KPIT, ZF to co-develop middleware solution for the mobility ecosystem

Pune-headquartered KPIT Technologies, a leading software development and integration partner for the automotive and mobility industry and German Tier 1 supplier ZF Group have formed a pact for joint development for an industry leading middleware solution for the mobility ecosystem.

The partners say the development will address a major gap in the availability of a mature, modular, integrated middleware solution that allows mobility OEMs to manage the continual increase in software complexity while retaining full control of architecture. Builds on sustained investment by KPIT and ZF in solutions for ‘software-defined vehicles’, which will create an open and scalable platform that can be used across OEMs and mobility customers.

The continual increase in software complexity coupled with high-performance computing infrastructure needs a robust and dependable middleware solution. The lack of such a solution can potentially delay vehicle development and escalate technology spends. The partners will leverage each other’s strength – software expertise of KPIT paired with ZF’s strong understanding of vehicle systems – to create a mature, modular middleware solution which can be deployed across OEMs representing a transformative opportunity for the mobility ecosystem. This cooperation will also bring onboard solutions from other technology companies, including semiconductor specialists, software companies, cloud services and start-ups.

The middleware development will draw upon KPIT’s experience in several production programs, expertise in architecture consulting, software integration and its strengths in cloud based connected services. It will use KPIT’s existing assets, tools and accelerators and other core infrastructure.

Kishor Patil, CEO, KPIT Technologies said – “We are very excited to cooperate with ZF for developing an industry leading middleware solution. OEMs want to explore open and scalable middleware solutions that can set foundation for the future generation of vehicles and bring significant quality and productivity improvements. An appropriate middleware solution will help OEMs and our mobility customers to transition well to a solid central computer architecture. Together, we bring software expertise, systems understanding, and knowledge of OEMs and mobility customer needs. This development cooperation for middleware solutions will add immense value to our global automotive and mobility customers and significantly shorten time for the development cycles.”

Dr. Dirk Walliser, SVP Corporate R&D, ZF Group said - “The next generation of vehicles that come into the market will feature electric drives, a high degree of automated functions as well as connectivity, and they will be software-defined. Using what we jointly develop with KPIT, we can offer our automotive customers even more comprehensive software solutions that fit seamlessly together with our system portfolio for the software-defined vehicle: high-performance computing, software, intelligent sensors and smart actuators.”

In January 2021, ZF established a Global Software Center with responsibility for developing software systems for future architectures on a group-wide level. One core product is an automotive middleware that serves as a ‘mediator’ between a vehicle computer’s operating system and its software applications. Its development is closely connected to the development of application software for mobility domains like automated driving, integrated safety, vehicle motion control and electric mobility.

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