With the Neue Klasse cars, BMW is well ahead in the race for the software-defined vehicle, says Christoph Grote, the automakers Head of Electronics. In this interview, he talks about developer loyalty in China and the importance of OTA updates.
Did BMW have to make fundamental changes to the software development structure for the New Class?
No, software has been a core competence for us for over 20 years, which we have systematically built up step by step. It is particularly important to us that our software developers combine a deep understanding of our product with software skills. We now have a total of 10,000 software developers at BMW.
How many of these developers are based in China?
The needs of the digital experience in China are completely different. Therefore we have around 1,000 software developers at our specially founded software subsidiary BA TechWorks in Nanjing and at the development center in Beijing.
How do you think fundamentally about software development?
We have a global software and electronics platform, whereby the hardware and the lower software layers are almost identical worldwide.
We try to develop the applications that we build on it, i.e. specific customer functions such as infotainment or automated driving functions, which are sometimes also subject to regional regulations, as closely as possible to the country-specific requirements. The developers are technologically first-class and are familiar with everyday life in China and the needs of Chinese customers.
Has the New Class led to a new approach to software development at BMW?
The New Class is a major technological leap, but it doesn’t mean a revolution for our mindset and DNA. As I said, we have been developing our own software for over 20 years.
We have always gone deeper into digital value creation than many of our competitors. Especially in the development of the central computer platforms, our four superbrains, we do a lot ourselves.
We no longer buy anything in the traditional way according to specifications. In this respect, I see the New Class as a logical step for the software-defined vehicle, which we initiated many years ago.
What does this mean in practice?
For example, with our Dynamic Performance Control software, the ‘Heart of Joy’ controls all wheels and the steering of the New Class in less than a millisecond. This enables us to create an unprecedented driving experience. This is made possible by BMW’s high level of vertical integration in algorithms and software. The car is very easy to drive, almost playful and with unprecedented precision
With the zonal architecture and the four superbrains, hardware and software are strictly separated in the New Class. This creates the basis for installing functional updates over the air (OTA). Why is this so important?
We have mastered the OTA capability, which we call Remote Software Update, across all functional vehicle domains since 2018 and already update over ten million vehicles several times a year. Most competitors can only update the infotainment; we can update the entire car – all control units, the drive, charging, ADAS. This is an essential capability for the software-defined vehicle.
Where do you stand with the New Class at SDV – is this already the basis for the future?
What we will be delivering with the iX3 is our new generation of electronics for the coming years. On the functional side, we are constantly developing further for our customers. We are planning three updates a year, which will also provide customers with new features they can experience.
This enables us to keep the vehicles fresh for a very long time without having to carry out any physical modifications to the car itself. Our customers will experience many innovations in the New Class vehicles over the next few years.
