What is speed to market?
Speed to market (STM) refers to how quickly a company can develop, produce, and launch a new product or feature to customers. In the automotive industry, it specifically measures the time it takes for a new vehicle, model refresh, or advanced mobility technologies (like EV batteries, infotainment systems, or autonomous features) to go from concept to commercial availability.
As the industry rapidly evolves, faster innovation is imperative to keep pace with trends and outmaneuver new mobility entrants. While there are a variety of factors that impact speed to market in the automotive industry, development speed has become the ultimate currency to stay ahead.
Why is speed to market important?
Speed to market is crucial for automotive manufacturers because it directly impacts their competitiveness, profitability, and ability to meet customer demands.
The transition to software-defined innovation is a critical success factor for OEMs. In the high-stakes race for market share against more agile competitors, traditional automakers must quickly adopt modern development practices or be left behind.
Success depends on getting to market faster while maintaining quality and safety.
How to improve speed to market
Modernize product design and architecture
OEMs and suppliers must become more agile, think more in terms of software development cycles, and build flexible IT architectures.
- Adopt modular architectures and establish common software platforms across disciplines to manage complexity, enable parallel development, and reduce bottlenecks
- Robust testing and validation procedures ensure the safety and quality of the vehicles while shortening design cycle time
- Connected systems support end-to-end traceability across hardware, software, and compliance, enabling cohesive, timely product development
Master software requirements management
Software requirements are reaching a new level of complexity in modern automotive systems. Building out the capability to handle that complexity is becoming a key factor of competitive advantage for carmakers.
- Establish common software platforms across vehicle lines to help master complexity challenges between domains and improve agility
- Modernize the software development toolchain to enable a more agile approach to requirements management
- Enable efficiency and ensure regulatory compliance by aligning workflows with real-time insights
Improve internal and external collaboration
Car manufacturers must take collaboration between their mechanical, electrical, and software engineers to a higher level and do so deliberately and thoughtfully.
- Improve coordination and increase efficiency by implementing a digital thread, common platforms, and shared tools
- Reduce delays caused by data silos by ensuring access to up-to-date information
- Improve coordination and increase efficiency by automating traditionally manual tasks
Adopt AI capabilities
As the demand for automotive innovation grows, vehicle complexity is increasing. AI capabilities help increase speed to market by simplifying engineering and increasing productivity. In partnership with PTC and Microsoft, Volkswagen is using generative AI with ALM to:
- Create new specification and test cases
- Improve quality checks
- Import key information from legacy systems
The importance of speed to market in the automotive industry
Accelerating speed to market is of the utmost importance for OEMs. In the automotive industry, change is frequent, innovation is rapid, and customer expectations are constantly evolving. Competitors are setting the pace, and faster development is the new standard. It’s crucial that US and German automakers respond to these demands and keep up with the competition—because the next big automotive trend is almost certainly around the corner.