Best of LinkedIn: Next-Gen Vehicle Intelligence CW 07/ 08

00:00:00: Brought to you by Thomas Allgaier and Frennis, this edition highlights key LinkedIn posts on NextGen vehicle intelligence in Weeks Seven & Eight.

00:00:07: Frennit supports automotive enterprises and consultancies with market-and competitive intelligence decoding disruptive technologies customer needs regulatory change And competitive moves.

00:00:17: so product teams and strategy leaders don't just react but shape the future of mobility.

00:00:22: It is definitely a critical time for those Strategy Leaders right now.

00:00:26: Hello and welcome back to The Deep Dive.

00:00:28: We've taken a hard look at the industry conversation from calendar week seven and eight of twenty-twenty six, And I have to say Going through the stack of posts for this session...the mood.

00:00:38: music has definitely changed.

00:00:40: Oh it really is!

00:00:41: At last few years we're all about vision.

00:00:43: You know the glossy decks concept cars wild promises for twenty thirty.

00:00:46: well Week seven an eight felt like pretty harsh wake up call Honeymoon phase officially over.

00:00:52: That's exactly feeling i got too.

00:00:55: It's less about what if, and much more about oh wow we actually have to build this stuff now.

00:01:00: We just aren't seeing as many abstract predictions on the feed.

00:01:04: The conversation has shifted into the gritty reality of execution operational scaling And honestly the sheer headache Of making software-defined vehicles work in

00:01:13: real world.

00:01:14: it is a difference between being architect drawing the blueprints Being construction manager pouring concrete We are seeing massive pivot toward industrial discipline.

00:01:23: right

00:01:25: We have a packed agenda for you today.

00:01:31: SDV realities.

00:01:56: For a long time, the software-defined vehicle was this magical buzzword for infinite revenue streams.

00:02:02: but Sachin Padreshet posted something that felt like a bucket of cold water.

00:02:06: he basically said in twenty twenty six nobody cares about your strategy slide.

00:02:11: That line really stood out to me.

00:02:13: Suchin is arguing that for years, SDV was basically theater.

00:02:16: It's about clean sheet architectures and getting applause at CES.

00:02:22: But now the rubber hitting road.

00:02:24: The metric of success isn't a flashy monetization dashboard.

00:02:28: it simply can you patch ninety five percent in forty eight hours without breaking two percent.

00:02:35: That bricking concept is terrifying when you put it in this context.

00:02:38: I mean, if i brick my phone and go to the store If an OEM bricks two percent of entire fleet

00:02:43: that Is thousands of stranded assets on the side Of The highway

00:02:46: right?

00:02:46: It's a logistical nightmare

00:02:48: And A total brand killer.

00:02:50: Sushin's point is that the new business model isn't features its reliability.

00:02:55: It is industrial discipline.

00:02:57: Its about whether You can execute at true automotive scale.

00:03:01: Not sexy but what actually keeps the company alive.

00:03:04: But if everyone in the industry knows this is the goal, why it's still such a struggle?

00:03:09: Johannes Kree got an interesting take on that.

00:03:12: He suggests that technology for STV is actually largely in place.

00:03:15: Yeah we know how to do OTA updates

00:03:17: Exactly.

00:03:18: The bottleneck now is organizational.

00:03:20: Johannes has spot-on here.

00:03:22: he introduces this concept of software defined teams.

00:03:25: Think about traditional automaker.

00:03:27: They are hierarchical rigid.

00:03:30: they're built to minimize risk through endless committees.

00:03:33: You cannot build a decentralized Agile software architecture if your company is organized like factory from the nineteen fifties.

00:03:40: So Conway's law strikes again, The product reflects organization

00:03:43: Precisely!

00:03:44: Krieg argues you can't have committee meeting every single time to deploy code.

00:03:48: Decentralized teams are empowered directly but requires trust and agility that most legacy OEMs just don't yet.

00:03:57: And Vinicius Tidouzain added another layer to this chaos Fragmentation.

00:04:03: He points out that in many companies, the software development team The factory floor and the fleet operations are living In three completely different

00:04:10: worlds.

