Guest post by Deepak Chaudhari, Country Head at TCS Ireland.
The automotive sector is the top investor in research and development (R&D) in the EU, spending more than €59 billion on innovation per year. While Mercedes, VW, Volvo, and Bosch are the biggest European investors in R&D, the EU’s share of companies in the global top 2,500 R&D spenders has been declining over time.
Today, the automotive sector is at a pivotal moment. Software is increasingly being embedded into vehicles, and automakers are prioritising software innovation as much as traditional engineering. This rapid advancement towards software-defined vehicles (SDVs) is blurring the lines between tech and auto. This presents an opportunity for automotive players in Europe to move beyond their role as vehicle manufacturers and become high-tech technology companies. By using their significant investment in research and development to launch new revenue streams faster and smarter, they can create a competitive advantage.
Driving mobility with Generative AI
Automakers can leap ahead by investing and innovating in Generative AI to dramatically enhance productivity and in-vehicle customer experience and reduce time-to-market. From analysing vast amounts of data for autonomous vehicle development to enabling seamless software updates, AI is poised to touch every aspect of the automotive value chain.
Generative AI, in particular, will allow carmakers to create a hyper-personalised and curated experience for their customers. By 2030, it is estimated that the AI industry will be investing £59.4 billion for the automotive industry alone. This is a 20-fold increase in the next seven years over what the industry is spending today. European manufacturers could choose to lead this investment.
Closing the talent gap
Yet, the journey towards this transformation isn’t without challenges. One of the most pressing is the talent shortage. As manufacturers shift their focus from a ‘one-time sale’ to curating customer experience ‘for life’, the auto industry is missing crucial talent to execute this type of customer longevity. It requires talent with coding skills who can create digital, connected and mobility experiences, autonomous vehicles, SDVs (Software-Defined Vehicles), multi-modal infrastructure, and smart city integrations.
Graduates skilled in software development or AI tend to gravitate toward Big Tech companies, drawn by the allure of Silicon Valley and its high salaries, flexible cultures, and innovative work environments. However, the recent economic instability in Big Tech has created a unique opportunity for the auto sector to reposition itself as a sought-after career path.
To attract more Gen Z developers, automakers must emphasise meaningful work, sustainability, and competitive benefits. Traditional automaker cultures—hierarchical, process-driven, and slow to change—must evolve to become innovation-driven cultures to meet the expectations of today’s workforce.
Some European manufacturers have already made bold moves to recruit top-tier talent from outside their core competencies. Mercedes-Benz created 3,000 new jobs in the field of software development, with 1,000 of these based at the company’s new integrative competence centre for electric and electrified drives and digitalisation – the “Mercedes-Benz Electric Software Hub.
Also, Jaguar Land Rover announced that it planned to hire hundreds of engineers to help develop electric cars and looked specifically at laid-off tech workers. Volkswagen engaged in a joint venture with software startup Rivian to up its EV digital technology – and strengthened its in-house software arm Cariad with Rivian experts.
These hires reflect a broader strategy: automakers are expanding beyond vehicles to build ecosystems of services. Seamless EV charging, virtual vehicle assistants, and connected customer experiences are no longer nice-to-haves; they are central to future growth. By hiring from Big Tech, manufacturers are fast-tracking their ability to compete in this evolving market.
How TCS is supporting the future of mobility
TCS is helping manufacturers in the automotive sector navigate and accelerate their journey towards SDVs. Solutions include cloud adoption, reshaping value chains, and improving manufacturers’ time-to-market.
One of our most recent offerings, the Automotive Gen AI Suite, exemplifies this by speeding up the design, development, and validation of SDVs by leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) and Vision Language Models (VLMs) for in-vehicle and cloud-based systems.
Thanks to the deep domain expertise of our 4,000+ tech engineers, we have helped leading global automotive OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) and automotive software suppliers adapt to market trends to develop the next-generation architecture required to be on the cutting edge of SDV development and forge a new future for the auto industry.
Establishing Ireland as a Centre of Excellence
Ireland is in a great position to now leverage its culture of innovation, engineering, computing and software, collaborating with universities and availing of government supports to capitalise on these new global EV demands.
An exciting initiative of note is the new degree and masters programme in electric vehicle engineering at Atlantic Technological University (ATU). Collaborating with TCS Ireland, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Hyundai, the course in ATU has been designed to allow graduates to work in the automotive industry or any industry that is embarking on the rapid transition to electrified propulsion, namely electric vehicle.
Multiple pathways and options are now in place for people with technology and software engineering skills to build rewarding and exciting careers in the rapidly evolving automotive industry, with multiple companies, such as JLR and TCS Ireland, working at the cutting edge in this sector within Ireland.
By leveraging the power of technology, harnessing the talent of a new workforce, and embracing sustainability, we are confident that European automakers can not only survive but thrive in this era of transformation.
