- By pooling their complementary expertise, the partners plan to develop and market together systems and software to provide an enriched and sustainable mobility offer
- 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
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 today 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, they said.
Jean-Marc Chery, President and Chief Executive Officer, STMicroelectronics said, “STMicroelectronics has joined the Software République to bring its innovative semiconductor products and solutions for electrification and digitalization of vehicles and mobility services. Our know-how is an enabler of the ongoing transformation towards more efficient solutions, in line with the expectation of stakeholders in terms of environmental impact. The partnership at the heart of this project will also help strengthen the links across the entire value chain, a key aspect during this phase of the transformation of this industry.”
Collectively build a sustainable ecosystem
According to the Boston Consulting Group, the global mobility market will grow by 60 per cent by 2035 to reach 11,000 billion euros. This growth is mainly driven by the emergence of technological disruptions like electric vehicles, new components, new after-sales services and other value-added services whose share will increase from 5 per cent to 45 per cent 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.
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.
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. These are 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 and energy ecosystem to simplify the charging experience.
Elie Girard, Chief Executive Officer, Atos said, “Atos is proud to be one of the founding members of the Software République. 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.”
Another area would be 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. It will also help to optimise 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 and operate to enrich their services. It will also help the public authorities to simulate and implement mobility scenarios, such as emergency management, events, etc and urban planners to better anticipate land use planning.
They said, “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. 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.”
As part of its sustainable vocation, the Software République will be based in Guyancourt at the Renault Technocentre in a building called Odyssée, a 12,000 m² space which is modern and eco-responsible. Its interior and exterior structure is 100 per cent wood, with one tonne of CO2 saved per square metre built in comparison to a standard building, and the 1,000 m² roof of the building is covered with photovoltaic panels.