00:04:10: Right?

00:04:11: The classic silo problem.

00:04:13: Zyne talks about life cycle continuity.

00:04:15: If you developers don't understand the physical constraints of the Factory or if the Fleet managers can't feed real-world data back to the Developers because the systems just Don't talk to each other your costs compound rapidly.

00:04:27: Yeah...if those links Are broken You aren't running an SDV, you are just managing really expensive chaos.

00:04:33: There is also a specific data point regarding regional differences that I hadn't really considered before.

00:04:38: Age Manguino pointed out a stark contrast in fleet velocity between China and the West.

00:04:43: This is critical for anyone trying to build a global platform.

00:04:46: Manguina notes that In China The average fleet age Is about five-and-a half years.

00:04:50: It's very young vehicle fleet.

00:04:54: It's eleven or twelve years plus.

00:04:56: That is a massive gap in terms of hardware capability out on the roads.

00:04:59: it changes The entire engineering strategy.

00:05:02: China competes on velocity Rapid iteration because the hard work on the road Is newer and can actually handle heavier more complex software?

00:05:11: The West is competing on life cycles, which means backward compatibility.

00:05:16: If you are an engineer in Europe You have to make sure your brand new software update works perfectly On a chip from twenty fourteen.

00:05:22: So if you try to make one single global SDV roadmap...

00:05:26: You're in serious trouble.

00:05:28: You either move too slow for the Chinese market and get crushed by local competitors, or you break the old cars in Europe and anger your loyal customer base.

00:05:37: Meng Wino's insight is that a single global road map might actually be impossible to execute efficiently!

00:05:43: That is a sobering thought.

00:05:44: Let us move on our second cluster, ADS autonomy, and what we are calling the data wars.

00:05:50: The narrative used to be a straight line level two then level three than level

00:05:53: four.".

00:05:54: And that straight-line is totally gone!

00:05:55: Augustine Friedl had great breakdown of this.

00:05:57: he argues We're seeing our portfolio strategy emerge...the idea everyone just goes to level three next is fading fast?

00:06:03: Level Three being that traffic jam pilot where the car drives but you have take over if it gets confused Right

00:06:08: which turns out legal and technical nightmare.

00:06:11: So, Augustine says OEMs are splitting their bets.

00:06:14: You have level two plus-plus scaling up for the mass market.

00:06:17: that's really good.

00:06:18: driver assistance where the human is still fully liable.

00:06:21: and then Level four is being treated as a completely separate operating model mostly for robo taxes.

00:06:27: so it was not progression anymore to fork in the road

00:06:29: exactly.

00:06:30: And It Is Messy.

00:06:31: OEMs are multi-sourcing to avoid vendor lock in.

00:06:35: You might see a single OEM using one stack for China, one for Europe and completely different science project stacks for their robo taxis.

00:06:42: Speaking of stacks there's lot drama right now around open versus closed ecosystems.

00:06:48: Dr Gabriel Cyberth posted about Elon Musk basically shouting from the rooftops warning rest industry license Tesla full self driving.

00:06:56: The classic join us or die pitch

00:06:58: Exactly.

00:06:59: But Sieberth argues the industry just isn't listening.

00:07:01: They don't want to be a hardware shell for Tesla software, they are pivoting heavily on open platforms.

00:07:07: He points specifically to Nvidia's Alpamayo calling it The Android of Autonomous Driving.

00:07:13: That Android analogy is key here.

00:07:14: Sarah Tariq from NVIDIA chimed in on this too, she explained that even though NVIDia is traditionally known as a hardware company they are building full autonomy stacks now end-to-end reasoning safety systems.

00:07:27: They're building the foundation so OEMs can build on top of it rather than just handing over keys to direct competitor like Tesla.

00:07:33: It's fascinating seeing chip makers moving up software stack.

00:07:37: We also saw a major move toward transparency from Electro-Bit and Mobileye.

00:07:42: Kristoff Herzig and Maria Anhold highlighted their partnership to integrate open source Linux for safety applications.

