Croatia’s IT company Infinum and Porsche Digital have launched a new company called Porsche Digital Croatia. Infinum is one of the leading Croatian and worldwide recognized companies that have been dealing with software design and development since its establishment in 2005, and the new company with Porsche Digital will be a development center for digital technologies. The company’s goal is the design and development of the new software with special emphasis on artificial intelligence and machine learning. They are planning to start operating at the end of September, and in three years, they plan to employ about a hundred people. The company will be located in Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia.

The story that started at the end of last year

The negotiations and agreements started at the end of the last year and are now finalized with the creation of a new company. Both companies will have equal ownership shares, and Porsche Digital will invest 10 million euros in it over three years.

Why Infinum?

Stefan Zerweck, COO of Porsche Digital, gladly explained at the conference how did they started this whole story. Last year, they were looking for a new location to develop their digital product. The search on European markets eventually led them to Croatia, and then to Infinum. They loved the way of how Infinum develops products. After some talking, they realized they have found the right partner, and should just join forces and move forward.

Who is exactly Porsche Digital?

Porsche Digital is a subsidiary company of the German Porsche. They are mainly involved in business innovations such as B2B services, but at the same time are helping Porsche to develop new digital products. That’s why they actually came to Infinum. They wanted to develop the products that they will offer to Porsche, and Porsche will offer those products and services to its customers. But, the services and products that they develop won’t necessarily be directly related to the cars themselves. They will develop software that customers will come in contact with at the beginning of their experience with Porsche, such as buying or paying for a car, and all the way to the services related to the later stages of ownership. In the beginning, they will initially work on existing services, and in the future, they will add new technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence. Also, they will explore how these new technologies affect the manufacturing of their cars.

Using AI to more quality Porsches

The application of artificial intelligence in production will enable faster development, production, and even better quality. Primarily, it will ensure that the development and production process is much more efficient. Artificial intelligence can be used to check quality in production or to check the parts themselves before they are installed. It can conduct a series of tests. For example, they can teach it how to check the quality of doors on cars, how they close and open. This is where AI will decide whether the quality of the car produced meets Porsche standards. Also, artificial intelligence technology could be used to plan trips, especially electric cars. Thus, with the help of this technology, an optimal route could be planned for lower energy consumption or an adequate route could be selected with regard to the status of the car, such as the charge level.

The goal

Tomislav Car, CEO of Infinum, explained the idea behind Porsche’s concept of such collaborations. They call this whole concept open innovation. The idea is to collaborate all over the world, to make collaborations wherever they see a good opportunity. Tomislav thinks they were interesting to them because Infinum is already doing things like this. This is an opportunity to now transfer their knowledge and experience to the automotive industry, and to work much closer with them than if they were just their client. He says they have already launched talks with other offices within Porsche Digital, which are located in cities such as Stuttgart, Pao Alto, Tel Aviv, and Barcelona. Car explains further, that there are two branches within the new company. One branch is in charge of improving the production process within Porsche, while the other branch is more oriented towards end customers and users. They currently already have 15 people working on the projects, and they plan to reach 30 people by the end of the year. As part of the investment plan, the idea is to have 100 people working in the Zagreb office in three years. As for the employees, Infinum says that they are looking for a similar profile of people for the new company as for Infinum itself. These are primarily developers, designers, engineers who deal with machine learning and artificial intelligence. In short, people who help develop new technologies. This is not Infinum’s first collaboration with an automobile company, but this is their first joint venture.