Bengaluru, 15th April 2024: Ather Energy, an electric 2W vehicle manufacturer, in collaboration with Infineon, a significant player in the semiconductor industry, creating chips used in everything from electric vehicles to secure transactions and Elektrobit, a company that creates software for the automotive industry, including connected car technology and software for automated driving, recently wrapped up its ByteBattles Firmware Development Hackathon, a coding competition where participants were asked to program a set of vehicle features. Employing the ease of use of Ather’s Application Software Development Kit (ASDK), participants from both industry and academia could implement innovative features on Ather scooters in just one day. ASDK is the result of eight years of in-house development efforts towards the creation of a platform tailored for application software developers. It enables the design of inventive functionalities for electric vehicles and plans on open sourcing it.
For the competition, sixty-five participants from esteemed institutions such as IIT Madras, SRM, MKSSS Cummins College, and industry giants like Royal Enfield, Continental Automotive Components India Pvt Ltd, Chara Technologies, The Energy Company and Nunam Technologies were a part of the hackathon.
Swapnil Jain, Co-founder & CTO of Ather Energy said, “The automotive industry is still in its early stages of vehicle software development. It has its own set of challenges, as well as opportunities for innovation and collaboration. Platforms like ASDK accelerate software development and drive advancements in electric mobility. ADSK democratizes electric vehicle firmware development akin to Android’s abstraction of software from hardware, decreasing time spent without sacrificing quality. We wanted to eliminate obstacles to creativity with Byte Battles. We aimed to cultivate a community of developers committed to crafting outstanding user experiences.”
The hackathon showcased the transformative potential of middleware like Ather’s Software Development Kit in expediting firmware development. Additionally, it highlighted its user-friendly nature and adaptability.
Sai Sridhar, Associate Director at Elektrobit said, “Today’s digitally native EVs have disrupted how we imagine software. They have created a compelling need for a structured, modular, and scalable ‘middleware software platform’. It has high performance, is nimble, affordable, and easily applicable. Ensuring mandatory practices guarantees that vehicle software remains safe, secure, and readily upgradable throughout its lifespan.”
The hackathon served as a stage for participants to demonstrate their skills. It also fostered collaboration and knowledge exchange within the automotive software development community. Ather believes that events of this nature are instrumental in shaping the future of electric vehicles.
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