Accenture and Google Cloud Announce Partnership with Volvo Cars for Advanced Software Development
Accenture (ACN) and Google Cloud have proclaimed that Volvo Cars has emerged as the foremost industry collaborator for Horizon, an avant-garde open-source software development framework crafted to assist automakers and their suppliers in efficiently constructing, evaluating, and deploying software for the Android Automotive Operating System (AAOS).
The Horizon platform amalgamates cloud-native development instruments, virtual testing scenarios, and AI-enhanced workflows into a singular cohesive solution.
This synergy empowers automakers and suppliers to expedite the development and delivery of superior software, thereby augmenting the productivity of engineering processes.
As Horizon’s primary industry partner, Volvo Cars is transitioning its global AAOS software development infrastructure to adopt the Horizon platform.
This transition equips its engineers with accelerated development workflows, virtual testing facilities, and AI-augmented software development resources, empowering engineering teams to concentrate on enhancing in-car experiences.
“We are crafting some of the most intricate products globally, necessitating a development framework that meets this complexity,” stated Gregor Zetsche, Head of Connected Experience at Volvo Cars.
“As Horizon’s leading partner, we can effectively address our most formidable engineering obstacles and enable our teams to expedite the delivery of innovative experiences.”
Volvo Cars stands as the principal automotive producer collaborating with Accenture and Google Cloud to integrate the Horizon platform within the industry.
Insights garnered from this cooperation will facilitate the enhancement of the platform and expand its generative AI functionalities for automotive manufacturers and industrial producers at large.
Expediting Software Development for Connected Vehicles
Today’s vehicles increasingly provide digital interactions, encompassing navigation, media, voice assistance, connected services, and over-the-air software updates.
As consumer demands evolve towards more sophisticated and enriched experiences over a vehicle’s lifespan, manufacturers are compelled to devise swifter and more effective methodologies for software development, testing, and validation that allow for expansive improvements.
The Horizon platform seeks to mitigate these challenges for automakers and the wider automotive sector by providing:
- An acceleration of software testing by up to nine times, utilizing Cuttlefish-based Android Automotive environments, facilitating extensive testing integrated with agentic AI.
- A reduction in the costs associated with developing infotainment features by as much as 40%.
- Intelligent caching and enhanced build pipelines that drastically curtail software build durations; engineers can receive feedback in mere minutes instead of waiting hours.
- Remote access to virtual and physical device farms, allowing developers globally to build and validate software from any location while lessening infrastructure demands. This leads to improved hardware utilization and decreased reliance on expensive physical testing apparatus.
- Virtual workstations expedite the onboarding process for new developers, enabling them to instantiate their environments in seconds rather than enduring weeks of setup involving specialized hardware.
Horizon fosters a quicker, more adaptable, and efficient approach to delivering software-defined vehicle functionalities.
Its standardized, reproducible, and scalable processes ensure the provision of reliable, high-quality software products while significantly shortening the time to market, articulated Juergen Reers, Global Automotive & Mobility Lead at Accenture.
“Horizon will enable Volvo Cars’ engineers to prioritize what is paramount: crafting distinctive vehicle experiences and continually delivering new value to drivers through expeditious software enhancements.”
“In this era, software is increasingly defining automotive branding,” remarked Henry Bzeih, Global Director of the Automotive Industry at Google Cloud.
“Horizon on Google Cloud empowers Volvo Cars to accelerate its operations while ensuring the launch of high-quality software and features that resonate with the rapid expectations of modern mobility. This is how next-generation digital experiences reach consumers at an agile pace.”
Accenture and Google Cloud, alongside Volvo Cars as the flagship industry partner, are actively collaborating with other automotive and industrial entities to broaden the scope of the Horizon platform across additional companies and markets.
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