Automotive tech company Aptiv showcased at CES how it is positioned for the wider adoption of software-based vehicle technologies.
Aptiv’s virtual and on-site presentation at the Las Vegas event included a demonstration of several use cases for the company’s software applications in vehicle architecture, such as using artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance Aptiv’s radar system.
Aptiv Chief Technology Officer Glen De Vos said the demonstration — which centered on what the company refers to as software-defined vehicles — highlighted the company’s “holistic” approach to software technology and application, or “smart architecture.”
“Part of that is the actual physical hardware that goes into the vehicle; the electrical architecture, the wiring, the connection system, the compute,” De Vos told Automotive News during a virtual interview. “Part of that is the software, thinking about software as being abstracted from that underlying hardware, being able to manage that software much more effectively in terms of development and then over the life of the vehicle. And then a piece of it is also the connectivity.”
De Vos said Aptiv’s more holistic approach to software development and vehicle application better positions the company, especially as automakers adopt new architectures for the transition to electric vehicles.
“That’s the right time for the OEMs to adopt new architectures because you’ve gotten rid of the internal combustion engine,” explained De Vos. “All the legacy parts that normally get dragged along by that, now you can put that behind you and really reimagine vehicle architecture as you go to a fully electrified platform.”
De Vos said, with the company’s involvement in vehicle architecture, the shift to fully electrified platforms also enables Aptiv to participate in high-voltage electrification, enhancing the company’s business model.
“From a wiring harness and connections system standpoint, low-voltage platforms have about $500 of content,” he said. “When you go to a fully electrified platform, you take out the wiring harness for the engine, but you add back in about $850 of high-voltage content.”