Automotive News Canada - November 2019 - 12

* N O V E M B E R 2 019

Designing AV software for a constantly moving target
By JIL McINTOSH

OSHAWA CORRESPONDENT

RAHUL SINGH

HOW TO BE PREDICTIVE WHILE
TECHNOLOGY IS CHANGING

AUTO DESIGNERS CREATE
cars for the near future, but a
team of 200 engineers, working on autonomous vehicle
software at Ford under Rahul
Singh, head of AV Software,
have no idea when their creations will be in showrooms.
"We're working on something that does not yet exist,"
said Singh, 47. "We have to
be predictive of where things
will go and also build flexibility into the system to adapt to
changing environments."
He works in Detroit but is

Rahul Singh of Ford focuses
on how self-driving vehicles
and their occupants will
interact. P H O T O : F O R D

from Ottawa, where he studied
neuroscience and computer
engineering.
"I was really interested in
human digital interactions,
and for my first job I worked
for a company that did computer graphics."
When the company was
acquired by another, he moved
to Silicon Valley with it.
"If you want to learn this
world, you
have to surround yourself with
that, and I
was there
for seven
years."
He
became a
partner
in Xtreme Labs in Toronto,
which developed mobile software. It was bought by Pivotal
Labs, which had Ford as a client.
"I was working on the Ford
Path and Lincoln Way mobile
app, and I leveraged that to
joining Ford in 2017."
Argo AI, a company partnered with Ford, works on the
vehicle's self-driving software.
Singh's team develops the user
interface so drivers can tell
the car what to do.
"We make models and do
simulation. We don't want
to build an ecosystem from
scratch, and we reuse as much
as possible. Other teams will
say, 'We can use this,' and on
the other end we use software
already in other parts.

Sophie Champagne spends much of her time at Volvo
dealerships in Ontario, providing parts and service managers
with warranty support and assisting their accessories
business. P H O T O : V O LV O C A R S C A N A D A

"Our biggest challenge is
similar to others in the industry, that we always need more
talent. We identify high performers internally and teach
them these new challenges.
We have a lot of people with
data background, and we have
to be able to invest in that."

SOPHIE CHAMPAGNE

STRONG DEALER RELATIONSHIPS
PAY FORWARD TO CUSTOMERS

AS VOLVO'S REGIONAL
aftersales manager for central
Canada, she calls herself "a
bridge between retailers and
head office, and the eyes and
ears but also the voice of the
company."
Sophie Champagne, 36, is on
the road three days a week visiting 11 dealers in Ontario.

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"I work primarily with the
parts and service managers,
focusing on their accessories
business, the winter-tire program, and any support they
need with warranty. I also
work with managers in sales,
because they overlap tremendously. It's important for us to
keep understanding the retailer's experience."
Champagne, originally
from Ottawa, earned a bachelor's degree in psychology. She
wanted to be a teacher, but to
make ends meet, she moved
to Toronto, "and because I'm
bilingual, I ended up as a customer-service rep in the call
centre at Mazda Canada."
She moved to Suzuki as a
network development coordinator, and then to Mitsubishi,
working in sales incentive and
training.
"And then came this new
position five years ago at
Volvo Canada for a network
and training manager, and it
was the perfect marriage of
my skills." She moved into her
current role in 2017.
The biggest challenge, she
said, is time.
"I'm with a retailer all
day, giving them my undivided attention, and I try not to
answer emails or calls. I can
catch up on the drive home, or
in my office the next day. How
can they feel cared for if I can't
devote that for them?
"There's part of me that
wants to understand what people think and how this big
automotive world turns, and
we're nowhere without our
retailers. We're talking about
how we can be the customer experience in the premium
space and for customers to feel
important, and we have to convey that at every level."

Lambert is responsible for the
quality of each and every one,
as well as improvement and
efficiency and the safety of
1,800 employees.
A native of the area, the
47-year-old watched the facility being built. He studied mechanical engineering
at McMaster University in
Hamilton and worked in the
factory as a summer job.
"I was scheduled to finish
my master's in business after
my fifth summer, but my boss
said, 'Would you stay and do
your MBA here?' It was Labour
Day 1995 and I was supposed to
go back to school, but the following Tuesday I came in here
full time."
His first job was installing
welding robots.
"I put them in, but other
people taught them [to do their
tasks], so I taught myself to
teach them so I could install
and then program them. I was
told I was good at it, so they
put me in charge of the robotic team."
He moved through several
engineering and maintenance
management positions, along
with purchasing.
"The previous plant manager was from Ohio on a two-year
assignment, and he went back
home. I've had experience in
most aspects of manufacturing
and business, and I took the
role of plant manager in July
2019."
A typical day involves a lot
of meetings.
"Depending on what's going
on, it might be new-model evaluations, budgets, business
planning or improvement. And
we regularly schedule two-way
meetings to give associates a
chance to ask questions and
me to respond.
"I've got ties to the community, and I'm invested in making sure this facility is successful on a personal level. You go
to the kids Christmas party
and see the families, and it's
my job to make sure this is sustainable. We leverage the skills
and engagement of our associates, and that's what separates
us from other manufacturers."
- ANC

TROY LAMBERT
Trevor Trinidad | VP Sales
Call / Text: 604-723-3622
Email: trevor@dsgauto.ca

FROM ROBOTS TO QUALITY
CONTROL AT HONDA
We fuel dealerships!

ONE CR-V ROLLS OFF THE
line every minute at Honda's
Plant 2 in Alliston, Ont., 100
kilometres north of downtown
Toronto. Plant Manager Troy

Troy Lambert has "ties to the
community" and makes it his
personal mission to see that
Honda's Plant 2 in Alliston,
Ont., succeeds.
PHOTO: JIL MCINTOSH

https://dsgauto.ca/

Automotive News Canada - November 2019

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