Pierre Millette, CTO, ACEA, talks to FISITA CTO Martin Kahl about disruption in the automotive industry
“There is a difference between embracing progress and embracing novelty for its own sake,” says Pierre Millette, Chief Technology Officer at the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA).
Pierre will participate in the FISITA WMC plenary panel on “Industry disruption and the future of mobility,” and will be joined by Ethan Sorrelgreen, Global Head of Product at Woven by Toyota, Rudolph Dittrich, Head of Xiaomi EV Europe R&D Center, and Lothar Schupet, Acting CEO, Zeekr Europe.
Pierre has two decades of experience in the automotive industry, with a career that includes work in North America, Asia, and Europe. In his role, Pierre oversees the ACEA Technical Affairs team and plans long-term automotive industry technological policy.
Ahead of his appearance at the conference, Pierre shared insight with FISITA on the key topics of the panel.
Automotive is one of the most disruptive and disrupted industries; from a technical perspective, what do you expect will be the next big industry disruption in automotive and mobility?
I believe that the biggest technical disruptions that the industry has seen in decades are in fact happening under our noses. Firstly, in Europe and elsewhere, vehicle manufacturers are going through a major powertrain transition and moving away from over a century’s use of petrol and diesel in internal combustion engines. While electric vehicles remain a clear alternative, this transition opens the door to other sources of carbon-free motive power that could transform our industry. So far, the rise of EVs has also made it possible for new entrants to the industry to rapidly become volume sellers.
"Passenger cars are here to stay. They provide a degree of freedom in mobility that remains unmatched: the possibility to reach any destination through any route, on your own schedule, with any sort of cargo."
Within the world of EVs, the batteries we use today are still only a few generations removed from those in use when electric vehicles were last in vogue, around 1900 and 1910. There is potential for improvement, and it is easy to imagine that advances in the size, weight, energy density, and charging time of batteries will grant a major commercial advantage to their architects. And while electric motors are already light and compact relative to their power output, a significant improvement to motor efficiency could have a great impact on many attributes of a vehicle.
Within a couple of vehicle generations, we will also see cars relying on much more centralised electronic architectures. Instead of multiple ECUs each dedicated to a single set of functions, a few powerful computers or even a single computer will manage several aspects of the vehicle. This entails a much heavier reliance on software controls, which will allow for more complex interactions between the various systems of the vehicle and yield a greater potential for customisation. We could see novel ideas arise from these possibilities.
It will be interesting to see if some of these novel ideas will be in the field of human-machine interface. Manufacturers have been counting on screens for an ever-increasing share of vehicle controls and displays, but whether this will remain in favour is yet to be seen.
Lastly, in the last seven years or so, vehicle automation has gone from being the stuff of futuristic headlines to being the object of sustained, but more discreet development by manufacturers. Whoever manages to crack the complex automated vehicle nut combining effective road operation and commercial viability will break new ground—and perhaps introduce a new form of transportation in the process.
If much of this innovation sounds close at hand, it is because of the pressure under which the automotive industry finds itself today, particularly in Europe. Many of the ideas that will prevail in the next couple of decades will be those that can generate income in the near term.
Automated drive technology has been highly disruptive, with automakers and suppliers racing to develop exciting enabling technologies, while questions around commercialisation, acceptance, liability, and regulatory compliance continue to hamper mainstream deployment. Where do you see automated driving fitting into the wider mobility ecosystem?
The thinking around highly automated vehicles has evolved in recent years. The primary focus of manufacturers developing level 4 technology, which enables fully driverless operation within specific areas, is nowadays on commercial operations: passenger and freight transport. I believe that in the foreseeable future, we will see two approaches to the deployment of automated vehicles. One will be the use of AVs to support existing networks: for example, truck and van driver shortages can be mitigated through the use of automation on some long-distance routes and for residential deliveries. The other approach will bring AVs off the beaten path to create new forms of transport that expand existing networks or that create networks where there are none. I can envision applications like last-mile passenger transport around train stations and the creation of taxi services in remote areas where, today, their existence is economically impossible.
"Whoever manages to crack the complex automated vehicle nut, combining effective road operation and commercial viability, will break new ground – and perhaps introduce a new form of transportation in the process."
The biggest challenge for AV manufacturers today is devising convincing business plans for AV deployment in regulatory environments that often limit or outright prevent their use on public roads. AV technology has reached a point where we know we can make automation happen, but we need a degree of business certainty to pour money into its development.
How are software and artificial intelligence shaping vehicle development, and how much will software and AI change the way automakers and consumers conceive and perceive vehicles?
Artificial intelligence is already quite widely used in many facets of vehicle development, and we can expect this to continue, but these uses are likely to remain largely invisible to consumers. The main challenge and limitation in expanding the use of AI to in-vehicle applications is the very nature of machine learning. Algorithms that evolve on their own may do so in unexpected ways, and this means that their impact on vehicle safety often looms in the background. Consumers can nonetheless expect AI to pop up at the very least in non-critical applications such as voice commands, which can be made much more intuitive by large language models.
The use of software vehicle controls has been on a steady rise for at least three decades and it is easy to foresee that this will continue. It is difficult to distinguish what “software-defined vehicle” really means because while cars will always contain electronic hardware, the proportion of their functions governed by software has increased and will continue to increase, with this proportion falling along a spectrum rather than on one side or the other of an arbitrary rift that would set software-defined vehicles apart from others. For manufacturers, this increase can translate into lower development and manufacturing cost as well as greater flexibility in the uses of a vehicle architecture. For consumers, it can imply a greater potential for customisation or even evolution as a car could conceivably be updated or modified over its life cycle.
With the development of new technologies and innovative business models, coupled with evolving views on vehicle ownership, what role will the passenger car play in the next generation of mobility?
Passenger cars are here to stay. They provide a degree of freedom in mobility that remains unmatched: the possibility to reach any destination through any route, on your own schedule, with any sort of cargo. The colossal efforts that the industry is investing in decarbonising the car point to a strong confidence in continued demand, and in the reality that not all transport needs can be covered by mass transit networks.
"Automated Vehicle technology has reached a point where we know we can make automation happen, but we need a degree of business certainty to pour money into its development."
However, most major car manufacturers have been busy rethinking the scope and the nature of their business, often redefining themselves as providers of mobility rather than vehicles alone. This is expressed through the type of vehicles being offered, with alternatives to the traditional car such as smaller urban runabouts and robotaxis, and through services provided, with automated transport, flexible modes of ownership, and even vehicle reconfiguration or rejuvenation being in the cards for some carmakers. The extension of vehicle lifecycle is indeed seen by some as a business opportunity. These initiatives all reflect social phenomena with which the automotive industry must contend: the younger generation is under serious economic pressure and increasingly views outright car ownership as an unaffordable luxury, especially in large European urban centres where life is expensive and driving is ever more discouraged.
You’re a panellist at the FISITA World Mobility Conference. What will be your key message to delegates?
Stay critical! In times of industrial upheaval and rapid technological evolution, it is easy for great ideas to be overlooked, and it is easy for buzzwords to be thrown around to be made to sound like great ideas. There is a difference between embracing progress and embracing novelty for its own sake, but the influence of Silicon Valley on the public perception of technology in the last couple of decades often leads us to conflate the two. I believe it remains as important as ever to ask “why” and “what for” when confronted with technological prophecies, and to remember that many of those prophecies are underpinned by business interests.
