CLIENT NEEDS
- Our client was looking for implementable digital solutions that could help reduce / eliminate downtime losses due to unexpected equipment failure.
CLIENT OBJECTIVES
- The client was looking for companies/startups who develop control systems & related hardware for motion control linked to autonomous mobility for their X by wire project
- They required WhatNext to Identify of a list of relevant companies & startups who have technologies/products at any maturity level but are directly linked to vehicle motion & stability control (e.g., path planning, trajectory planning, route planning, etc.).
KEY BUSINESS OUTCOMES
- The engagement resulted in the client discovering novel middleware (perception, sensor fusion & motion control) at TRL maturity levels of 6+.
- The client selected 2 companies for conducting deeper technical due diligence and testing.
KEY BUSINESS IMPACT
- The client has made considerable progress in their X by Wire innovation including novel approaches in software.
WhatNext is awesome! WhatNext’s technology experts did an excellent job of surfacing key threats and opportunities in near future and devised specific steps to address them. They had challenged our key executives to look and think outside the box and develop an exponential transformation strategy to ensure we evolve over the next few years successfully.
Futurist – Automotive
North American Automotive Company
OUR APPROACH & METHODOLOGY
Expert Project Team Deployment
- For the client’s specific business objective, from its Expert Network, WhatNext selected and deployed an Expert with a specialization in electromechanical systems. This expert was supported by a PhD student to help in data gathering, research and analysis.
Research
- The Expert team analysed patent literature, product data sheets, technical research papers, conference papers & other scientific articles from leading journals & magazine publications. They also engaged and exchanged opinions with other experts in their network and other experts sourced from the WhatNext Expert Network.
- The outcome of the research phase resulted in a long list of 62 relevant companies (25 large companies, 20 SMEs & 17 startups) whose offerings were bucketed into 8 key categories of interest (covering middleware, hardware, technology services, etc.)
- The research findings were made available to the client over the WhatNext platform.
- In consultation with the WhatNext expert, the client decided to focus only on the 20 SMEs and 17 start-ups.
Benchmarking & Due Diligence
- 31 of the 37 shortlisted companies were part of the WhatNext Start-Up Network. The other 6 companies were then empaneled in the WhatNext start-up network.
- A deeper benchmarking study was conducted to evaluate which product/technology offerings are suitable from an integration/collaboration/co-development standpoint. This resulted in a final shortlist of 7 SMEs and start-ups.
- The client along with the WhatNext expert panel conducted In-video interviews of these 7 companies to evaluate the actual maturity level (v/s what is claimed) of their technology solutions.
