Connected Car
2018
NDA
Automotive
Result
NDA
600K+
Connectivity Integrations
Participated in the technology integration for over 600,000 vehicles
Achievements
→ The first generation of connectivity of our OEM client
→ 600.000+ rolled out with technology we built
→ Vehicles with our connectivity solution drive all over Europe and Asia
The client is a large European OEM with a great history. They’ve been successful in launching innovations in the past 100 years and Jimmy’s team was fortunate to be with our OEM on the verge of a new automotive revolution of Connected vehicles.
The Connected Car application lets customers manage and monitor their cars remotely. The solution is based on an application from the international automaker group and works as the first-generation connectivity app for selected car brands. The app transmits information from the vehicle to the cloud and from the cloud to the phone or the desktop and enables the user to remotely lock or unlock the car, turn on the heating system, and much more. We played an important role in the management team, where we had to manage the group’s requirements with the strategy and needs of our client.
Innovation Consulting
Strategy Consulting
The ultimate goal was to build and launch the Connected Car application in the European market. The app brings the customer’s car to the phone or desktop and lets them control it remotely. Various features like route planning for the car's navigation, opening and closing the doors, tracking the vehicle's location, or transferring data from the onboard computer were all part of the solution.
For us, the main challenge was to steer the development and prepare the strategy, use cases, and product requirements.
The task of our team was to drive the development of core functionality for the enrollment process, remote trip stats, geofence, speed alert, and remote alarm and the transfer of information from the car’s onboard computer.
The process becomes more complex when you develop an automotive app. Why is that? You need to consider that all functionalities and updates must be tested under the automotive certification process. That's why having a skilled team like Jimmy is essential when you aim to combine car production with app development. Also, you need strong management talents when you operate in an environment with multiple stakeholders. One is, of course, the car brand. But that same brand is just one part of the multinational concern that also steps into development.
While the delivery was done by several third-party companies, we were busy harmonizing all the documentation with the legal and sales departments. We also introduced a process based on agile principles to keep the project adaptable.
To deliver a bug-free product, the end-to-end testing was ongoing and in-house.
We prepared the development on several levels: inside the vehicle, on the server, and stories for mobile & desktop apps. At the same time, we designed the offline process with the legal and sales teams.
Another part of the delivery was the implementation of the HMI unit. For that, we outlined the user flow and requirements for the UX/UI that would respect the brand. We also cooperated with OEM technical specialists. Last but not least, we ensured that the web and mobile development was well coordinated with the development of the server and aligned with the technical control of the unit in the car.
As a result of the whole effort, the app was 4 years in the European market before a new app replaced it but the foundation of connectivity stayed the same.
