Going100 Media, Focusing on the Evolution of the Automobile Travel Industry Chain
Author: Roomy
In the future, no company will not be a digital company, and excellent companies must have excellent digital capabilities. According to various survey data, the more outstanding the enterprise in the industry is, the more it is leading in the digitization transformation.
For example, Midea Group, which has been forced to transform digitally, has “shifted from hardware thinking to software thinking” and is driven by comprehensive data for market operations. Another example is Mark Fields, who once envisioned leading Ford from a manufacturing company to a “digital travel company.” However, his pace of transformation could not keep up with the expectations of Wall Street investors.
Success and failure are both inevitable results on this road of transformation. However, due to the proliferation of information systems and the shackles of the original architecture, there are not many successful cases of digital transformation.
Someone once asked if there is a secret to digital transformation.
No.
Everyone knows that the process of digital transformation is “torn” and “painful.” Fan Hongbo, Chairman of Midea Group, who has been on the digital road for ten years, once said that digitalization involves all aspects and is a major system transformation.
The biggest characteristic of this process is persistence. “Sometimes, breaking through and holding on might lead us to a brand new world. Sometimes, if we can’t hold on, we might end up in a circle.”
There is no secret, but there are methods.
Anyone standing on this road of transformation knows that the top-level design of digital transformation is not just about the digitalization of enterprises, but more importantly, the digitization of enterprises. Under the tide of the times, no one is willing to be left behind, and this is the high ground for future global competition.
Midea has its own way, and after 20 years of exploration, BMW, who has always wanted to become the rule maker of the new era, also has a different approach.
In the 20 years of exploration, BMW, who has been aiming to become the rule maker of the new era, has anchored the transformation route of electrification, digitization, and sustainable development, trying to promote the sustainable digital intelligent transformation of travel with the “three-step strategy.”
This is also the three main features of the BMW’s “New Generation” model series: completely redesigned IT and software architecture, a new generation of high-performance electric drive system and batteries, and a brand-new sustainable concept that runs through the entire vehicle lifecycle.
“Digitalization not only concerns technology but also changes operation management and enterprise thinking,” said Gao Le, Chairman and CEO of BMW Group Greater China.On August 17th, at the BMW Innovation Day, the BMW Digital Development team shared their forward-looking strategy and rigorous professional research and development concept around the innovation BMW iX and the new BMW iDrive. The BMW iX, to be launched later this year, will become the pioneer of BMW’s digital strategy.
“Our goal is to show customers the 2030 mobile travel experience in 2025,” said Jolyon Nash, CEO and President of BMW Group China, in a statement last year.
The underlying logic and core of BMW’s digitalization is to use digital technology and innovative achievements to create value for customers. At the Innovation Day, BMW’s forward-thinking and technological professionalism in the technology field had clearer vision and implementation.
These tech-related terms, such as “Ethernet, 5G, UWB Ultra-Broadband Technology,” have a new interpretation from BMW, which has released the all-new BMW iDrive system and BMW Operating System 8.0.
From a strategic depth perspective, BMW has formed a clear path in years of digital exploration: two important tasks of digitalization for consumers during their journey, and adding digital functions to vehicles.
The new BMW iDrive system on display on the BMW iX shows clear technological features. Equipped with BMW Group’s most powerful data processing system and technology platform yet, including 5G interconnectivity, gigabit ethernet, and centralized onboard network architecture.
Although since BMW launched BMW iDrive 7.0 in 2018, BMW car owners have been able to install the latest software on their vehicles anytime, anywhere through remote software upgrade function. With the fast development of automotive intelligence, 100 megabytes ethernet is clearly no longer adequate for future requirements.
This time, BMW has chosen to “advance” again, taking the lead in using gigabit ethernet in the vehicle bus system. The vehicle bus equipped with gigabit ethernet has a transmission speed of up to 30 Gbit per second.
No one can bypass the digital transformation checkpoint, and apart from BMW, luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz and Audi are also constructing their own digital fortresses in the digital field. However, BMW seems to be more radical, with many firsts in innovative technology implementation.
Another notable aspect of the information disclosed at the Innovation Day is the deployment of 5G modules. In the era of rising smart technology, consumers are increasingly being educated about terms such as “algorithms” and “computing power.” As is known, powerful transmission capacity must be matched by faster network speeds.Therefore, BMW iX is equipped with 5G network to improve the speed of data transmission between the vehicle and the outside world, especially with cloud data. 5G technology features high bandwidth, low latency, and high speed, which greatly enhances the vehicle’s backend data processing capability and transmission speed, providing a smoother underlying architecture and significant improvement and innovation for the user experience in terms of hardware and transmission aspects.
