In a conversation with MOTORINDIA at Auto Expo Components 2023, Shivalik Prasad, VP (Sales and Alliances), Sibros, emphasised how the company is assisting OEMs to improve customer experience for vehicle owners through their software
One of the most cutting-edge companies present at the Auto Expo Component show was Sibros. The company’s mission is essentially to have a software abstraction layer on any type of vehicle. It is headquartered in California’s Silicon Valley and was founded by Hemant and Mayank Sikariya, who are also the co-founders and currently the CEO and President, respectively. Independent of the type of powertrain – the vehicle can be a two-wheeler, four-wheeler, commercial vehicle, passenger electric vehicle or IC engine vehicle – Sibros software enables the OEM to design hundreds of new use cases that don’t exist yet.
Similar to how after Android appeared a variety of use cases such as the creation of a mobility app or other items occurred on the Android platform, Shivalik Prasad, VP of Sales and Alliances at Sibros, elaborates on the connected ecosystem for vehicles, saying: “We can do high-frequency data logging of up to one millisecond and can create a digital twin of the vehicle. So, you can have a condition that if an airbag deploys, we can collect data every one millisecond or every five milliseconds of the seat belt, the seat sensor, the brake position and pedal position one minute before the accident or after the accident and recreate the entire accident.”
Brand Portfolio
Sibros is essentially a software-only company, independent of the vehicle’s hardware. Its Deep Connected Platforms are built for software-defined vehicles, the Deep Logger gives rich data insights on usage, the Deep Updater improves product quality and safety and the Command Manager remotely commands anything. The company has two pieces of technology, one of which is mounted within the vehicle on a single ECU, which might be a gateway or a telematics ECU. The additional component is what is put in place surrounding the server in the cloud. “In a secure manner, we establish a bidirectional data conduit, allowing for the capture and real-time retrieval of virtually any data created inside the vehicle. According to a customer’s needs, we can adjust the log in setup,” says Shivalik.
The company’s software enables the user to derive various data that may have been configured or downloaded. It could be battery-related data in an electric vehicle (EV) or wiper or other settings. “For instance, we have something called a Deep Updater. The enabled vehicle can sense new software on the cloud. The wiper settings across all vehicles in India are the same. However, it rains more for a person driving in Mumbai than in Delhi. So, a vehicle enabled with our software can sense it is raining and can offer a new wiper setting and the user travelling from Delhi to Mumbai has to merely give consent and download a new wiper setting file from the cloud. This helps update the wiper configuration using the same vehicle and the same wiper and the user gets a different experience,” shares Shivalik.
This sort of customisation can be done for a vehicle’s cooling and heating as well as a host of other features. A lot of these things will be software-defined so that every need will be hyper-customised. “Today, there are close to 32 combinations in different types of vehicles right from a low entrant, mid entrant, high entrant petrol, diesel, CNG, EV, moon roof, sun roof and colour. With Sibros coming in, everyone can have a unique experience. Someone may want a higher torque or a different kind of screen language, say in Tamil, Punjabi, Hindi or English, etc., and all this can be changed and whether the OEM charges for it or gives you free is their call,” reveals Shivalik.
Goals for Connected Vehicles
The Auto Expo Component is now all about connectivity and software-defined vehicles as more and more software gets deployed on vehicles. In this scenario, Sibros will be a key partner to OEMs in new monetisation schemes and new methods to service the customer and make it more exciting. During the show, Sibros announced its collaboration with Mahindra and Mahindra for over-the-air update solutions that will be deployed on the multinational OEM’s ‘Born Electric’ portfolio of electric SUVs. Sibros will deploy its Deep Logger and Deep Updater in-vehicle and cloud products on Mahindra and Mahindra’s INGLO EV platform (the backbone of its new EV architecture) and IoT cloud. Combining these technologies into one vehicle-to-cloud ecosystem will accelerate Mahindra and Mahindra’s pursuit of delivering unrivaled manufacturing efficiencies.
It will also enable the OEMs to offer immersive new connected experiences for its customers – elevating its core objective to offer unmatched value proposition. Sibros gives OEMs the ability to swiftly develop dozens of new connected vehicles use cases to enhance product quality, safety and performance from the factory to the field by combining robust automotive software and data management capabilities in a vehicle-to-cloud platform. “Our goal is to evangelize this technology and after initial apprehensions, most OEMs whom we work with across the world optimise this technology all the way from small vehicles to high-end luxurious vehicles. We want to standardise this technology and want to give OEMs a level playing field so that they can build more and more services for their consumers,” concludes Shivalik.