For decades, automakers have competed over engines, performance and design. Today, the real battleground is software—each OEM’s new signature.
A seismic shift is quietly taking place in the automotive world, with Dr. Arunkumar Sampath, principal consultant and global head of SDV and eVTOL, aircraft, TCS, calling it one of the biggest shifts the industry has ever seen. Cars are no longer designed to be just mechanical machines, they are becoming software-driven products that can learn, upgrade and evolve long after they leave the factory.
For years, automakers have competed on engines, performance and design. Today, software is becoming a real differentiator, he said. Global brands already make money from on-demand features, and at events like CES, nearly every new car shown is built around a digital experience. Dr Sampath pointed out that while markets like the US and Europe are growing rapidly, India – currently the world’s third-largest auto market – faces its own unique software challenges with its mix of two-wheelers, three-wheelers and passenger cars.
new architecture
To adapt to this shift, the industry is witnessing “an evolution of ecosystems, from a vertical top-down approach to a so-called collaborative approach,” he said. OEMs and suppliers now work side by side, sometimes as partners rather than in traditional hierarchies. Car electrical systems are also changing – instead of dozens of small control units scattered throughout, hybrid architecture combines on-board computing with cloud-based systems. He noted that this is critical for speed, performance and security.
Some companies want complete control, building their own operating systems and cloud environments. Others prefer a more open, shared platform approach. But regardless of strategy, everyone is moving toward service-oriented architecture—software that can be updated, reused, and deployed anywhere in the world while still meeting regional needs.
Artificial intelligence is everywhere
“If you are building a software-defined vehicle (SDV), obviously you need someone to work on smart cockpits, ADAS systems, hyper-personalization, regulatory standards, software, bill of materials, etc. This is actually where AI agents help. In fact, TCS has come up with a number of different agents as well. We work closely with different automotive players; we showcased some of these solutions at the recently concluded CES. So, what you notice here is basically that you can define AI agents to perform specific tasks,” he noted.
Dr. Sampath said artificial intelligence is becoming the backbone of this new automotive world. Professional AI agents manage everything from cockpit functions to ADAS, safety, compliance and driver behavior. Multi-agent systems allow different AI modules to work together to quickly learn and handle complex traffic situations – which is especially important in a country like India where road behavior changes rapidly.
The industry is also “exploring the idea of using humanoid drivers as in-car surrogates to replicate human behavior and collect real-world road data. There is also growing interest in using humanoid robots to collect real-world driving data for autonomous training. Through (large language model) LLM-driven interfaces, vehicles will understand the world around them like humans do, helping them react better in chaotic traffic,” clarifies.
Build faster and with better quality
To keep up with the pace of innovation, automotive development processes are now highly automated. AI can generate code, check compliance, fix bugs and speed up the release process. Digital twins – virtual replicas of components or complete vehicles – allow teams around the world to test, refine and validate systems without having to wait months for a prototype.
This also enables predictive maintenance, allowing the vehicle to monitor its own health like a fitness tracker. Federated learning helps personalize vehicle behavior without exposing private data, making it easier for fleet customers and shared mobility providers to safely optimize performance.
Software Bill of Materials (SBoM) ensures that every line of code is traceable. He said that in a complex global ecosystem, such transparency helps in diagnosing problems immediately, just like how ISRO recovers quickly from an aborted rocket launch as every component is digitally traceable.
what happens next
The shift to software-defined vehicles is now permanent and accelerating. Artificial intelligence, digital twins, new software architectures and data-driven development are rewriting how cars are made and how they behave.
The future is even more transformative: connected cars, deeper vehicle-to-vehicle communications, real-time safety networks, and national records for unifying data to enable faster development and safer mobility. He noted that India’s own digital infrastructure – from the Vahan database to the upcoming battery passport – will play an important role in this evolution.
In this new era, cars are no longer just machines. He concluded that they will be intelligent digital systems – always learning, always updating, always connected.