For decades, people saw cars as a way of adding a touch of glamor, liberty, chic and pizzazz to their everyday lives. Today, some people may be less enamored, and more likely to associate the automobile with particulate pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, traffic congestion and noise. To get back its mojo, the automotive industry needs to reinvent itself. The future will belong to greener mobility, hybrid and electric cars powered by smart technologies and delivering connected services.
These faster, more precisely guided and safer vehicles need integrated platforms throughout the development cycle for design, testing and assessment of autonomous driving. At the same time, business models are shifting away from vehicle ownership, towards a pay-as-you-go approach. This highly disruptive change will save raw materials, energy and money, but change the industry. A whole new mobility ecosystem is taking shape, one that will transform the experience for drivers and passengers alike.
Picking up the gauntlet of sustainable mobility, Canoo, a two-year-old company based in Los Angeles, has taken a different approach with its next-generation electric vehicles. Canoo’s value proposition is built around users: design a car that likes people, rather than a car that people like. Using a common integrated platform (encompassing the chassis, the battery and its management system, the motor, brakes and shock absorbers) that is shared by all its vehicles, the company plans to develop a post-SUV vehicle specially designed for last-mile logistics and a self-driving shuttle.
Not only is Canoo’s product revolutionary, its overall business model is, too. Canoo vehicles will not be sold, but rented using a highly flexible subscription plan that includes mileage, insurance and servicing and can be canceled at any time. With this pay-as-you-use concept, rather than full ownership, the business model shifts towards vehicle sharing and the car-as-aservice. The software industry has already shown that this approach can be successful: embracing the SaaS (Software as a Service) model increases value for both developers and users.
To achieve its goals, Canoo needs a unified data model, and the cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE platform provides it, with low entry costs and very rapid deployment times. The platform is always available and accessible by all of Canoo’s business partners around the world. That includes designers, product analysts and supply chain managers. The user experience can be tested using virtual reality, creating a highly realistic environment.
What’s more, the model can be used across the enterprise’s entire ecosystem. And since the various vehicle components are manufactured in suppliers’ factories, the cloud infrastructure is even more crucial.
LUXURY IS SPACE
Thanks to an architecture that integrates a large part of the technical components into the floor, the cabin from Canoo maximizes interior space. It is even the largest of any model in this category.
