In 2017, Koenigsegg's Agera supercar achieved five different world records for a production vehicle with regards to speed and acceleration. Flying down open roads at break-neck speeds, fortunately, is only one of the highlights of driving a Koenigsegg. The care and love of detail are apparent in those machines. Their inner Swede is also showing, particular in their level of attention to safety – and at top speeds of 447.19 km/h (277.87 mph), they'd better. Of course, with such a focus on craftsmanship and performance, the interior and the electronics better be up to scratch!
Today, Koenigsegg is also gunning to reach new heights of development speed for their high-performance software. And with Qt's complete toolkit and the help of Qt Professional Services, they reached the finish line in record time.
Mats Näslund, Embedded Project Manager, Koenigsegg
The Koenigsegg Jesko has moved away from the traditional instrument cluster. The steering wheel instead hosts a similar functionality, but in a much more compact and racing-inspired packaging.
The SmartWheel's UI follows the steering wheel orientation in real-time and keeps its contents in alignment against the rotation when the steering wheel turns. The buttons feature touch displays and haptic feedback. The button displays can adapt their content and functionality according to the current context. The haptic feedback removes the need for the driver to look at the buttons while driving.The SmartCluster is part of the in-vehicle infotainment system (IVI) and comprises the instrumentation and is displayed with a digital readout rather than with the traditional analog gauges. The SmartCenter is the Koenigsegg design and implementation of an automotive Head Unit. This is part of the IVI which provides a unified hardware interface for the entire system.
Mats Näslund, Embedded Project Manager
Koenigsegg started using Qt when they created the first prototype software for the Regera show car in 2015. The main reason for going with Qt was its out-of-the-box compatibility with the reference design boards Koenigsegg used in their prototype development.
What makes Koenigsegg a special case is that they're not only developing their own software but also the electronics the software is running on. This means that a substantial part of the development work is done for newly designed electronics systems.
This means that introducing new concepts and innovations along the way takes extra time and pressure meeting delivery deadlines. As expected from a supercar manufacturer such as Koenigsegg, speed (of development) is of the essence.
That's why Koenigsegg hired Qt Professional Services as their box team to accelerate their project. Qt Professional Services
Besides the help of Qt's experts, Qt as a framework itself added a lot of momentum to Koenigsegg development efforts.
Mats Näslund, Embedded Project Manager