SEAT consolidates software development centre and launches a mobility platform
Through its SEAT:CODE software development centre, in 2020 the company demonstrated its ability to continue innovating in mobility despite the uncertainty caused by the global pandemic.
For the first time, in addition to hardware, the carmaker has developed software with the help of SEAT:CODE, which created its first multimodal mobility platform. This technological solution is available for iOS and Android and enables 100% digital operation and management of vehicle fleets. The mobility platform made its debut with the SEAT MÓ motosharing service in Barcelona and is also available to other companies and operators.
Among other functions, the platform offers an advanced geolocation system that enables real-time monitoring of all connected vehicles, editing vehicle parking zones and managing user payments. Thanks to IoT technology, it also offers an interface available for the operator to create and edit dashboards, track data in real time, analyse user behaviour and make forecasts.
Still growing
2020 was a year of growth for SEAT:CODE, which delivered 33 projects. The development centre celebrated its first anniversary by opening new headquarters on La Rambla, in the heart of Barcelona, in a historic building from 1910 featuring 2,100 square metres on four floors with open plan offices.
Likewise, the software development is committed to promoting diversity as an integrated value in the daily activity of its workforce and is staffed by people of 15 different nationalities. Furthermore, in a sector characterised by a considerable gender gap, 20% of its employees are women.
Since its creation, SEAT:CODE has progressively incorporated software development professionals. SEAT’s Executive Vice-President for Finance and IT, Carsten Isensee, highlighted that “we now have close to 150 professionals, 85 of whom were hired in 2020, who are dedicated to leading the company’s digital transformation and creating digital apps and solutions for our clients.”
In 2020, a pioneering training programme was carried out, led by the company’s Human Resources division, in which five workers from the production line were trained in software to incorporate them into SEAT:CODE. This project exemplifies the labour and industrial transformation that will take place in the coming years, where internal talent plays a key role and and on which the company will continue to focus over the next decade.
SEAT:CODE also collaborated in the fight against COVID-19 and developed a tool for the ventilator supply chain that made it possible to identify the status of parts and deliveries in hospitals.
The company digital machine
The software development centre was created in July 2019 with the aim of driving the company’s digital transformation and increasing efficiency through the digitalisation of processes, while reinforcing the company’s business models around the concepts of mobility, connectivity and car digitalisation.
The year 2021 presents new challenges for SEAT:CODE, with the main goal of establishing itself in the market, develop and expand new services for urban mobility, continue attracting talent to recruit more professionals to its staff and improve mobility in cities.
