Renault and Nissan to Fuel 'Connected Cars' Push With Tech Hiring Spree
October 25 2016 - 7:40AM
Dow Jones News
YOKOHAMA, Japan—Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. each plan to
hire hundreds of software engineers as the allied auto makers focus
on making cars that have the capabilities of smartphones, an
executive said Tuesday.
Renault, Nissan and other auto makers are racing to offer
software services for so-called connected cars that would allow
users to do things like access Facebook and download information
about nearby attractions.
Other applications could protect the vehicle against theft or
provide emergency services, receiving regular updates like
smartphone apps, said Ogi Redzic, the Renault-Nissan Alliance's
executive in charge of connected vehicles.
Mr. Redzic said auto makers traditionally focused on features
such as horsepower and storage space, but now, "the entire industry
needs to put new technology in the vehicle in order to sell a
car."
Carlos Ghosn, the head of both Renault and Nissan, has said the
connected car is part of his three-point vision for the automotive
future, along with self-driving technology and engines that don't
burn fossil fuels.
Other car makers are trying something similar.
In April, Toyota Motor Corp. said it would team up with
Microsoft Corp. to make cars more like smartphones. Toyota said its
virtual assistant would know "what your blood pressure is doing
during stop-and-go, and what restaurants at the next exit might be
most to your liking."
Tesla Motors Inc. already offers regular software upgrades
modeled on smartphone upgrades.
While most of the world's smartphones run one of two operating
systems—Android from Alphabet Inc.'s Google or Apple Inc.'s iOS—the
car world remains Balkanized. Even within Renault-Nissan, Renault
has R-Link, Nissan has Nissan Connect and its luxury brand,
Infiniti, has a system called InTouch.
These services and similar ones from other large auto makers
generally offer navigation assistance and satellite radio, but the
quality of service and ease of use lags behind smartphones and
personal computers.
Mr. Redzic said his team was replacing these with a single
platform on which to run applications, similar to Google and
Android. He said that would make it easier for third-party
developers to build apps for cars.
In September, Renault and Nissan said they would use Microsoft's
Azure cloud-computing service as the back end for the new platform,
aiming to provide an easy way to deliver regular updates to
cars.
Hard-to-use software and touch screens in cars have frustrated
many car owners. Consumer Reports magazine on Monday pulled its
recommendation for Honda Motor Co.'s Civic compact in part over
complaints about electronics. Honda said it was working to "enhance
the usability" of the features.
When Mr. Redzic finishes hiring engineers for the new team,
Renault and Nissan will have close to 1,000 people working on car
software. The new hires will have skills more frequently found at
the likes of Google or Apple in fields such as smartphone apps,
artificial intelligence and analysis of patterns from large
quantities of raw data, Mr. Redzic said.
As cars become more like phones, Renault and Nissan will have to
become more like software companies, constantly churning out new
software and updates to old software years after the car is sold,
he said.
"You will have some new services that will be unique to us—for a
period of time. In the tech industry it is very hard to say that
you will have something unique for a very long time," Mr. Redzic
said. "It's a matter of who is going to be there first and who is
going to provide the most value to the customer."
Write to Sean McLain at sean.mclain@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 25, 2016 07:25 ET (11:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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