With the application of 5G technology, BMW will also put eSIM into mass production. The embedded design of eSIM can firmly integrate it into the vehicle hardware. In addition, BMW has also invested in UWB ultra-wideband technology based on the CCC 3.0 communication standard in mass-produced vehicles, which is the first for the luxury brand.
A series of innovative technologies and continuous iterative digital applications, through embedded intelligent hardware and system redundancy, continue to evolve and iterate, indicating BMW’s determination to embark on the future of luxury in the digital age, which is quite resolute.
In terms of strategic breadth, BMW’s strategy for adapting to the digital process is very comprehensive, not only in product services, but also deeply into the organizational structure and corporate culture.
“Digitization has already penetrated into BMW’s research and development, manufacturing, in-car digital experience, and the customer journey with countless touchpoints,” says Gao Le. “How can cars further develop to meet customer needs? How can we integrate software and hardware systems into an organic whole to create a better customer experience? BMW is answering these questions.”
The course of BMW’s digital transformation is radical, but stable, and there is one principle that remains unchanged, “to set new benchmarks in digital and electric mobility while ensuring that future BMW models fully maintain the brand’s DNA.”
Nio founder Li Bin once said that where you spend time proves what is important to you. Gao Le gave the answer to this question last year. “Before, we only knew what each car was like, but now we need to know the person behind each car.”
To this end, BMW China has established a Digital Dream Team, with three major R&D centers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenyang, each responsible for its own tasks, with 1,500 R&D personnel, the largest R&D system of BMW outside of Germany.
At the same time, BMW has also established a user interface and user experience design development team in China, specifically to explore Chinese customers’ demand for digital experience, and design and verify human-computer interaction methods suitable for Chinese customers.In 2019, BMW established LYNK & CO Digital Information Technology Co., Ltd. in China ahead of Mercedes-Benz and Audi, dedicated to examining business processes from a customer perspective, integrating vertically and parallelly at customer touchpoints, and building seamless online and offline customer experiences.
The new BMW iDrive system is the result of the work of over a thousand people and represents the biggest change to the BMW iDrive system since its inception. Some have described this system as “emotionally delicate,” illustrating how the new iDrive system is a significant breakthrough in terms of humanization compared to the previous generation. This is consistent with BMW’s positioning of the system earlier this year, stating that “in BMW’s view, automotive design is a whole, and design should start from emotions first.”
This achievement was not the result of overnight success. Starting in 2008, when BMW became the first brand in the automotive industry to adopt Ethernet technology, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the BMW iDrive human-machine interface system, which has been iterated eight times.
The newly released BMW Operating System 8.0 can be considered the most powerful in-vehicle data processing system in BMW Group history, and will be the first to be equipped in the innovative BMW iX model. “Every BMW car has become a digital engine and has the ability to be quickly remotely upgraded,” as the industry responds.
In the new system, the user can view a panoramic display system, instrument panel, and central display screen in parallel to form a large combined screen, and information within the car will be sorted according to priority based on the driver’s needs. The highly personalized, humanized, and emotional human-machine interface system is the result of BMW’s rich experience in vehicle manufacturing and digital research and development capabilities.
Whether the all-electric iX SUV and the new iDrive 8 system can impress people remains to be seen, but BMW can’t wait and has set specific data targets.
In the future, this system will gradually be applied to more new models, and by the end of 2021, 2.5 million BMW vehicles worldwide will be able to be remotely upgraded, forming the largest fleet of vehicles capable of remote software upgrades. In China, this number will exceed 900,000.”We need to think from the perspective of consumers and consider what they need, how to satisfy their needs at every touch point during the entire digital journey. For the latter, we need to provide customers with application software for digital experiences,” said Gao Le, who clearly stated that BMW’s goal is to create an integrated in-car and out-of-car, online and offline, end-to-end high-end brand experience.
Creating intelligent and convenient services and building a social brand experience have been BMW’s efforts for the past 20 years. However, for all brands, including BMW, the consumer experience is always the core in the face of all changes.
For this reason, BMW set a long-term strategic goal last year. From 2025, the BMW Group will elevate luxury travel to a whole new level from a technological perspective through the “new generation” model series.
“Digitalization is not just a technological change, but ultimately a change in the entire organizational structure, management system, and corporate culture. This journey is long and arduous, and we are working hard on this journey,” Gao Le knows that digital transformation is a double-edged sword and failure is possible.
Obviously, the seemingly radical pace is actually BMW’s unwillingness to waste such a “good crisis.”
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.