>> Speaker: From around the globe, it's theCube with coverage of SUSECON DIGITAL brought to you by SUSE. >> Welcome back, this is theCube's coverage of SUSECON DIGITAL '20. I'm Stu Miniman and really happy to welcome to the program. We have one of the keynote speakers, Alexander Kocher. He is president and managing director of Elektrobit, really excited to dig in and talk about autonomous vehicles. Alex, thank you so much for joining us. >> Thank you Stu Miniman, I'm really excited that you pronounced my family name correct because this is quite difficult for you. It's a German name, thank you very much. >> Well, luckily on theCube, we do have lots of global people we have on the program. I try to do my best. My [mumbles] is all I can say really [mumbles]. >> Very difficult to pronounce it. >> Alright, so Alex, obviously autonomous vehicles is one of those use cases that talk a lot about everything from edge computing, to AI, you know, software eating the world, really one of those transformative technologies. Why don't we start with first, Elektrobit, give us a little bit as to, where Elektrobit fit in kind of the global auto landscape. >> Yeah, thank you Stu. So Elektrobit was founded in the late eighties, 1988. And since then, we are really doing embedded to be a pioneer in the embedded software and, providing solutions, software technologies, for the automotive industry. Since then we are powering more than 1 billion devices in much more than 100 million vehicles worldwide. And we are serving the automotive industry since then. So software is really becoming the single biggest enabler of innovation in the car, and software creation is our passion. So we enjoy solving challenging problems, and providing solutions that drive the mobility ecosystem of the future vehicle, where mobility causes zero fatalities, produces low emissions, and is perceived as quality time. This is also our mission and with that, we are providing services, software technologies, and tools for the automotive industry. >> Yeah, it has been fascinating to watch software in the automotive world. You know, I'm old enough to remember that, when you used to take a car in, the first thing they did was put it up and look under the hood and everything. And now pretty much, they plug a cable into the computer and, go to the diagnostic screens before they do anything else. When we talk about autonomous vehicles, I think many people would be familiar. There's really that five stage model of going from helping to fully autonomous. Give us a little bit as to what you're seeing in the trends out there, and how this market has been mature. >> Yeah, I think, the trend in the autonomous vehicles, we are at the moment at level two level two plus to where you still assisting the driver's behavior with various functions. We are starting to be, to go towards a level three hands-off. In the next, couple of, yeah, hopefully just months or single years, and then going from there to a fully autonomous vehicle, where you not only have hands-off, but also eyes off and then hand over the complete control to the car. But since then, it will still be a path. We just heard recently the announcement of all the, that, not only the functionality within the car, but also then the legal environment needs to be in place, so that you also can check that all of the various functions can be approved. I think the first step, which we will see is that we have it in a kind of a clean room environment, which means highways so the hybrid pilot, where you have to have a kind of insured environment and you can predict certain use cases. And with that we are targeting at, with the next generation of the cars, which can help in one or two years. >> Yeah its really interesting stuff, because of course, you know, it would be really simple if we had nothing, but the autobahn with nothing but autonomous vehicles. I'm sure you can have that running perfectly today, but number one, you start going on different roads and number two, you add that ever unpredictable human element when you have the cars that aren't, on the same system that can cause some issues there. I'm curious, anything from a European standpoint, you know, what's the partnership between government and industry on that, and I guess anything else that's different about Europe then maybe what we'd see in North America? >> Yeah, I think the, one of the biggest differences here is as soon as authorities approve cars, then the liability goes to the authority. And America's there is a complete different behavior in that perspective, liability is taken completely by the companies and the debt, of course. Although there are authorities to control certain environment, but the main liability issue stays with the company itself. And this per se is a complete different approach for that. I think technology-wise, we are here and there, on the same level as on the same technology level. And as you can see already in today's drive assistance functions, technology-wise, we are not far ahead. You can already try certain of those functions, for at least a couple of seconds, but in order to really accept and, calculate all the use cases, you need to start step by step. A highway is one of the perfect measures for that. But when you just go, I'm living here in the in Southern Germany, when you just go to an ancient city, city center, like we do have here Nuremberg, it can be really, really tricky that you consider all the specific use cases. So, here we need to optimize algorithms. The technology are also the horsepower in terms of processing load and of course, security of the census. So here is still for full autonomy still a path to go. >> Alright, so Alex, see, you're part of the keynote, here at SUSECON, obviously, you know, innovation, is a key topic as well as open force and community is a big topic of the show overall. Tell us a little bit about the partnership between Elektrobit and SUSE. >> Yeah, thank you very much for this question. This is really an exciting thing. So two companies like SUSE and Elekrobit, by the way, we have been founded here both, very, very in recent area, so no big area. So SUSE is a leader in delivering mission critical, Linux and container technologies in several industries and Elektrobit brings in the automotive experience. And what we aim for is to really provide the future software platform for automobiles that fulfills all the key requirements around openness, about reuse and, also about a huge pool of open source methodologies, and new modules so that we have a tremendous pool of, patents as well as a tremendous pool of innovation here. So this is the key topic. The automotive industry as such is changing, changing in a way that you continue to develop the technologies along the life cycle of the car in order to really enable our customers to download new functions and new services during the life cycle of the car. This methodology is already used in several other industries. And here we introduced with this partnership exactly the basis for that, in order to really, prepare our customers to focus on their differentiating technology and differentiating features. >> Yeah, fascinating thinking, you brought up, you know, the skill set of