Young technology

“We see good opportunities for developing our advanced automotive electronics solutions” – Joachim Fritzson, ceo Movimento.

Swedish-based Movimento Automotive is one of the young new faces of the automotive industry, as electronics plays an increasingly important role in vehicle design and operation.

“We offer strategic contract engineering and engineering consulting in such areas as advanced vehicle communications, infotainment, telematics, vehicle diagnostics, network communications and software strategies. We also support several customers in the heavy diesel industry, on- and off-highway and marine, with vehicle diagnostics tools and advanced networking support”, says Movimento CEO, Benjamin Hoffman.
The company began by supporting CAN and K-Line, and has recently added tools for diagnostics and software download on LIN, MOST and FlexRay. Protocols supported include MOST, FlexRay, CAN, LIN, SAE J1939, SAE J1850, SAE 2534 (-2), SAE J1708/1587, SAE J2534, RP 1210,.

The US$2.5-million a year company has raised US$3.8-million to finance faster product development. It is expanding in the areas of testing systems for vehicle production, validation of components and complex systems, and vehicle-adapted equipment.
The company has recruited 25 employees, and will continue to recruit at least 10 more to the Gothenburg office. “We’re currently making every effort to recruit the best personnel available in the field of vehicle electronics, such as FlexRay and AUTOSAR”, says Manager of Communications, Daniel Nilebäck. It is planned that Movimento will have some 60 employees and double its turnover within 18 months.

Movimento’s CEO, Joachim Fritzson adds: “We see good opportunities for developing our advanced automotive electronics solutions, because most of today’s cars are increasingly controlled by sophisticated electronics systems. That includes everything from safety to growing opportunities for in-car information and entertainment.”
Movimento, a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Movimento Group, is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden. The group also has a presence in diverse places including Japan, Germany, and South Korea. The company was founded in 2003 and initially made an impact with Swedish automotive firms. Clients include Delphi Automotive, Denso, Jaguar, Land Rover, SAAB Automobile, Scania, Toyota, Volvo Car Corporation, Volvo Construction Equipment, Volvo Penta and Volvo Trucks.

Automotive Industries spoke to Ben Hoffman, CEO of Movimento Automotive, USA and asked him where the company’s growth is likely to come from.

Hoffman: Movimento sees a combination of standardized protocols like FlexRay, MOST, LIN and CAN that will continue to be the core protocols. We will continue to work with a mix of several different protocols, providing solutions based on a price or performance evaluation, to meet customers varying needs.

AI: Will Movimento take an active role in pushing for this protocol as a standard? And why?

Hoffman: Movimento will not actively promote one standard over another, as our position is to provide the best products and services to meet the needs from OEM to Tier1 and II customers.

AI: What are some of the challenges facing companies like yours that develop and manufacture electronics to run vehicles as well as to provide infotainment?

Hoffman: The challenge of dealing with multiple customers in a global market, together with the increasing pressure to deliver in a accelerated time to market.
AI: Which part of the business is growing faster and why?
BH: We experienced a strong growth in the need for automated testing of diagnostic services and advanced vehicle networks in modern vehicles. Especially automated testing that allows for a connection between the worlds of network and physical errors, which will change today’s time consuming testing procedure drastically.

AI: What are some of your future objectives for vehicle networking?

Hoffman: Our goal is to bring advanced and robust vehicle networks to OEM and Tier1. We will help failure minimization during development, implementation, and optimization of their vehicle networks. Movimento provides networks that are able to deliver content and information to meet the needs of the vehicle customers.