SAP, the publicly-traded cloud giant that has been steadily growing its presence in sports, has now entered into the Formula E space with a new multi-year partnership with Mercedes-Benz.
The deal makes SAP the official business performance partner of the German automaker’s Mercedes EQ Formula E team, which will make its league debut next season.
SAP’s cloud-based enterprise technologies will support the back office business of the German team, while SAP’s Hana data analytics platform will help Mercedes EQ engineers evaluate large volumes of data to monitor the team’s performance and develop new technologies to give drivers an edge on the track.
The partnership leaves the door open for Mercedes engineers to use additional SAP technologies in the realm of the Internet of Things, predictive technologies, and machine learning.
In a statement, both companies said they were interested in Formula E because of their support for more sustainable automobiles and technologies.
“Mercedes-Benz and SAP both aim to create a more sustainable future for our customers, partners and society with the help of new digital technologies,” said Toto Wolff, the head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, in a statement. “Although we are still 18 months away from our first race, this new agreement demonstrates the commercial potential of the series and gives us a strong basis from which to begin our next phase of technical and sporting preparations for the Season 6 entry.”
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SportTechie Takeaway
Major automakers and technology giants have been joining forces for Formula E and pledging to develop more sustainable vehicles and technologies. Earlier this month, the all-electric racing league announced a partnership with Austrian tech and capital goods company Voestalpine to collaborate on new technologies in hopes of accelerating mass adoption of electric vehicles. Voestalpine, which makes steel-based products and systems, agreed to develop and test road-based technologies to speed-up the mass adoption of electric vehicles on a global scale. The two have also agreed to encourage technology transfer between automotive suppliers, manufacturers and customers.
In addition to sustainability, Formula E is attractive to major brands because of the young demographic the sport tends to attract. Last month, the league announced that its fan base is growing fastest among 13 to 24-year-olds.