As Porsche looks to eventually transition into an all-electric sports car brand, it is establishing a new software-centric division at its Nardò Technical Center proving ground in Italy. The automaker and its technical center will utilize the nearby talent pool of software experts and engineers to hail in a new era of digitalization that will enable highly automated driving and other functions in future EVs.
The Nardò Technical Center (NTC) was founded in 1975 and currently operates over 20 test tracks and facilities across more than 700 hectares of land in Puglia, Italy. At least 185 people help offer state-of-the-art engineering services at the NTC, including vehicle testing for more than 90 automotive OEMs around the globe.
Porsche Engineering Group GmbH acquired the “Nardó Ring” in 2012 when it was renamed the NTC, and the German automaker has been operating the proving ground ever since. As a subsidiary of Porsche AG, the engineering group spearheads the development of future intelligent and connected vehicles, including software.
As such, Porsche has announced an entirely new division at the NTC to develop, establish, and eventually implement a software initiative for future EVs.
Porsche’s new software division to enable EVs of the future
According to Porsche AG, its newly formed division has been established in Italy as a technology partner for software development in connected vehicles. Antonio Gratis, managing director at NTC, says the new division will focus specifically on developing highly automated driving functions, vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, and connectivity solutions. He went on:
Digitally-enabled functions will play a crucial role in the future of the automotive industry. With our new software division, we can develop and test these kinds of functions for our customers directly on site.
As we trek forward (some willingly, some not) into an all-electric age of BEVs, software and IOT connections have become more crucial. As such, Porsche’s NTC is evolving from a long-established testing center into an integrated technology hub near the development and validation processes simultaneously being performed by Porsche Engineering.
The new office will open in the city of Leece, where a 5G network was recently established. Porsche expects the area to provide a rich talent pool of IT engineers, software architects, developers, and computer science graduates to pull from. Gratis once again spoke:
We are proud to establish the software division in this prestigious area. We have profound ties to this region, to its people and the potential they possess, and we are proud that the digitalization of the automotive industry also leads through this territory.
From there, Porsche’s bright-eyed software experts will help develop state-of-the-art solutions that will then be tested on the tracks at NTC.