British car company Jaguar Land Rover is to open a software engineering center in Shannon, Ireland, with the creation of 150 jobs. The facility is to be focused on technology designed to power electric and self-driving cars being designed by the luxury auto-manufacturer.
Company bosses say that the company chose Shannon based on its reputation as an engineering hub.
Technical innovation lies at the heart of Jaguar Land Rover and our innovation is continuous. The new facility provides an exciting opportunity for us to pioneer future autonomous and electrification technologies.
The heart of our business will always be in the UK. The creation of a team in Shannon strengthens our international engineering capabilities and complements our existing team of more than 10,000 engineers based in the UK.
— Nick Rogers, executive director of product engineering at Jaguar Land Rover
Mr. Rogers said that the Shannon facility will start by developing “the next generation of electrical architecture” as well as “exploring advanced driver assistance systems features” for future vehicles.
He said that the company is now looking for software engineers with experience in artificial intelligence, safety-critical systems, and vehicle architecture.
As a part of this development, Jaguar Land Rover has agreed to a partnership with online education provider Udacity, which specializes in courses such as automated driving, artificial intelligence, robotics, and data analytics.
These courses will provide the skills to support Jaguar Land Rover’s engineering capabilities and ongoing technological innovation.
Welcoming the announcement, Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection, Pat Breen said:
This is a great boost for Shannon, Co. Clare and the Midwest Region. Jaguar Land Rover are iconic brands which have endured through innovation and staying ahead of their competitors. This new software engineering centre will bring 150 new high quality jobs to Shannon. The region has much to offer with qualified and talented people and I wish Jaguar Land Rover and its team well in its endeavours.
“The 150 jobs will be of significant benefit to Clare and the mid-west region,” said Martin Shanahan, chief executive of the IDA, the foreign investment agency of the Irish Government which helped the expansion.
