Exclusive: After Innovation Campus Magna picks software tech partners in India for SDV development

With a faster-than-market growth ambition, the North American Tier 1 major has identified two Indian companies to collaborate for middleware technology, a crucial step to tap the growing SDV (Software Defined Vehicle) trend. It plans to tap the Indian engineering pool more than ever before, for sustainable growth.

Sumantra Bibhuti Barooah
  • Updated On Jun 9, 2023 at 03:39 PM IST
Read by: 100 Industry Professionals
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<p>Magna's recent acquisition of Veoneer may be followed by collaborations in India for software tech.<br /></p>
Magna's recent acquisition of Veoneer may be followed by collaborations in India for software tech.


Magna International, the UD 38 billion Tier 1 supplier and engineering company, is upping its bets on India, to help it engineer sustainable growth in a swiftly evolving automotive/mobility industry. Apart from setting up global technology development centres, one of which was formally inaugurated on June 7, the Canadian company is taking another approach to enhance its technology prowess.

Magna has identified two companies in India, with which it will collaborate for middleware technologies. A formal announcement may be made soon. This will be another significant move by Magna, after its recent acquisition of Veoneer, a Sweden-based global supplier of automotive electronic safety systems. Unlike the Veoneer move, for which Magna reportedly spent USD1.53 billion, the new strategic move may be only for technology collaboration.

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“If you want to enter the market fast, you cannot do it alone. That's independent of Magna. Magna wants to do it faster than others. So definitely yes, we are looking for partners and we are already in very close contact with two partners,” Anton Mayer Executive VP and CTO, Magna International, told ETAuto.

The new move could be another example of a global Tier 1 major collaborating with an Indian company (two in this case) for middleware technology development. Earlier, ZF had struck an alliance with KPIT Technologies. The partnership evolved to the creation of a new company, Qorix, with both partners having equal equity stake in it.

The growing software defined vehicle (SDV) trend is fuelling the need for more advanced software technologies, and middleware technology is a growing part of it. Distributed software architectures are moving towards zonal architectures, and to a centralised one in an SDV. The middleware technology helps the base software platform to seamlessly integrate/communicate with different applications.

Tesla is seen as a leading example of advanced software adoption in a vehicle. “I think this will come step by step also to all of the traditional OEMs. As the trend grows, Magna has to prepare itself with the requisite middleware technology prowess in order to reap gains,“ Mayer said

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“And, we also know that base software is very often linked to hardware. We as Magna want to be hardware agnostic. So the middleware is really where the music is playing for us. And here, I think we need to have a good toolset,” he added.

India engineering base to be more crucial

Magna's just inaugurated ‘Innovation Campus’ will also work on base and middleware development. Key focus areas of the centre are System on Chip (SOC) and base software development, new feature functions, calibration, parametrisation, and vehicle systems testing, AI and ML for self-learning and adaptive functions based on different driving conditions, automation and robotic testing methods, Edge computing for predictive maintenance and fault prediction of critical vehicle components. The campus is expected to have ‘1,200 technology-focused positions.

The AI and deep learning software packages being developed in Bengaluru are not only for the car of the future, but Magna will use it also in the company for improvements in the factory of the future.

The software technology competence available in the Bengaluru region is a key factor for Magna to set up the approximately USD 120 million engineering centre in the city. The company’s strategy is to tap the Indian engineering talent better, for global gains too. It already has an engineering centre in Pune, set up in the early 2000s, which has around 900 engineers. “Here in Pune we want to have this system integration and vehicle specific know-how, what we need to make high level system integration, and system development,” Mayer said.

Betting more than just tech in India

The increasingly disruptive technology landscape is making players like Magna to step up its efforts to tap the Indian engineering pool more than ever before. With the mobility industry evolving fast, Magna’s investment in Yulu, for the electric micro-mobility service as well as the battery swapping business, could also be a critical piece for the global major’s overall growth story. Magna invested USD 77 million in Yulu last September.

Magna’s 48V EV tech is also being aimed for the Yulu investments. “The 48 volt technology for electrification we think at the moment, very, very strongly for two products. One is the swap battery. Which we need for our Yulu and Yuma (for battery swapping) partnership”, and the other is for the hybrid transmission doing duty in the BMW X1, Mini, and some cars from the Stellantis Group.

With the new developments and the prospects, a lot rides on India for Magna not only in terms of business, but perhaps more critically in terms of engineering and technology development.
  • Published On Jun 9, 2023 at 01:36 PM IST
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