This book offers a multidisciplinary exploration of a major paradigm shift in the automotive industry: the transition from traditional system integration to dynamic ecosystem collaboration. It draws on scientific research from LocosLab GmbH and the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, alongside practical insights from Deloitte’s Global Automotive Practice. The book examines how automotive companies increasingly cooperate within innovation and transaction ecosystems. It explores the technical architecture of these ecosystems, including customer applications, middleware, and backend systems. Key topics include the evolution of software-defined vehicle innovation ecosystems, challenges in homologation, opportunities for business development, and the changing role of traditional OEMs. It presents the global status quo of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) ecosystems and explores their future coexistence with private car ownership, again highlighting the strategic implications for OEMs.

The book aims to provide inspiration, appeal to both academics and practitioners, and encourage collaboration between different disciplines.

Prof. Dr. Heike Proff heads the Chair of General Business Administration & International Automotive Management at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Her team focuses on international and strategic (automotive) management, particularly on the challenges and conflicts arising from the current transformation toward new propulsion technologies and mobility concepts.

Prof. Dr. Pedro José Marrón heads the Chair of Networked Embedded Systems Group at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. He is also founder of Locoslab GmbH, an SME specialized in low cost solutions for localization in indoor environments and is the president of UBICITEC, the European Center for Ubiquitous Technologies and Smart Cities, which counts with over 20 institutional partners from industry and academia.

Dr. Elmar Pritsch is a partner at Deloitte Consulting and leads the Global Software Defined Vehicle group at Deloitte. He advises worldwide leading companies in the automotive industry in the context of software defined vehicles. He focuses on strategy development and implementation based on his experiences with digital transformation, emerging ecosystems, alliance frameworks and partnerships.

Dr. Harald Proff is a partner at Deloitte Consulting and leads the Global and German Automotive Sector. His focus is on transformation programs and new business models in industrial sectors, as well as the increasing digitalization and connectivity of industrial companies. He is the founder of Deloitte´s first Digital Factory in Düsseldorf, Germany.