The context

Since 2017, the autonomous and connected vehicle industry has become a major industrial challenge for France.

The Occitanie Region is qualified as a key territory for the development of technologies for the autonomous and connected vehicle .

Prestigious companies such as Actia, Continental Automotive, Renault Software Lab, and NXP are settled in the region. These companies offer numerous products or services to transportation that are in search of connectivity, autonomy, and safe operation.

In addition to these prestigious companies, more than 500 companies are involved in regional clusters such as Totem, Ten Log, and Digital 113 to boost the economic activities of smart transport and logistics.

These clusters interact with each other as well as with the Region to consolidate cohesion between economic sectors, accelerate innovation, market launching and access to international markets.

All of these economic actors also cooperate with Regional Laboratories, Universities and Schools to stimulate innovation. Therefore, Occitanie has become the leading innovative region in France, particularly in the field of automotive and mobility.

Furthermore, Toulouse Métropole is building the smart city of tomorrow. Sites are dedicated to testing and validating new technologies and services focusing on autonomous vehicles in an urban/semi-urban environment on closed roads: Villagil, Francazal, and AutoCampus (University Paul Sabatier Campus).

As a consequence, the State and and the Occitanie region commissioned a strategic steering committee for autonomous and connected vehicle industry (VACO), bringing together the main players in the sector.

As a result, the committee set five objectives:

Bring together regional players in the “Intelligent and Sustainable Mobility” sector,
Increase the coordination of the sector’s activities in innovation and research,
Make Occitanie a region of excellence for “Smart and Sustainable Mobility,”
Anticipate the evolution of needs in skills and training,
Implement actions to promote the valorisation and attractiveness of the sector.

En 2020, la création du campus des métiers et des qualifications d’Excellence de la mobilité et des transports intelligents s’inscrit dans la continuité des préconisations du Comité VACO.

Des entreprises prestigieuses et des clusters régionaux s’impliquent dans les actions du Campus au travers de formations, conférences, d’événements, de visites, de rencontres, ou de stages d’immersion….

La participation active des partenaires économiques au sein des instances de gouvernance du Campus est un gage de qualité. Elle garantit une compréhension des besoins des entreprises en termes d’évolution des métiers, de compétences attendues pour ses offres de formations.

The automotive and intelligent mobility sector in Occitanie.

Occitanie region is highly dynamic in the field of mobility. Major technologies in autonomous and connected vehicles are developed in the region, such as the e-horizon project by Continental Automotive, the implantation of Renault Software Labs, the creation of the company Easymile…

In addition to this, major enterprises developing activities or poducts in embedded systems, autonomous and connected vehicles (dynamic displays, radars, sensors, cameras), geolocalization (GPS, RDFID), digital technologies are based in Occitanie. These developments demonstrate the importance of this sector in Occitanie Toulouse and strongly motivate the creation of a dedicated research and educational platform dedicated to the electrical, autonomous and connected vehicles.

The strategic contract of the automotive sector and its challenges.

The strategic contract of the Automotive industry mentions three challenges: Technological and digital with the connected, smart and autonomous vehicle.
Environmental with the energy transition for decarbonization of the automotive, transportation, and logistics sectors. Societal, concerning usage and a deep evolution of the relationship with cars and mobility-related services.

The smart mobility sector

Artificial intelligence and digital technologies are making mobility “intelligent”. Thus is becoming safer and more efficient.

It is a source of job creation, innovation and economic development, including the creation of new businesses. It represents an annual market of several billion euros and creates new jobs. It transforms existing ones in the sectors of vehicle industry, transport and logistics, and digital technology. It brings together manufacturers, equipment suppliers and industry suppliers.

The need for recruitment in this sector is estimated at 25,000 people. The Strategic Contract for the Automotive Industry for 2018-2022 mentions 4,000 companies employing 400,000 workers in France.

The industry includes service companies structured around five business areas: commerce and distribution, control, maintenance and repair, education and road safety, circular economy and mobility solutions.

In 2018, this sector reached 139,000 companies employing more than 400,000 workers.

The Transport-Logistics industry.

The transport-logistics industry is essential for the functioning of the economy. It represents 10% of France’s national GDP and 1.8 million jobs.

Its jobs make up the logistics chain very diverse and rapidly evolving: drivers, logistics operators, managers and operators of storage and exploitation, planners and organizers of goods flows, administrative and management staff… It also involves commercialization professions.

The industry recruits from vocational certificates to specialized master’s degrees.

The digital industry sector.

Predictive maintenance and vehicles electrification require more embedded systems. These are at the heart of the challenges of new mobility and infrastructure safety… The strong growth of the embedded systems industry is expected to continue to reach more than 30% growth between 2020 and 2030.

Digital industry sector actors are involved from the design to the manufacturing of embedded systems. They act as service providers to suppliers, equipment manufacturers, integrators and vehicle manufacturers. However, almost all companies in the embedded systems industry are facing recruitment difficulties

The share of software in the value of a car could increase from 15-35% in 2017 to almost 50% in 2020 (Source: Les Echos, Alexandre Corjon, VP of engineering systems at Renault Nissan).

According to OPIIEC (Studies: Training and Skills on Embedded Systems, July 2022), the automotive and heavy transportation industries are the driving forces.

Global deliveries of connected vehicles could reach 73 million units in 2023 (compared to 51 million in 2019, source: Deloitte, 2018).

As a consequence, the transport and automotive industry are facing cybersecurity and technological challenges (artificial intelligence).