Daimler is concentrating on innovation through software updates for faster deployment.

Daimler's architecture includes technology that can be upgraded remotely, and India's IT-rich economy is an ideal location for this.

As safety becomes a rising issue in modern times, automobiles have progressed from passive to active safety, with the addition of ADAS and a slew of additional systems. However, we rarely consider larger commercial vehicles, which are significantly more prevalent on the road. Daimler is developing safety measures that can only be modified via software to make them safer.

Daimler's architecture includes technology that can be upgraded remotely, and India's IT-rich economy is an ideal location for this. The Daimler Truck Innovation Center India (DTICI) has spent a year developing a strong engineering organization that is integrated with the parent company in order to meet its 2025 ambitions. It has the freedom to innovate in the areas of engineering and IT. The previous year was Daimler's first year as an independent company.

Typically, it takes a corporation 5 to 6 years to develop a new platform or architecture; but, if the same needs to be tweaked, it only takes a year or two.

Raghavendra Vaidya, MD and CEO of DTICI, states, "The future is not about creating new architectures that take time, but about shortening the time of innovation. So our goal with the new hardware we introduce is to leave enough headroom for software to drive innovation for many years to come."

Daimler trucks, for example, feature active safety, which consists of a set of hardware and software; nevertheless, the business aims to continue updating safety exclusively with the latter in the future.

"This is a significantly shorter cycle. If a new safety feature is required, we can develop it with software and update the vehicles over the air," Vaidya explains.

He goes on to say that the requirement for a year to design something is no longer necessary, since innovation cycles are becoming shorter, and the software space is where innovation is taking place.

Daimler is now outsourcing software to Tier I vendors, but the business hopes to have an in-house staff shortly. DTICI now designs architectures on its own, and according to the CEO, hardware will continue to be built by other suppliers.

The firm has its own targets, projects, and initiatives in place to achieve this goal. Daimler's operation here is the company's largest engineering centre outside of its home city, and success is measured by how much value it will add to the products.

When it comes to design and manufacturing, the perspective of the company and customer is quite different, because customers don't care about the type of screens Daimler trucks have or the wheels they run on. Customers purchase the Dailmer products to power their enterprises. As a result, the Daimler truck achieves its objectives.