Renault and Google strengthen their partnership to develop the vehicles of the future

Carmaker Renault is strengthening its ties with Google Cloud as part of the development of vehicles of the future. According to the announcement, the partnership between Renault and Google will aim to design and provide the digital framework for the “Software Defined Vehicle” (SDV), a new frontier of automobiles with 100% software-dependent functionality.

The renewed partnership, which dates back to 2018, is part of the Renault Group’s commitment to the digital transformation of its engineering processes. Under the terms of the partnership, the duo will work together to develop a number of embedded and non-embedded software components that will help power the VDS, among other things, as well as in the introduction of utilities that can make future automobiles more functional.

While the financial aspect of this renewed partnership was not revealed, Renault confirmed that it will quickly accelerate its move to the cloud.

“The complexity of the electronic architecture of cars is increasing exponentially, driven by the sophistication of features and services expected by customers. With a shared computing platform, continuous over-the-air updates and simplified access to car data, the SDV approach developed in partnership with Google will transform our vehicles to better meet the needs of tomorrow’s customers,” said Luca de Meo, Renault Group CEO.

As Luca de Meo revealed, the SDV innovation that is being developed by the duo “will increase residual value and after-sales retention, which are two key drivers of our financial performance, and will help Renault to roll out our portfolio of new services.“

In total, he recognized that the “strategic partnership with Google will enable us to accelerate our end-to-end digital transformation, from car design to production to market, and ultimately bring added value to our customers. With Google, we go beyond simple cooperation: a software champion and a mobility champion join forces to create game-changing technologies.“

Renault and Google to accelerate creation of digital twins

One of the highlights of the announcement is the creation of a software-defined digital twin of the vehicle, which will reside on Google Cloud.

Building on the strengths of Google’s proposed technology, the hybrid model of automotive development will make it easy to gather crucial data that will help improve the operational efficiency of the vehicles in question.

Among the many benefits that will be introduced are predictive maintenance and better detection and rectification of failures in near-real time if needed. There will also be the creation of several in-vehicle services and experiences that adapt to driver behaviors while mapping some of the preferred destinations to which the car is driven.

The Renault-Google partnership is something to look forward to, as it will set a new standard and put the automotive industry on a new pedestal that other tech giants, including Apple, which is looking to make a foray into this space, will find hard to beat.

Translated with DeepL