SCOPE: BMW CEO Harald Krüger once said: "Value creation is shifting from hardware to software and services." What did he mean by that? And does that mean that fewer vehicles will be built in Germany in future?

Rüdiger Laabs, Sales Manager Manufacturing Germany at the open source developer Red Hat. © Red Hat

Rüdiger Laabs: Software and IT-based services are increasingly becoming an indispensable part of vehicles. Autonomous driving, connected cars, car-sharing apps and car-to-x communication are becoming increasingly prevalent. Customers today simply expect additional services from their cars that offer them greater convenience. This ranges from independently adjusting the air conditioning and booking hotels directly in the car to automated route calculation. It is no longer enough for customers just to be able to drive from A to B. For car manufacturers and their suppliers, this presents an opportunity to differentiate themselves and generate new sales.

I don't want to predict whether more or fewer vehicles will be built in Germany in the future as a result. But in any case, more and more IT-heavy vehicles will be built that offer digital services and support digital business models. The revenue to be generated in the future will largely come from new and yet-to-be-developed digital business areas. This will help to ensure that the automotive industry remains one of the most important sectors in Germany in the future.

SCOPE: So the automotive industry is an increasingly interesting market for IT companies. Where does this come from and what significance will the industry have for Red Hat in the future?

Laabs: The tasks of IT departments at car manufacturers and suppliers are expanding significantly. They no longer just have to support areas such as development, supply chains and production, but also provide digital services and enable digital business models. This presents them with completely new technological requirements in terms of hardware, software, interfaces and the management of big data; and last but not least, it also poses the major challenge of ensuring IT security in connected vehicles. Of course, these new tasks also create a completely new need for systems, solutions and expertise.

The automotive industry is already very important to Red Hat. Both in Germany and worldwide, we place a special focus on this important industry and support its companies with specialized teams in their digitalization. We work closely with our partners to offer holistic solutions. This importance will continue to grow in the future with the increasing digitalization of the automotive industry.

SCOPE: Red Hat's strengths include open source projects and it is also a specialist in cloud computing. What role will these topics play in the automotive industry?

Laabs: Open source frees companies from the constraints of proprietary systems and is also the innovation driver par excellence. Practically all the significant software innovations of recent times have come from open source projects. This is why open source will also play an increasingly important role in the automotive industry, where it will be the future of software.

As a cloud is available everywhere, it can optimally support mobile solutions and thus the mobility concept of the automotive industry. Cloud computing also offers companies in the industry flexible IT infrastructures that increase productivity and enable new services and functions to be made available quickly. For these reasons, many automotive companies are transferring parts of their existing IT landscape to the cloud. Red Hat supports this change with a complete IT technology portfolio that is supplemented with innovative services. These include an Innovation Lab and support services that meet the global demands and high requirements of the industry.

SCOPE: You offer your customers digital services. What could these be for your automotive customers?

Laabs: Red Hat offers platforms for digital services in the automotive industry. Our Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform solution plays a central role in this. It is based on container technology, in which applications are encapsulated and isolated in one or more packages. This enables automotive companies to deploy new applications more quickly. One particular challenge here is the issue of management, as hybrid cloud use dominates in the automotive sector in particular. This means that companies operate their IT infrastructure partly in a private cloud and partly in the public cloud. Our Red Hat CloudForms solution enables them to easily manage the different, not always compatible technologies, interfaces and processes.

SCOPE: What will change for the end customer as a result of the shift towards software and services?

Laabs: In future, drivers will be even more comfortable on the road and benefit from a completely new user experience, which is characterized above all by personalization. The data provided by connected cars at any time and any place will make it possible to get to know drivers and their preferences ever more precisely. These insights can be used for offers and services that are tailored precisely to the individual driver. The vehicles and their digital services thus become personal assistants. For example, they can make suggestions to users about routes, hotels or functions that precisely match their expectations and ideas.