The Digital Engineering and Test Centre (DETC) is looking for digital tools to decrease cost and time, yet increase the value of automotive product development cycles.
Over the past 20 years, the automotive industry has had to content with ever more demanding customer expectations, regulations and manufacturing requirements.
As a result, product complexity has become greater and automotive manufacturers are struggling to recoup new costs. To improve capital efficiency, vehicle manufacturers have identified the need to optimise product development cycles.
The Digital Engineering and Test Centre (DETC) is one of the organisations set up to solve some of the challenges faced by the UK’s automotive industry.
To help overcome these challenges, the DETC is looking for digital solutions and enablers both from inside and outside the automotive realm to explore synergies from cross sector collaborations.
Finding those solutions is of critical importance, as the DETC has outlined its objective to reduce product development time by 50%, yet, at the same time, double its value.
It wants to identify technologies that replace physical processes in virtual environments and evaluate potential interventions that could have the greatest impact in reducing product development time and cost, including designing and testing.
To help the DETC succeed in this endeavour, the upcoming ‘Pit Stop’ will look to:
- Find ways to reduce time and/or cost of automotive product development processes.
- Explore how new tools and techniques can move the testing of components from the physical world into a virtual environment.
- Improve product development productivity (i.e. design, test) through more collaboration across individual organisations, supply chain relationships, and across the sector.
What to expect?
The Pit Stop is a focused open innovation activity designed to accelerate the growth of new ideas. You will get the chance to explore specific challenges and discuss potential solutions with DETC and technology and automotive industry experts from companies such as Ford, McLaren and Ricardo.
Why you should get involved?
DETC is interested in identifying collaboration partners to:
- Develop solutions, as well as learn about plug and play technologies.
- Jointly apply for government funded collaborative research and development projects.
- Meet senior representatives from the automotive sector with the potential to develop further collaborations.
- Unearth opportunities to foster relationships with artificial intelligence, modelling and simulation and other technology companies, as well as explore how emerging technologies can be effectively future tested.
Who should apply?
Digital Catapult and the DETC are looking for organisations of different sizes and industries, with technology expertise in areas that could include, but are not limited to:
- Modelling and simulation in manufacturing: Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation (HIL), and Digital Twins
- Artificial intelligence and machine kearning – with a particular focus on product development including data validation, product testing and predictive maintenance.
- Test Automation on both a functional and non-functional level: Multi-User Systems Design / Testing, and Multi-Platform Design / Testing
- Immersive Technologies (virtual, augmented, and mixed reality) – with a particular focus on product development.
Pit Stop key dates
The closing date to apply for this Pit Stop is 21 February 2018. Those interested must complete the short application form which can be found here.
Places will be allocated to those with the most appropriate skills, expertise, services and products in line with the Open Call. We aim to respond to all applications within 14 days of the Open Call closing.
- Mon 26 March, 5.30pm to 9.00pm
- Tues 27 March, 8.30am to 5:00pm
