Automobile and aeronautics giants are now shifting a wide portion of their work into cloud platform by implementing cloud computing technology into many business lines pertaining to the engineering domain says Vincent Frerebeau, Relationship Business Experience Engagement Leader, Dassault Systèmes in a conversation with Utkarsh Agarwal.

Q1. How many companies are currently using cloud and what is the impact created in automotive?

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform on the cloud brings together businesses for an industry-leading collaborative environment to foster innovation via groundbreaking technologies like simulation in the product development process. Cloud-based collaboration is now essential as it enables the use of resources on a self-service basis in the auto industry. 

Along with flexibility and agility, which are basic requirements for reconfiguring resources, 3DEXPERIENCE platform minimises downtime and enables rapid scalability. Cloud-based manufacturing allows auto companies to produce a variety of products of varying complexity and helps in mass customisation. 

Auto companies now create the prototype of the parts without buying costly manufacturing equipment. As a trend, we are observing that automobile and aeronautics giants have been shifting a wide portion of their work into cloud platform by implementing cloud computing technology into many business lines pertaining to the engineering domain. This also reaffirms our belief that cloud computing is envisaged to transform enterprises both small and big to profit from moving their design and manufacturing task into the cloud in the Indian market. 

A large part of the Electric Vehicle (EV) ecosystem is choosing 3DEXPERIENCE platform and its Electro Mobility Accelerator industry solution to bring together different disciplines in its development and manufacturing team. We currently have over 12,000 active clients of 3DEXPERIENCE platform on cloud globally. With over 1000 transportation and mobility companies on cloud globally, over 100 are leveraging the 3DEXPERIENCE platform on cloud in India. 

Q2. What are the challenges being solved by digitalisation and adoption of virtual twin in the EV ecosystem?

With the adoption of virtual twins in the EV ecosystem, India is now moving closer to its sustainability goals. We believe that the key long-term sustainability of an automotive organisation is led by effective design. 

The use of 3DEXPERIENCE platform has accelerated time-to-market and has significantly brought down cost for electric vehicles with the lightweight body design and EV batteries. Leveraging virtual twin technology in the early product development stage leads to significant avoidance of waste through virtual prototyping – in product development cost and material usage. 

Physical prototyping has almost been eliminated for a number of models and automotive companies are now able to create sustainable vehicles by creating more while using less. Companies are now able to recognise material and connection failure beforehand which leads to better quality of electric vehicles. 

Q3. What are the new solutions and offerings by Dassault Systèmes on cloud for start-ups in automotive sector?

As industry leaders, we are focused on nurturing the start-up ecosystem with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform on cloud. The EV ecosystem requires agile thinking and fresh perspective from start-ups, which can be harnessed with the virtual twin experience to create, simulate, and visualize before the physical model or system is implemented.  

Our solutions are empowered by crucial product development data that help in consolidating the entire knowledge base and enable effective collaboration. This further reduces the number of iterations for start-ups through collaboration on cloud. With shorter launch durations, start-ups are now focusing on providing innovative solutions to the consumers. 

The open innovation and start-up incubator lab in Pune is our first 3DEXPERIENCE lab in India, which helps entrepreneurs and start-up incubators bring their projects to life through collective intelligence. 3DEXPERIENCE labs has globally nurtured 50+ startup projects with the potential to transform society. Since 2018, we have supported start-ups such as LUCID Implant, Inali, BrainSightAI and PadCare in India.

Q4. Please share some India case studies of business growth with the adoption of cloud in transportation and mobility.

In the automotive industry, 3DEXPERIENCE platform on cloud is widely enabling start-ups such as Cell Propulsion and Simple Energy to enable large-scale electrification of commercial vehicles by enabling design thinking. eBOLT Mobility in Nepal with 3DEXPERIENCE platform on cloud, significantly accelerated its go-to-market timelines. We have supported several companies to reduce their go to market time by 1-2 years at least.