Looking at heavy equipment for the future of software-defined vehicles
Software-defined products (SDPs) are not new, many businesses have understood and taken up the benefits of rapid feature iteration and streamlined an important aspect of modern products – the software and electronics. But in safety critical industries like automotive and heavy equipment, there is a much higher bar to success than with personal electronics. The increasing inclusion and even reliance on autonomy features is pushing OEMs to rethink how to best develop and service these complex products more effectively.
To talk about this challenge and how to solve it with the comprehensive Digital Twin (cDT) we brought in two experts to maybe help automotive OEMs find the right path forward. In this three-part series for On the Move, Nand Kochhar and Michael Severson talk with Hendrick Lange (Senior Director of Heavy Equipment at Siemens Digital Industries) and Akshay Sheorey (Automotive and Transportation Industry Specialist for Autonomy). You can listen to the first part below and make sure to subscribe if you find these episodes valuable. Or for a smaller glimpse, keep reading before for some of the highlights from the episode.
Much like the shift in automotive from mechatronics systems to SDPs, the heavy equipment industry has shifted from hydromechanical machines to SDPs. The products have become highly automated. These similarities crop up repeatedly. And there was a common theme from talking with Nand and Hendrick about their industries – the processes are similar, but the application and the weight of different requirements changes. Mining equipment needs to be durable, but not necessarily fast, while automobiles need to be efficient and can have lower lifetimes because of the lower investment cost. But software is bringing these two even closer together.
Just like autonomous vehicles, autonomous heavy equipment needs the array of sensors and control systems to operate effectively and safely. But because HE is such a low-volume industry compared to automotive, many companies have brought in this development work internally – the supply chain can’t serve the many unique products of HE effectively. The goal of these systems, however, is very similar – provide safe autonomous operation. As we talked about in the podcast series with folks from the electronics and software world, building out reliable systems needs to happen in parallel to the other physical systems. It needs to be tested in the virtual world and connected with real-world data inside the cDT. Understanding your needs upfront and iterating continuously is critical to developing safe autonomous vehicles and using the cDT makes it more affordable from a cost and time perspective.
This differentiation is highlighted when we think about wildlife interacting with autonomous vehicles. Cars on the road need to understand that an object is in the way, yes but a lot of the road infrastructure for passenger vehicle is sterilized. That is not a given in off-highway applications for HE. Mining, agriculture, and logging equipment for example have a much higher probability of interacting with wildlife and need to more accurately recognize it – that means developing custom models for off-the-shelf sensor systems. This requirement to customize has made HE a great example case when looking at the development of automotive products and how to bring more of the development in house to compete against other businesses in the market.
I would highly recommend listening to the full episode above, or take the time to subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes of On the Move, a Siemens automotive podcast.
Siemens Digital Industries Software helps organizations of all sizes digitally transform using software, hardware and services from the Siemens Xcelerator business platform. Siemens’ software and the comprehensive digital twin enable companies to optimize their design, engineering and manufacturing processes to turn today’s ideas into the sustainable products of the future. From chips to entire systems, from product to process, across all industries. Siemens Digital Industries Software – Accelerating transformation.
