A niche global partner for the Automotive Electronics & Semiconductor solutions industry, KPIT Cummins Infosystems Ltd., today announced that it is now an Automotive SPICE™ Maturity Level 5 certified company. Automotive SPICE™ under the PATHFINDER™ certification scheme for organizational maturity evaluates the quality & process competences as well as the organizational maturity of software service providers for automotive manufacturers.

Highlights:

¨ KPIT Cummins is a premium member of AUTOSAR (Automotive Open System ARchitecture) and the only Indian company to have received the membership of JasPar (Japan Automotive Software Platform ARchitecture). Both of these are important strategic initiatives in the world of Automotive electronics

¨ The Automotive SPICE™ Level 5 certification awarded to the Automotive Line of Business of KPIT Cummins is a testimony of it’s stringent quality systems and capability to develop critical embedded software systems and components

¨ The Automotive SPICE™ assessment model has been developed under the Automotive SPICE™ initiative by consensus of the car manufacturers within the Automotive Special Interest Group (SIG), a joint special interest group of The Procurement Forum and The SPICE User Group

¨ The members of the Automotive SIG include AUDI AG, BMW Group, DaimlerChrysler AG, Fiat Auto S.p.A., Ford Werke GmbH, Jaguar, Land Rover, Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Volkswagen AG and Volvo Car Corporation

¨ With the membership of AUTOSAR, JasPar and now the Automotive SPICE™ Maturity Level 5 certification, KPIT Cummins is the only company in the world to be recognized by all the three organizations

An assessment team from Impronova AB (Sweden) performed the assessment which evaluated all the relevant processes in the Automotive SPICE™ process assessment model and the PATHFINDER™ organizational maturity model. The evaluation criteria include- analyzing the requirements, designing, coding, maintenance, porting, reverse engineering, model development, systems integration of software systems, tools and component development for automotive applications.

KPIT Cummins is currently, one of the only two companies in the world which are Automotive SPICE™ Level 5 certified. The company has an extensive experience in every subsystem of Automotive electronics including Powertrain, Body Electronics, Safety, Security and Chassis, Telematics & Navigation, Driver Information Systems, Infotainment & HVAC etc. This in-depth experience coupled with strong process focus has helped the company in meeting the stringent requirements of the Automotive SPICE™.

The Automotive SPICE™ Process Assessment Model is based on ISO/IEC 15504-5: 2006. Prior to the release of Automotive SPICE™ the car manufacturers within the Automotive SIG performed supplier assessments based on ISO/IEC TR 15504 (1999).Certification is based on ISO/IEC DTR 15504-7 the standard for the assessment of organizational maturity

The genesis of Automotive SPICE™ is attributed to the consensus of a number of auto OEMs around the world on the growing criticality of software components in motor vehicles. It addresses a need for stringent quality standard to be adhered by the supplier. Currently, more than 85% of vehicle functionality is controlled by its software content; hence its malfunction has gained much concern. Not only the manufacturers but also the software service providers are taking pro-active actions to address such issues.

Auto OEMs are adopting evaluation procedures for quality of delivered embedded software in automotive system by performing process capability assessments of their suppliers and making provision for contractual demands with respect to software quality. Therefore, the value that this certification brings to the car manufacturer is substantial.

The assessment team leaders were Mr. Alec Dorling & Mr. Mats Ramnefors from Impronova AB. Alec Dorling is the international convener of the ISO/IEC international standardization project and SPICE project manager. As a Director of the Procurement Forum and the SPICE User Group he coordinates the Automotive SPICE initiative with the major car manufacturers in Europe. Speaking on the occasion, Alec Dorling said, “This is a great achievement for KPIT Cummins who has joined an elite group of high maturity organizations that has achieved PATHFINDER™ organizational maturity level 5 certification. The achievement supports KPIT Cummins’ position as a world leader in the development of embedded software and related solutions for automotive applications. It firmly establishes its quality and processes as 'best in the class' in the industry”

Commenting on the development, Vice President-Automotive Line of Business, KPIT Cummins, Mr. Anup Sable said, “When dealing with software that contributes to the fundamental performance of the mission critical systems in the vehicle, zero defects is a must to ensure system reliability. We at KPIT Cummins feel that process is one of the most critical aspects of our zero defects drive and this certification is an endorsement of our commitment to the same”.

Over the years, KPIT Cummins has gained significant capabilities in Auto Electronics by partnering 13 Automotive OEMs and 30 Tier1 suppliers and has extensive experience in working with every subsystem in automotive electronics. It is the only company in India with a networking product IP that is used in vehicle programs on 49 ECUs and 20 microcontrollers.

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