00:07:48: This is huge deal.

00:07:49: the software engineers listening.

00:07:51: Traditionally, safety critical systems like your brakes or steering were proprietary black boxes.

00:07:56: you did not touch them.

00:07:58: Moving to Open Source Linux in level four system shows a major desire of transparency.

00:08:03: It's about building genuine trust in the system, not just hiding the secret sauce.

00:08:08: And trust really comes from data but not just hoarding it actually using it.

00:08:13: Peter Bosch and Manuel Burke from Cariad shared how they are processing millions of data points for friction alerts.

00:08:20: This is a perfect example of connected data doing something useful.

00:08:24: The car detects a slippery patch road processes it real time warns other drivers behind.

00:08:30: It's not theoretical monetization on a whiteboard, it is operational safety out in the real world.

00:08:34: And Kaio Builce took this step further regarding mapping... He says that the era of dedicated mapping car — you know those vehicles with giant spinning cameras on roof—is ending.

00:08:44: Yes!

00:08:44: Kaio predicts future apps will be built passively.

00:08:48: Every consumer vehicle becomes a mapping unit just by driving to the grocery store.

00:08:52: It creates a scalable, continuous loop that a fleet of dedicated drivers could never match.

00:08:58: Why pay a driver when your customers can map the world for you?

00:09:01: For free!

00:09:02: Highly efficient.

00:09:03: Alright let's shift gears to theme three The Chip War and AI Cockpit.

00:09:08: This is where the geopolitical tension really starts to bleed into technology.

00:09:18: For years Qualcomm was the undisputed king.

00:09:20: if you had a premium car You had a snap dragon ship running the screens, but that monopoly is cracking.

00:09:26: Who's taking the market share?

00:09:27: local players primarily Huawei and semi-drive?

00:09:30: And as Eger explains That this isn't just about nationalism or trade tariffs It is a fundamental technology reset.

00:09:36: As The cockpit shifts to AI agents an on device large language models new players are seizing the opportunity To define that new architecture while ways building an ecosystem where your phone your smart home and your car all speak the exact same AI language natively.

00:09:51: So, The Cockpit is moving from just being smart to be truly intelligent?

00:09:55: That's a crucial distinction.

00:09:57: Ping An predicts that by twenty-twenty six, The cockpit moves from feature stacking which is adding more apps on screen To human AI experience loops.

00:10:06: It's about multimodal agent Car understands Your voice Your gaze Your gestures simultaneously.

00:10:13: Stefano Marzani had an excellent example of this regarding Ferrari.

00:10:17: Ferrari is such a great case study because they can't just slap a generic iPad on the dash and call it a day.

00:10:22: Stefano notes, They are prioritizing integrated design.

00:10:25: It's how the human machine interface works in tandem with the chassis.

00:10:29: The smartness has to fit the brand DNA.

00:10:32: A Ferrari AI Can't feel like a generic customer service chatbot?

00:10:36: It has to feel Like a Ferrari.

00:10:37: I

00:10:37: love that.

00:10:39: But amidst all this talk of AI and eye tracking in advanced chips, Christian kicked through on a low-tech surprise that I actually really enjoyed.

00:10:45: Oh the minivans?

00:10:46: Yes!

00:10:47: He noted that mini vans are seeing massive sales resurgence particularly with millennial dads.

00:10:52: It's such great reality check for industry.

00:10:54: Christian points out despite all the AI hype and screen tech practicality space and utility still drive actual purchasing decisions.

00:11:03: You can have smartest AI but if you cant fit kids and hockey gear back you aren't buying the car.

00:11:09: Very true!

00:11:11: Let's move to theme four, connectivity v-tox and infrastructure.

00:11:16: V-to-X vehicle to everything.

00:11:18: communication feels like it has been the next big thing.

00:11:20: for what?

00:11:21: twenty years now?

00:11:22: It really has always five years away.

00:11:24: But Roger C. Langtaught posted about V-IIX vibing again, there is renewed interest potentially driven by the U.S Department of Transportation and Qualcomm pushing the standard...

00:11:33: ...but automakers are still pretty skeptical.

