The Stellantis group (Peugeot, Citroën, Fiat, etc.) is embarking on a huge project, as necessary as it is dangerous: creating a single software for the group's 14 car brands. And unfortunately, the project strategy already seems to be failing.
The Stellantis group (Peugeot, Citroën, Fiat, etc.) is the king of economies of scale. We have already noticed this with thermal or electric engines, or even gearboxes, which is not without causing immense problems when a design problem is discovered. However, the strategy does not change and will now be applied to the software embedded in cars.
This is in fact Stellantis' ambitious project: to unify the 14 brands present in the group with a single software on board vehicles. Ambitious, isn't it? Even more so when the group has to save money and tries to outsource some of its services.
Already bugs…
A source close to the matter, according to information published by The Echoesreports that bugs are to be deplored in the latest productions of the Stellantis group. We have already mentioned the many problems with the Citroën ë-C3, the launch of which was delayed by several months.
The group's K-zeros (Peugeot Expert, Citroën Jumpy and Opel Vivaro) as well as the X250 (Peugeot Boxer, Citroën Jumper and Fiat Ducato) also encounter bugs. But that's not all: our colleague from Numerama also identified a significant number of technical problems encountered with the Peugeot E-3008 last spring. Black screen, startup problems, Bluetooth disconnection… Stellantis claims that these are concerns specific to the first models produced. However, when several vehicles in the group have errors, it becomes difficult to be lenient.
Also read:
We finally know why the electric Citroën ë-C3 and Peugeot e-3008 are falling behind
Missing engineering services
The latest productions of the Stellantis group are encountering bugs, and explanations can be found in the statements of Yves Bonnefont, software manager at Stellantis. According to him, the group is facing a shortage of software engineers globally.
“We are facing a shortage of engineers
software in the world »Yves Bonnefond, software manager at Stellantis aux Echos
It is necessary to emphasize the expression “in the world” used in the declaration. Indeed, Stellantis has outsourced the development of its software, which complicates the task:
“The reduction in project times, with reduced R&D times on new technologies, is putting us into a corner. Relocations too. For utilities, software development is done in Morocco and Romania, via the subcontractor Capgemini. But then, we have to debug everything in France”. This is what a source close to the matter says, cited by The Echoes. Furthermore, unions criticize this offshoring strategy, mentioning bugs as a direct consequence.
Stellantis' goal is to recruit talent where they are. According to Yves Bonnefont, the group has ten research and development centers dedicated to software, with the aim of having 4,500 specialized engineers. Stellantis is recruiting in Morocco, Brazil and India. However, communication between the different entities of the group sometimes remains complicated. A source close to the matter specifies:
“The messages sent to teams about the replacement of French employees by Indian employees are anxiety-inducing. »
In addition, new departments involved in software development do not always benefit from smooth transfer of knowledge between engineers.
Under these conditions, it seems difficult to imagine that the ambitious project of launching a single software for the group's 14 brands could go ahead without a hitch.
« Stellantis is applying what Boeing did ten years ago, reports a sector specialist. IBM also does the same thing. » When we know that Boeing has been experiencing reliability issues for several years, as well as software bugs, we can be concerned for Stellantis.
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