Gwentech: Powering the Future of the Automotive Industry

Jeffrey Krupp, Director

Electric vehicles have witnessed an increased demand in the automobile market due to their technological sophistication, where users expect a type of high quality visual experience that they get while using their smartphones. These vehicles often even come with auto driving capabilities, which further increase their attraction quotient. However, manufacturers sometimes lack the resources to fulfill the ambition of making their vehicles technologically feature rich. This is where Gwentech, a pioneer in custom automotive solutions, comes into the picture. The company develops software and electronic hardware products for the manufacturers to help surpass the expectations for electric vehicles. Gwentech primarily focuses on helping automotive companies showcase their products and the performance of their vehicles. They provide high caliber powers system expertise in charging systems, power supplies, and various embedded controls. The following conversation with Jeffrey Krupp, Director of Engineering at Gwentech, offers detailed insights into the company along with the features and functionalities of the products that they offer.

What are the features and functionalities of your solutions?

Gwentech supplies all controls necessary to achieve our customer’s goals including building software, rolling out an embedded platforms, and developing communication systems. Our applications run on mobile devices to show performance metrics such as powertrain performance when compared to other vehicles. One common request is customization of a standard product that communicates between the vehicle’s CAN Bus and an application running on a tablet to show a view of the vehicle and what happens inside it. We even have the capability of providing augmented reality applications of the vehicle whereby users may selectively see power components inside the vehicle.

Please elaborate on your design methodology?

A high performing system design is only part of the equation. Manufacturing costs and reliability are some of the critical challenges faced by our clients. With this in mind, Gwentech works from the beginning to the end, with the promise to deliver a whole solution, not just product design. We do this because we aim to help our clients succeed. We excel at providing quick prototypes to prove our customer's concept, then following through with the rest of the design.

How does your experience in power and control electronics help you serve your customers better?

We have been supplying communication modules to automotive, industrial, and military organizations for many years. These modules are intended to connect otherwise closed systems to mobile devices, other electronic systems or the internet. While some applications use a standard module, others require customizations such as enhanced security, filtering, or data throughput. We have the ability to customize our products according to any needs of the customer. Some of the communication modules that we deliver include USB (Android open-accessory), Bluetooth, WiFi, WiFi-direct, Zigbee, and CAN Bus.

Gwentech is exploring more AI platform solutions and developing a flexible embedded platform for vehicle controls

Our product GT1026 Android CAN Bus USB Adapter helps in communicating with a CAN bus via an Android device using USB. It is used by automotive component suppliers to showcase their performance, download firmware, or communicate other IO. The device provides data to a tablet app to show the vehicle’s speed, state of charge, drive mode, and more.

What is the typical process that you follow while onboarding your clients?

Our clients usually come to know about us either through our website or by word of mouth from our existing clients. After initial contact, we talk with them and try to fully understand what they seek to achieve and the challenges they face. We then provide a proposal with the full specifications and design plan. During the development, we provide status reports to give our clients complete visibility into the whole process and flex with project changes. We strive to integrate seamlessly with the clients’ team leaders to offload the pressure from their engineering team.

What are the factors that help you surge ahead of the competition in the automotive industry?

Any company that needs development work can rely on Gwentech not only to provide them a product, but rather a solution. We can also integrate into their workflow. We work for them onsite or offsite to integrate as much or as little as is needed. We are primarily a development company, but provide products as well as services.

One of the main concerns that clients have when they have to outsource their work is that there might be a lack of proper communication or misunderstanding of their business. The fact is, only the clients will fully understand all the ins and outs of their business. Even so, Gwentech strives to understand enough of their clients’ business to provide the solution they are seeking and extend value points. In contrast to just designing per specifications, we always provide insight and suggestions to help those without a clear picture. Our experience of the industry helps us communicate with our customers effectively and add value.

Looking at the future, what are your expansion plans with respect to technological advancements that you look forward to bring out through your products?

Gwentech is exploring more AI platform solutions and developing a flexible embedded platform for vehicle controls. Also, our wide ranging energy conversion experience is always available to handle new challenges in electric vehicle development. Going forward, our plan is to leverage our experience across multiple industries to bring value rich solutions to the automotive market. AI is going to be the driving force behind our future products.