency for France and Europe to collectively build a sustainable ecosystem that aims to ensure their sovereignty in this field.
Three areas of cooperation
To jointly develop and market intelligent mobility systems, enabling the implementation of an adapted and agile mobility offer, three main areas of cooperation have been identified:
- Intelligent systems to facilitate secure connectivity between the vehicle and its digital and physical environment.
- Simulation and data management systems to optimize flows for territories and companies.
- Energy ecosystem to simplify the charging experience.
For example, the following topics are being discussed by the Software République partners:
Plug and charge
The development of new technologies and services to allow an electric car, connected to a compatible charging point, to be automatically recognized, and to perform a charge without any action by the user.
Optimizing mobility flows for territories
To facilitate access to and simulation of mobility information exchanges, instantaneously and openly across cities and regions to enable:
- Consumers to always select the best means of mobility according to time, comfort or energy management.
- Operators to enrich their services.
- Public authorities to simulate and implement mobility scenarios, such as emergency management, events, etc.
- Urban planners to better anticipate land use planning.
To foster innovation, the Software République will also seek to create an investment fund to finance the most promising start-ups and an incubator to host start-ups in the field of smart mobility technologies, where they will have access to a collaborative virtual development and experimentation environment, and mentoring through a value network.
“In the new mobility value chain, on-board intelligence systems are the new driving force, where all research and investment are now concentrated,” said Luca de Meo, CEO of Groupe Renault. “Faced with this technological challenge, we are choosing to play collectively and openly. There will be no centre of gravity, the value of each will be multiplied by others. The combined expertise in cybersecurity, microelectronics, energy and data management will enable us to develop unique, cutting-edge solutions for low-carbon, shared, and responsible mobility, made in Europe.”
For the launch of the ecosystem for start-ups and universities, the partners of the Software République plan to organize a data challenge to contribute to the development of the technologies for the mobility of tomorrow: electric, connected, and autonomous.
“Atos is proud to be one of the founding members of the Software République,” said Elie Girard, CEO. “As a technology creator and integrator of complex solutions, we will make available to this unique ecosystem our digital expertise in reducing the carbon footprint and our innovative technologies in key areas such as artificial intelligence, digital security, cloud, IoT, or high-performance computing. Combining the strengths of five of the world’s leading automotive and technology players, this initiative promises to accelerate the decarbonization of mobility.”
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