00:11:35: with hardware costs right?

00:11:36: They ARE adding dedicated radios isn't cheap.

00:11:39: But Ahmad Jawad counters this with the safety imperative.

00:11:42: He argues that using CV-toX for things like intersection collision avoidance and emergency vehicle preemption is becoming a real priority for reducing traffic fatalities.

00:11:51: It's shifting from nice to have feature, we need stop people dying conversation

00:11:57: And We are seeing connectivity go beyond just cellular networks.

00:12:00: now Linda Hardesty reported on Viasat & BMW demonstrating satellite connectivity directly.

00:12:07: This is crucial for seamless coverage.

00:12:10: If you are in a remote area, cellular inevitably fails.

00:12:14: Satellite ensures that the software-defined part of the vehicle doesn't just disappear because you drove into a canyon—the car stays

00:12:21: connected.".

00:12:22: On the commercial side Andreas Josko at Mercedes-Benz Trucks announced they're launching Vehicle Data APIs.

00:12:28: I really liked his phrasing on this.

00:12:30: he said there allowing logistics companies to bake their own cake.

00:12:33: Instead of forcing a fleet manager to use a specific rigid Mercedes portal, they just provide the raw data via an API.

00:12:41: The logistics company can ingest that data directly into their own custom systems.

00:12:45: It's a move toward the kind of openness commercial customers have been demanding for years.

00:12:50: Finally let us unpack Theme Five Market Dynamics and Geopolitics because you simply cannot talk about twenty-twenty six without talking by tension between east & west.

00:12:58: it is massive elephant in room every boardroom right now.

00:13:01: Steve Greenfield posted about the anxiety among US auto execs regarding comments from Donald Trump inviting Chinese plants to the U.S.. Now, regardless of any political leanings The business reality reported here is that there's massive strategic uncertainty.

00:13:17: It's a fascinating dilemma!

00:13:19: Steve notes companies like Geely are heavily eyeing the u.s market.

00:13:23: The incumbents are torn.

00:13:24: Do they defend aggressively against this competition?

00:13:27: or do they try to partner with them to survive the transition?

00:13:30: It reflects a much broader anxiety that Chinese OEMs are simply moving faster and building cheaper.

00:13:35: In amidst this chaos, Toyota made massive leadership change.

00:13:40: Hans Grimel covered the appointment of Kintakana's CEO...and he is not an engineer!

00:13:47: Which is huge signal for the market…Hans points out that Toyota needs a war chest—they know a massive, incredibly expensive shift to software and AI to compete with China in Silicon Valley.

00:13:58: Appointing of finance veteran signals.

00:14:00: there are prioritizing strict financial discipline to survive that transition.

00:14:04: They need make maximum profit on the current hardware To fund the software for future.

00:14:08: It's wartime CEO move but for a financial war.

00:14:11: Exactly it is about capital allocation over pure engineering.

00:14:15: So looking back at all these insights from weeks seven & eight of twenty-twenty six What does ultimate take away you?

00:14:22: The vibe has moved from dreaming to doing.

00:14:25: We are completely done with the vision videos and empty promises.

00:14:28: It's about operations, it's about closing these data loops And its regional diversification.

00:14:34: Frankly for a lot of these legacy players Its just survival.

00:14:37: at this point

00:14:38: Operations don't get applause as Sachin said earlier.

00:14:41: No they dont.

00:14:42: But operations is what actually keep cars running and balance sheets out of red.

00:14:47: That brings up final thought for you the listener To mull over when we wrap-up.

00:14:52: If operations, patching and pure financial discipline are the new kings of the automotive industry what happens to the pure car enthusiast culture?

00:15:00: In a world where vehicles or just nodes on software network managed by finance CEOs who is going keep building cars for the sheer joy driving.

00:15:09: it's something think about as these architectures take over.

00:15:11: A great question end-on!

00:15:16: Also check out our other editions on electrification and battery technology, future mobility in market evolution & commercial sleet insights.

00:15:24: Thanks for joining us this deep dive and don't forget to subscribe!