Kerala-based Acsia Tech bags contract to develop infotainment software for BMW

The future generation of BMW cars will have the signature of a Keralite technopreneur in it. The German luxury carmaker is set to tie up with the Kerala-based Acsia Technologies to work on the advanced infotainment programme of its upcoming vehicles.

Headquartered in Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram, Acsia Technologies is helmed by Thrissur native Jijimon Chandran.

The global automotive software company has been selected as a software development provider by Garmin, a leading global provider of GPS-enabled products, and the company teams up with Germany-based AOX Technologies to develop infotainment systems for BMW.

Infotainment is the hardware and software platform designed to deliver information and entertainment including audio and video in vehicles. Acsia has signed a contract with Garmin and set the ball rolling for the project.

“We have been developing software for more than seven years since 2014. Last year we were approached to develop a software for German carmaker BMW. The lead came through Garmin and after a long evaluation process, we were shortlisted to do a pre-evaluation phase and now we are awarded the project. The project is going to be long-term and through this opportunity Acsia engineers are going to get an opportunity to work for the world's best carmakers. We will be responsible to develop and maintain the automotive infotainment system for the future generation of BMW cars,” Chandran, CEO, Acsia told Onmanorama in Kochi on Saturday.

The major software development activities will be done at Acsia’s delivery centre in Thiruvananthapuram and the company will also be placing its engineers in Germany.

The CEO said Acsia has started expanding its engineering team for the project thereby opening opportunities for the engineering community in the state to work on highly advanced automotive software.

Acsia has extensive experience in developing infotainment and connected car production programmes for world’s leading automotive carmakers and Tier1 companies. The company leverages this expertise to build world-class infotainment and integrated cockpit systems for BMW through its association with Garmin and AOX. Acsia’s development centres are equipped with TISAX, ASPICE and other mandatory certifications to develop such solutions.

“Acsia has been delivering best- in-class services to their customers across the world. Acsia together with AOX, being a Garmin software development partner will further strengthen our competencies. We look forward to this association to offer digital cockpits to our customers,” Craig Puder, Garmin vice president of automotive OEM engineering, said in a press statement.

“AOX is serving premium automotive clients. We stand for successful Automotive Software project deliveries which require deep technical Embedded software understandings, cross-architectural insights for complex systems and functions, professional project management, a high-performance work-culture and full dedication. With it we also have the same premium expectations to our strategic software suppliers. Acsia has practically demonstrated to meet and exceed our expectations and to be a reliable scaling partner for AOX. Looking forward to successfully deliver this challenging project with a reliable partner like Acsia,” said Markus Kissendorfer, Managing Director at AOX Connect.

Acsia has been associating with Kerala Government’s Additional Skill Acquisition Programme (ASAP) in terms of giving inputs to automotive-related courses offered by them. Acsia has already joined hands with many of the tech institutions in the state to set up automotive software competent centres to identify and nurture engineering talent. The new project will be beneficial for engineers in the country as Acsia is on a hiring drive for its team expansion.