Volvo Cars needs to be more in control of the software it develops and deploys in its vehicles, the automaker’s new CEO said.
Increasing the computing power of cars will be more difficult and transformative for the auto industry than the switch to electric from combustion propulsion, Jim Rowan, who took over the top job last week, said in an interview on Tuesday.
"We're going to have to be a lot more intelligent about the decisions we make around making versus buying software, and we’re going to need to understand software at a much more vestral level than before," he said.
"How do you actually make the best of the computational power that you're spending a lot of money on to put in the vehicle? How do you make sure that you're using that properly and in the most effective way?" Rowan added.
Volvo announced the hiring of Rowan, a 56-year-old Scot, in January to replace Hakan Samuelsson, its longest-serving CEOs in decades.
Rowan's career has included stints at heated-mug maker Ember Technologies, household-appliance manufacturer Dyson and mobile-phone company BlackBerry.