Case Study - Randstad Digital’s global engineering network helps multinational automobile manufacturer revolutionize smart mobility with new SDV architecture.

the customer.

Our client is an international organization with a 115-year history of automotive excellence.

Thanks to multiple strategic partnerships, this automobile manufacturer is one of the largest in the world, with over 120,000 employees and a presence across over 100 countries.

As a European leader in electric vehicles, they stand for originality in automotive engineering. In 2021 they launched an ambitious roadmap for transformation that exemplifies a shift towards modernity and advancements in technology, energy and mobility within the automotive sector and beyond.

the challenge.

Underpinned by their roadmap for change, this automobile innovator’s ambition was to deliver a range of cutting-edge software features – and triple in size by the end of 2025.

Their aim was to redesign their whole vehicle software architecture, developing, integrating and validating all software components whilst generating a test automation framework for available services in a fully customizable CI environment. This generated a range of complex technical requirements, including:

validating power and performance KPIs for new and existing features on connected car systems
interconnecting external modules such as IVI and a simulation environment
developing and configuring software diagnostics and communication

To achieve these goals, they needed to forge a technical partnership and delegate part of their software scope. The requirements were straightforward: a solid, dependable tech partner, capable of sustaining fast growth while keeping expertise at the forefront of all operations.

Starting in 2018 with a localized core development team in France, our first project involved multi-system integration to optimize onboard components, including in-vehicle connectivity and in-vehicle infotainment, as well as offboard components, such as cloud and backend service, in connected cars. The initial scope was then expanded to include automation and performance analysis, with the goal of creating sustainable, safe and technologically advanced vehicles that cater to the needs of modern drivers.

With a strong focus on computer efficiency and vehicle maintainability, we devised an innovation process dedicated to specific new gen technologies for autonomous vehicles. To achieve this, our engineers worked to validate onboard systems, conduct offboard functionality testing and implement test automation to ensure optimal vehicle performance. In order to meet customer requirements, accelerate cost growth and exceed the expectations of the highest-level stakeholders, we established the hardware capabilities, tested framework maintenance and assessed connectivity implementation to correctly configure the software platform, laying the foundation for future-proofed vehicle architecture.

Leading on from this, our core team increased up to 130 engineers across multiple disciplines, expanding across Europe in order to leverage the delivery design and management expertise of our Romania-based delivery hub. In 2019, we embarked on an exciting first attempt to assess the feasibility of SDV architecture in vehicles – paving the way for tech-powered cars of the future.

In a 2021-2022 discussion, the company offloaded the legacy connected-car system to Randstad Digital, enabling them to push forward and focus solely on their new SDV program. We took over complete leadership and management of legacy programs around the connected car, assuming supplier responsibilities and leveraging our global reach across France, Romania and India to secure the very best engineering talent. By 2026, we’re projected to have around 300 expert engineers engaged in the program.

We are also supporting them to enable their SDV program. As part of this, we played an instrumental part in the project’s first demo in Paris, showcasing the benefits of the new SDV architecture on a “mule” – the first vehicle sporting the new architecture that has been driven on a racetrack.

Our global talent pool enabled us to leverage engineering expertise across France, Romania and India, covering multiple disciplines.

We engaged specialists in:

Multi-system integration
Software component development and integration
Automation framework development
AOSP software development
Linux, C, Python and C++ application development
Middleware architecture design and development
Connected services development and integration
DevOps
AUTOSAR
AWS Cloud
Microsoft AZURE
Android

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randstad digital helps multinational automobile manufacturer revolutionize smart mobility with new SDV architecture.

the customer.

the challenge.

how randstad digital drove the program forward.

the outcome.

who supported this project?