ZF and KPIT Collaborate to Develop Industry-Leading Middleware Solution for Automotive Ecosystem

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ZF Group, a global technology company supplying systems for passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and industrial technology, and KPIT Technologies, leading independent software development and integration partner to the automotive and mobility industry, have announced that they will cooperate in the development of an industry-leading middleware solution for the mobility ecosystem.

The continual increase in software complexity coupled with high-performance computing infrastructure needs a robust and dependable middleware solution. The lack of such a solution can potentially delay vehicle development and escalate technology spending.

Built with the software expertise of KPIT paired with ZF's strong understanding of vehicle systems, a mature, modular middleware solution that can be deployed across OEMs represents a transformative opportunity for the mobility ecosystem. This cooperation will also bring onboard solutions from other technology companies, including semiconductor specialists, software companies, cloud services, and start-ups.

Dr. Dirk Walliser, SVP Corporate R&D at ZF Group said that the next generation of vehicles that come into the market will feature electric drives, a high degree of automated functions as well as connectivity, and they will be software-defined. Using what they develop jointly with KPIT, they can offer their automotive customers even more comprehensive software solutions that fit seamlessly together with their system portfolio for the software-defined vehicle: high-performance computing, software, intelligent sensors, and smart actuators.

In January 2021, ZF established a Global Software Center with the responsibility of developing software systems for future architectures on a group-wide level. One core product is an automotive middleware that serves as a "mediator" between a vehicle computer's operating system and its software applications. Its development is closely connected to the development of application software for mobility domains like automated driving, integrated safety, vehicle motion control, and electric mobility.

Kishor Patil, CEO at KPIT Technologies stated that they are very excited to cooperate with ZF in the development of an industry-leading middleware solution. OEMs want to explore open and scalable middleware solutions that can lay the foundation for the future generation of vehicles, and bring significant quality and productivity improvements. An appropriate middleware solution will help OEMs and their mobility customers make the transition to solid, central computer architecture. Together, they bring software expertise, systems understanding, and knowledge of OEMs and mobility customer needs. This development cooperation for middleware solutions will add immense value to their global automotive and mobility customers and significantly shorten development cycles.

The middleware development will draw upon KPIT's experience in several production programs, expertise in architecture consulting and software integration, and its strengths in cloud-based connected services. It will use KPIT's existing assets, tools, and accelerators, and other core infrastructure.