PR89301

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., April 30, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

-Organizational Enhancement Accelerates Company's Software Innovation

As vehicles are fast becoming more software-enabled, cloud-connected devices,

global OEMs' needs are growing exponentially in software-enabled steering

features and other software-centric motion control applications. Consequently,

Nexteer Automotive is elevating its global Software Engineering organization to

meet the ever-expanding software needs of its global OEM customer base.

Software Organizational Enhancement

Nexteer's new organizational enhancement creates a single strategic software

team across four global locations within Nexteer, including the Global

Technical Center in Saginaw, MI, Regional Technical Centers in Tychy, Poland

and Suzhou, China as well as a Software Center in Bengaluru, India. Previously,

software engineering expertise was dispersed among various teams throughout the

Company and reported separately through product lines and R&D.

The newly formed team reports directly to the Company's chief technology

officer.  

Nexteer's centralized software team will support Electric Power Steering (EPS)

systems and advanced steering feature development. In addition, the new

structure will also support software-related R&D projects including software

solutions that could be cloud-based or reside within a centralized chassis

domain controller.    

Software R&D Collaborations

Nexteer's new software engineering structure aligns with R&D collaborations on

two fronts with CNXMotion and Tactile Mobility.

Nexteer is developing motion control solutions with CNXMotion

(https://cnxmotion.com/), the Company's joint venture with Continental. In

addition, Nexteer is exploring advanced steering safety features

(https://nexteer.canto.com/b/RBGB7) such as real-time road surface detection in

collaboration with Tactile Mobility (https://tactilemobility.com/), a leading

tactile virtual sensing and data company based in Israel.  

Elevated Software Organization Benefits

Nexteer expects the optimized organizational structure to:

-Accelerate innovation-to-production timelines

-Capitalize on exponential growth in software-enabled motion control solutions

-Enhance global collaboration within Nexteer and its external partners

-Enhance customer service, OEM technical consultation, software development and

support

-Maximize Nexteer's software value proposition

"Nexteer's new Software Engineering structure will accelerate Nexteer's

innovation-to-production timeline as we draw tighter connections between our

software teams, from early innovation to pursuit and on to launch readiness,"

said Robin Milavec, Senior Vice President, Executive Board Director, Chief

Technology Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, Nexteer Automotive. "This new

structure positions us to meet expanding software demands, shorten lead times,

maximize our value proposition and capitalize on emerging software product

opportunities."

Nexteer plays a vital role in the "modern automotive value chain" (

https://www.rolandberger.com/en/Insights/Publications/Computer-on-Wheels-Part-3.html)

– supplying complex software and electronics solutions that enable advanced

steering features and more. This exponential growth and technology disruption

require an increased level of support and focus across Nexteer's advanced

steering solutions.  

"Nexteer's team of software experts across four global locations collectively

drive operational excellence – working together as one team to develop,

validate and launch production-intent software," continued Milavec. "Elevating

our Software Engineering structure will allow us to further ensure quality and

compliance among increasingly complex software features with our global OEM

customers."

Software plays an important role in today's vehicles related to advanced safety

and performance. From a safety perspective, steering software plays a crucial

role in ensuring steering assist as well as enabling advanced driver-assistance

systems (ADAS) such as park assist, lane keeping, lane departure warning,

traffic jam assist and more.

In the future, automotive software will also play a key role in enabling

autonomous vehicles, as well as additional advanced safety and performance

features. This is critically important as today's hardware-defined vehicles are

rapidly transforming into software-defined transportation platforms.

About Nexteer

Nexteer Automotive (HK 1316), a global leader in intuitive motion control, is a

multi-billion dollar global steering and driveline business delivering electric

and hydraulic power steering systems, steering columns, driveline systems, as

well as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving

enabling technologies for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The company

has 27 manufacturing plants, four technical and software centers and 13

customer service centers strategically located in North and South America,

Europe, Asia and Africa. The company serves more than 60 customers in every

major region of the world including BMW, Ford, GM, Stellantis, Toyota and VW,

as well as automakers in India and China. www.nexteer.com

Link to Nexteer Media Center (https://www.nexteer.com/media-center/) for

company logo, executive headshots & additional graphics

Source: Nexteer