-Organizational Enhancement Accelerates Company's Software Innovation 

As vehicles are fast becoming more software-enabled, cloud-connected devices, 
global OEMs' needs are growing exponentially in software-enabled steering 
features and other software-centric motion control applications. Consequently, 
Nexteer Automotive is elevating its global Software Engineering organization to 
meet the ever-expanding software needs of its global OEM customer base.

Software Organizational Enhancement 

Nexteer's new organizational enhancement creates a single strategic software 
team across four global locations within Nexteer, including the Global 
Technical Center in Saginaw, MI, Regional Technical Centers in Tychy, Poland 
and Suzhou, China as well as a Software Center in Bengaluru, India. Previously, 
software engineering expertise was dispersed among various teams throughout the 
Company and reported separately through product lines and R&D. 

The newly formed team reports directly to the Company's chief technology 
officer.  

Nexteer's centralized software team will support Electric Power Steering (EPS) 
systems and advanced steering feature development. In addition, the new 
structure will also support software-related R&D projects including software 
solutions that could be cloud-based or reside within a centralized chassis 
domain controller.    

Software R&D Collaborations 

Nexteer's new software engineering structure aligns with R&D collaborations on 
two fronts with CNXMotion and Tactile Mobility. 

Nexteer is developing motion control solutions with CNXMotion 
(https://cnxmotion.com/), the Company's joint venture with Continental. In 
addition, Nexteer is exploring advanced steering safety features 
(https://nexteer.canto.com/b/RBGB7) such as real-time road surface detection in 
collaboration with Tactile Mobility (https://tactilemobility.com/), a leading 
tactile virtual sensing and data company based in Israel.   

Elevated Software Organization Benefits

Nexteer expects the optimized organizational structure to: 

-Accelerate innovation-to-production timelines 
-Capitalize on exponential growth in software-enabled motion control solutions 
-Enhance global collaboration within Nexteer and its external partners 
-Enhance customer service, OEM technical consultation, software development and 
support 
-Maximize Nexteer's software value proposition 

"Nexteer's new Software Engineering structure will accelerate Nexteer's 
innovation-to-production timeline as we draw tighter connections between our 
software teams, from early innovation to pursuit and on to launch readiness," 
said Robin Milavec, Senior Vice President, Executive Board Director, Chief 
Technology Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, Nexteer Automotive. "This new 
structure positions us to meet expanding software demands, shorten lead times, 
maximize our value proposition and capitalize on emerging software product 
opportunities."

Nexteer plays a vital role in the "modern automotive value chain" ( 
https://www.rolandberger.com/en/Insights/Publications/Computer-on-Wheels-Part-3.html) 
– supplying complex software and electronics solutions that enable advanced 
steering features and more. This exponential growth and technology disruption 
require an increased level of support and focus across Nexteer's advanced 
steering solutions.  

"Nexteer's team of software experts across four global locations collectively 
drive operational excellence – working together as one team to develop, 
validate and launch production-intent software," continued Milavec. "Elevating 
our Software Engineering structure will allow us to further ensure quality and 
compliance among increasingly complex software features with our global OEM 
customers."

Software plays an important role in today's vehicles related to advanced safety 
and performance. From a safety perspective, steering software plays a crucial 
role in ensuring steering assist as well as enabling advanced driver-assistance 
systems (ADAS) such as park assist, lane keeping, lane departure warning, 
traffic jam assist and more. 

In the future, automotive software will also play a key role in enabling 
autonomous vehicles, as well as additional advanced safety and performance 
features. This is critically important as today's hardware-defined vehicles are 
rapidly transforming into software-defined transportation platforms.

About Nexteer

Nexteer Automotive (HK 1316), a global leader in intuitive motion control, is a 
multi-billion dollar global steering and driveline business delivering electric 
and hydraulic power steering systems, steering columns, driveline systems, as 
well as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving 
enabling technologies for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The company 
has 27 manufacturing plants, four technical and software centers and 13 
customer service centers strategically located in North and South America, 
Europe, Asia and Africa. The company serves more than 60 customers in every 
major region of the world including BMW, Ford, GM, Stellantis, Toyota and VW, 
as well as automakers in India and China. www.nexteer.com

Link to Nexteer Media Center (https://www.nexteer.com/media-center/) for 
company logo, executive headshots & additional graphics

Source: Nexteer