We do not discover that the world of the car has changed today, but the events that have brought or have begun to bring new faces within the sector are still recent. A clear example is Ferrari: from the absolute reign of mechanics and the great Enzo, it has become a hyper-technological company led by a CEO who grew up in chips and silicon: Benedetto Vigna. This is just the beginning of the big one feast of software that will have to support the car manufacturers, with the risk of binging and overdoing it, or staying fasting for too long.
Another open-minded electronic CEO, namely Jim Rowan Volvo, made it clear in an interview reported by Automotive News: “Increasing the computing power in cars could be an even more difficult and transformative action for the automotive sectorcompared to the ‘simple’ switch from thermal to electric engines“. Software, with attached hardware means, will be a headache as well as an opportunity, and could in the long run be the true yardstick to distinguish a healthy brand from one in difficulty.
“We will have to be much smarter about software decisions, in particular by carefully choosing whether to produce it in-house or buy it from outside. We need to understand software on a much deeper level than ever before. How can we really get the best out of software that is a big expense to pay for a car? How can you be sure that its features are being used correctly and that they are really useful for driving?Rowan asked himself, focusing not only on his own brand, but also on the rest of the market. Volvo intends to be more in control of software quality than ever before, and in fact the intention is to participate more in their development. They are not the only ones to think so.
As Rowan rightly pointed out, all automotive brands will need, sooner or later, to raise the bar of their computer knowledge. There are those who have already had the opportunity to bang their heads on software for electric cars, such as Volkswagen: the ID line is now on sale, with satisfactory results according to the management, but only after having overcome problems of all kinds. And, returning to Ferrari, have a figure among the top executives able to distinguish the level of IT and electronic competence of their interlocutors it could really make a difference in a very competitive segment.
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