course is a key piece. Any industry that's going through change, we wonder who can come along and who's ready for that. It sounded like you were saying that, Linux and the other technologies in this space, there is a large pool of tech of knowledge out there, and that can help really kind of the growth next generation of the automotive industry. Am I getting that right? >> Yes, I mean, for sure the development methodology in open stores and embedded is completely different, but specifically when it comes to liability. So here, there, you need to comply to certain standards of cost, but this is one topic. The other thing is that really the innovation, who the innovation span you have in open source, as well as the modules already existing and the best practices from other industries. This is a tremendous advantage. And also one thing is in terms of changing in our industry, the automotive industry, the development methodology, excuse me, the reuse of, certain platforms is limited as soon as you have to jump to new generations of processes of software modules and so on and so forth. Here, we can with the partnership also leverage the experience we have, technologies which are also for a long period of time, backward compatible and reusable in the essential lower layers of the software, which you need to have by also complying to the relevant standards for a performance as well as a safety requirement. >> Yeah, really interesting mix of balancing that, differentiation in the marketplace while still being an upgradable path. I'm curious, you talked a little bit about the open source model. One of the key things, when you talk about going through a digital transformation is data. There's obviously a lot of data if you talk about autonomous vehicles. We see everybody about, you know, how many gigabytes per hour and all the maps and everything there. What is the role of data in this entire process? Is there sharing of data between some of the different players involved? >> So, yeah, data is I would say data is one is, first of all, data is in channel independent from industry the new currency. This is one thing, also realized in the automotive industry here. Of course we need to consider, certain privacy rules independent from, whether it's the car maker itself or its project or the driver. So we need to respect it, but independent from that, car's one of the most accurate sensors we do have, in our environment. And of course creating data, are we talking about one terabyte per day roundabout? And this is already now reused amongst, common factors amongst the industry. Just think about a certain, here as an acquisition of several players in the industry where they are sharing map data, because it doesn't make a difference, for a GM car, for a Ford car, for a BMW car, for a Daimler car. When you use the same road, the road stays, of course, the brand and the car changes, but the information about the road infrastructure is exactly the same. And this is the first topic which, has to be, or will be shared and is already shared. Second thing is traffic information where you have a mobile providers, in there, and this already is considered, and there are a lot of discussion and, or any business models undergoing or, in preparation for that. >> Yeah, well, you hope the roads don't change. I live in the Boston area, there's a times if you take six months off and all of a sudden you're like, wait, this road used to go a certain way. At least it's a lot easier to update, your software than it is for older vehicles that I'm driving. You talked a little bit about privacy. I know cybersecurity is one of the aspects that Elektrobit involved. Talk to us a little bit about the security aspect and, your company's experiences there. >> The security with transferring data into the car or outside of the car, data security is a key feature. It's just a must. So, in former times as Elektrobit as we are coming from inside the car has an embedded software provider. We protected really the devices within the car, for example, the automator from manipulation and, generated certain securities in the internal bus with our customers. But this is no longer enough. You need to go outside the car. So, when you transfer data from the cloud into the car, or vice versa and therefore cyber security, to predict the whole chain inside the car communication, they're all interfaces where you can connect devices or the backend, from where you transport the information. For them, recently Elektrobit acquired a company in Israel two years ago. But also we know that in the basic technology from the SUSE distribution, there is already a lot of technology in there, which makes data transfer really, really safe, sorry, secure, so that you can trust that the data and really keep the privacy you need to have for specific regions. >> Alright, well, this is a very fast moving industry. Give us a little bit as to what you see happening both the 24 months. What are some of the kind of major opportunities as well as challenges that are being faced? >> Yeah, I think, one of the biggest opportunities we will see in the upcoming directly next generation, is the car really becoming a part of the internet. I think with that, a lot of the business models from the common effector itself, from the suppliers need to change. So that really the common effector enables their customers to continuously update their device mobile device, namely the car. It's very similar to those devices at the moment from technology which you already have then suffocate in our pocket. Of course you cannot put the car into your pocket, but you want to have the same convenience, with new services, with new functions. And I think this is the most of, and the most exciting opportunity of the car. With that you need to have new technologies on platform. You need to have data security, you enable completely new business models. And this has changed our lives completely. Also our business compete. And I think these are the most important and the most exciting changes in the near future, as the next generation already is under preparation and will be launched really, really, really soon. And of course, second topic is the autonomous driving. It goes step by step as just as is testing the beginning. And this is the second opportunity then for many other companies making business with the time when the drivers then, have quality time and, can do something different than just hearing the car. >> Excellent, so much excitement in what is happening in industry. Definitely one we want to watch. Alex wannna give you the final word, SUSECON the partnership between Elektrobit and SUSE the final takeaways that you have for the event. >> Yeah, thanks enough. It's just exciting for us to have such a great partner like SUSECON experienced partner. It brings lots of new aspects into our industry helps us to provide the right solutions. And with that, we are sure that we can generate and we will generate the basis of the next smart cars of our customer in terms of softer platform. Thank you very much. >> Alex, thank you so much for joining us. I'm Stu Miniman, I'll have more coverage here from SUSECON DIGITAL '20. Thank you for watching theCube. (bright music)