Ferrari Selects AWS for Graviton-based Instances for HPC, AI

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Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) has been selected by Ferrari S.p.A.’s for cloud-based machine learning, HPC and artificial intelligence.

Ferrari said it will utilize AWS’s analytics, machine learning compute, storage and database capabilities for car design and insight into road and track performance. Ferrari will leverage Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), with specialized instance types for high performance computing (HPC), to run simulations that test car performance under various driving conditions and racing scenarios.

Ferrari will use AWS Graviton2-based instances—which AWS said deliver up to 40 percent better price performance over comparable x86-based instances. “Further, by tapping into the virtually unlimited scale of AWS HPC resources, Ferrari can run thousands of simulations concurrently to gain insights far faster than ever before possible running simulations in an on-premises environment,” AWS said. “As a result, the company’s engineers can pursue an agile approach to experimentation with new designs and strategies to accelerate their pace of innovation.”

“Together, the companies will accelerate the pace of innovation across the entire Ferrari organization, including their road cars department, GT competitions, the Ferrari Challenge and the Scuderia Ferrari FORMULA 1 (F1) team,” the companies said in their announcement. “Ferrari will use AWS’s breadth and depth of services and proven global infrastructure, including the AWS Europe (Milan) region, to streamline design and testing of its cars, giving customers the most exciting driving experiences possible. In addition, Scuderia Ferrari will leverage AWS to launch a digital fan engagement platform, via its mobile app, to engage hundreds of millions of fans worldwide with exclusive, personalized content.

“Ferrari and AWS both represent excellence in their fields,” said Mattia Binotto, principal of Scuderia Ferrari. “As our official cloud provider, I firmly believe AWS will enable our company to become a data-driven organization that uses the power of technology to improve our products, increase engagement with Ferrari enthusiasts worldwide, and deliver continuously more exciting driving experiences. We chose AWS because of their relentless focus on innovation, unmatched portfolio of capabilities, and proven experience supporting partners in the automotive and sports industries. Throughout our storied history, Ferrari has had racing and innovation at our core, and now we look forward to applying AWS machine learning, advanced analytics, and high performance computing across the company to deliver deeper insights and even more powerful cars.”

As Ferrari moves from simulation to assembly of its new road vehicle prototypes, it will apply AWS analytics and Amazon SageMaker (which helps developers and data scientists train and deploy machine learning models in the cloud and at the edge) to inform testing and gain deeper insights into how its parts and cars perform under real world conditions. To support this work and its simulations, Ferrari will build a data lake with Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and use AWS Lake Formation to catalog and clean hundreds of petabytes of data. Ferrari will examine factors that impact car performance and driver handling, such as engine temperature at different vehicle speeds, vehicle vibration patterns on different road surfaces, and suspension loads that affect how the vehicle grips the road. Ferrari said the goal is to gain a holistic view of car performance.

Using Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) and Amazon DynamoDB (AWS’s key-value database), Ferrari will be able to create and scale digital experiences, such as the Ferrari Car Configurator. Consumers can use the Configurator to custom-build their car and then immerse themselves in it using high-resolution 2D and 3D visualizations. AWS will also power Ferrari’s Vehicle Information Hub that centralizes and manages customers’ car information, providing them with proactive, personalized information related to servicing and maintenance.

In addition, for F1 racing fans, Scuderia Ferrari will use AWS compute, containers, and media services to power a new digital fan engagement platform via its mobile app that will inform, educate, and entertain their fans. Upon creating customized profiles, fans will receive exclusive content such as virtual access to the Scuderia Ferrari garage and hospitality suite on race days. Moving forward, Ferrari plans to build virtual and augmented reality experiences on AWS that bring fans into the garage to interact with drivers and team personnel. Ferrari will also build a virtual fan community among the app’s millions of users and engage fans with app-based quizzes on race days.

“AWS offers iconic global brands like Ferrari the breadth of services, insights, and agility they need to remain leaders in their fields through innovation and deepen their connections to loyal customers and fans,” said Matt Garman, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Amazon Web Services, Inc. “Ferrari can rely on AWS to help them take driving and racing to the next level, while generating fresh excitement among their global community through more personalization and new digital experiences. What’s more, as their Official Cloud Provider, we look forward to helping Scuderia Ferrari maintain their record as the world’s greatest racing team.”