8:00 am, October 5, 2022
Connected vehicle software company Sibros has unveiled the industry’s first software-related recalls analytics dashboard.
Sibros’s dashboard – recallsdata.com – was created in pursuit of its vision of a net zero software defects future in the next 10 years, to eradicate all software-related vehicle recalls by 2032.
With vehicle recalls being a continued safety, cost- and time-intensive challenge in the automotive sector, Sibros states that through ongoing over-the-air (OTA) software management innovations, connected vehicle data, and industry partnerships, all software-related recalls could be eradicated by 2032.
Data confirms that for the 2021 calendar year, approximately 29m vehicles alone were recalled in the USA, where Sibros is headquartered, with circa six million (or 20 per cent) caused by software or electronic component-related defects.
Sibros’s analysis and thinking stems from its mission to connect and manage all software and data between vehicles, networks and the cloud, to help OEMs deliver new safety, security and feature upgrades, alongside software recall fixes, both remotely and at scale.
Its desire is to connect vehicle infrastructure with innovative end-to-end software, making mobility systems and automobiles safer and more reliable, reducing vehicle downtime, leading to more efficient journeys and vehicle ownership for drivers and fleet owners.
It was co-founded by ex-Tesla engineer Hemant Sikaria, who is behind Sibros’s impressive vision.
He said: ‘It may seem ambitious, but with global OEMs looking to eradicate the internal combustion engine and lean on electric power for more efficient powertrains, this forms an opportunity for OTA services to take the lead, ensuring these vehicles and systems are more efficient on the road.
‘More than 382,000 vehicles in the UK have been affected by safety recalls so far in 2022.
‘Not all are software-related, but when looking at the data, you can see that software recalls impact on some of the largest OEMs and, as a result, millions of vehicles.
‘That’s what we see with the OTA opportunity. We [Sibros’s team] want to stop vehicles being recalled due to software defects alone. We know it’s possible, too.
‘Not all hardware recalls can be fixed with a push of a button, but software-related issues can be mitigated sooner with the help of a vehicle-wide remote software management solution that utilises connected vehicle data to sense and fix defects before and when they do occur.
‘That’s why we’re looking to the future with a vision that, by 2032, software-related vehicle recalls can be a thing of the past.
‘To do this, our team believes OEMs, suppliers and systems must rethink how they approach the production process and their organisational DNA with a software-first mindset.’
Sibros’s vision to eradicate all vehicle recalls caused by software issues alone is highlighted with its recently launched, standalone vehicle recall tracker website, which can be found on recallsdata.com.
The dashboard currently offers data for the USA market, with plans to expand datasets from additional major vehicle markets in the future.
While data shows vehicles recalled because of software faults is declining, there’s still a long way to go.
For example, from the dashboard (refer to ‘Recall Cause’ tab), users can see that in 2022 year-to-this-date, 5.6m vehicles were recalled for software-based components, versus 4m units in the prior period for 2021, constituting a nine per cent increase year over year.
This sharp uptick is commensurate with the overall increase in software-defined vehicle design and can be expected to rise as all OEMs – current and emerging – accelerate production of their electric models and fleets.
Sibros believes that due to the growing availability of connected technologies, global capabilities and the growing use of embedded OTA products – such as its OTA Deep Updater and OTA Deep Logger – this figure can sharply reduce to net zero by 2032.
Today, numerous automotive OEMs across all mobility segments are adopting Sibros’s connected vehicle products, such as OTA Deep Updater, OTA Deep Logger and OTA Command Manager, to support the next generation of their software-defined vehicles and remove the pains of software integration and management across the entire vehicle life cycle.
Sibros’s products allow automobile manufacturers to collect precision data, diagnose problems and update software with fixes to any electronic control unit in a safe and secure manner.
When these systems are installed, it helps negate or stop (depending on the type of recall, ie, software or hardware) vehicle downtime and reduce unnecessary trips to service centres.
