Neel Mitra, the Worldwide Solutions Architecture Leader for Data and AI at AWS, discusses the evolution and applications of AI in the automotive industry. He highlights the transition from classic AI to large language models and agentic AI, emphasizing their potential to enhance vehicle diagnostics and performance. With over twenty-one years of experience, Neel shares insights on the importance of data integration and collaboration in optimizing automotive technology. He notes the growing trend of software-defined vehicles and the need for continuous learning through MLOps. The conversation underscores the significance of AI in transforming automotive systems and the benefits of these technologies. The conversation touches on Sonatus AI innovations such as Sonatus AI Director, a new solution for in-vehicle edge AI, and Sonatus AI Technician, which uses LLM's to provide a better diagnostic experience.
Our guest today is Marc Fecker, CEO of Robo. Robo is an engineering firm focused on the future of connected transportation. In our conversation, we discussed how Robo worked with Winnebago to deliver their new Winnebago Connect platform, an innovative application of the SDV concept to RVs. Robo was able to deliver a solution that adds value and shows the future of RVs across their Winnebago Connect platform. We also talk about the origins of Robo and the work they're doing in the future. This episode was filmed live at AutoTech 2025 in Novi, Michigan.
In a live recording from AutoTech 2025 in Novi, Michigan, Suat Kasafalou Global Solutions Director from Capgemini shares insights on the evolution of software-defined vehicles and the journey to advanced vehicle technology. Drawing from his two decades of experience, he highlights the evolution in vehicle architectures, such as the shift from discrete ECUs to integrated solutions, emphasizing the importance of managing complexity. The conversation touches on the rapid innovation of Chinese OEMs and the need for differentiation in software offerings to enhance user experiences. Suat also discusses the potential for software-defined vehicles to reach lower price points and the challenges of forecasting future processing power needs.
In a live episode from AutoTech Detroit, Stephanie May, director of the Women Automotive Network, discusses the organization's mission to attract and retain female talent in the automotive sector, which currently sees only 20% of its workforce as women. With 40,000 international members, the network offers mentorship and networking opportunities to combat issues like loneliness and the lack of role models that many women face. The conversation highlights the importance of work-life balance for younger generations and the need for more women in senior roles. Upcoming events, including a collaboration in Mexico City, aim to further engage and empower women in the industry.
Christoph Loytved, product manager from COMPREDICT, describes their innovative virtual sensor technology. Virtual sensors can offer cost reduction and system optimization by using existing data from the vehicle to derive data points instead of needing a dedicated hardware sensor. Christoph describes a number of example applications of virtual sensors and COMPREDICT's progress with investors and commercial adoption. Virtual sensors are an ideal application of the flexibility that software-defined vehicles provide. This episode was recorded live at AutoTech in Novi, Michigan, in June 2025
Today's guest is Joe Capuano, is head of technology for Bosch Mobility Americas. A seasoned expert in the automotive industry, Joe discusses the evolution towards software-defined vehicles (SDVs) and the increasing complexity of vehicle systems. He highlights the critical role of AI in managing vehicle data and enhancing development cycles, while also addressing the need for scalable and standardized architectures. The conversation reveals diverse perspectives on vehicle architecture and the ongoing advancements in autonomous driving, underscoring the industry's shift towards digital solutions. This episode was filmed live at AutoTech 2025 in Novi, Michigan.
William Dalton, VP and Managing Director for North America and Europe from VicOne, the automotive cybersecurity subsidiary of Trend Micro, talks with host John Heinlein, Ph.D., Chief Marketing Officer of Sonatus about the state of automotive cybersecurity. He addresses the unique challenges and opportunities posed by software-defined vehicles (SDVs), how to enhance vehicle security with proactive security measures, and intrusion detection and prevention (IPDS) systems. He discusses their work to support their white-hat hacking challenge "Pwn2Own Automotive", which encourages ethical hackers to identify zero-day vulnerabilities in the automotive sector. This episode was filmed live at AutoTech Detroit in Novi, Michigan, in June 2025
Filmed at the COVESA All-Member Meeting in Berlin, Germany, Maitê Bezerra, senior principal analyst, software-defined vehicles for Wards Intelligence (now part of Omdia), shared insights on the automotive industry's shift towards software defined vehicles (SDVs) with host John Heinlein, Ph.D., Chief Marketing Officer of Sonatus. The SDV survey, newly expanded to seven countries, highlights the growing role of AI in vehicles, the timeline of rollout of many key technologies, open source operating systems, applications of vehicle data, vehicle updates, and especially highlights regional differences from around the world.
In a live recording from the COVESA meeting in Berlin, Steve Crumb, COVESA's executive director, discusses enhancing connected vehicle value through collaboration and innovation with John Heinlein, Ph.D, Sonatus's CMO. He emphasizes the Vehicle Signal Specification (VSS) for simplifying data communication among OEMs, benefiting data users. Despite challenges for OEMs transitioning from legacy systems, VSS is advantageous. Steve notes growing fleet interest in VSS, and COVESA's efforts to streamline app deployment across OEMs.
In this episode, recorded live at the Sonatus booth at CES2025, Tomm Clarke, EV Product Manager from Parkopedia talks with host John Heinlein, Ph.D., Chief Marketing Officer from Sonatus. Parkopedia works with over 30 OEMs for in-car payments as well as improving the experience for EV-charging ranging from more authoritative charger information, easier payments and more.
In this episode, filmed live at the Sonatus booth at CES2025, Prashant Gulati, CEO of SDVerse, talks with host John Heinlein, Ph.D., Chief Marketing Officer from Sonatus about the SDVerse vehicle software marketplace. Prashant explains the goals of SDVerse, its member companies, and explains their business model. He shares some success stories about how this marketplace is gaining traction.
Martin Krantz, CEO and Co-founder of Smart Eye talks with host John Heinlein, Ph.D., Chief Marketing Officer of Sonatus about their incredible occupant monitoring system. Martin explains how their technology has evolved with new computational capabilities and the growth of AI to discern distraction, fatigue, intoxication, but in the future mood, stress and intent. Recorded live at CES 2025 in the Sonatus booth.
Francis Chow, VP & GM, In-Vehicle Operating System and Edge, Red Hat speaks with host John Heinlein Ph.D., Chief Marketing Officer, Sonatus about the many changes in software-defined vehicles, with a particular focus on vehicle operating systems. The conversation explains Red Hat’s journey towards a safety-certified Linux, and shares many of the opportunities SDV can bring to the entire vehicle value chain and consumers. Recorded live in Las Vegas at CES 2025 in the Sonatus booth.
James Roberts, President of IOT and Analytics and Ronaldo Castillo, Software Engineering Manager, both of LHP, talk with host John Heinlein, Ph.D., Chief Marketing Officer of Sonatus. A special focus of this episode is functional safety and safety certification. Sonatus recently achieved ISO26262 ASIL-D functional safety rating for our Automator Safety Interlock module, which was developed in collaboration with LHP. Recorded live at the Sonatus booth at CES 2025.
Links referenced in this episode:
Sonatus Automator AI Safety Module Completes Functional Safety Certification Journey
https://www.sonatus.com/blog/sonatus-automator-ai-safety-module-completes-functional-safety-certification-journey/
Dr. Moritz Neukirchner, Sr. Director Strategic Product Management, SDV, Elektrobit, joins host Dr. John Heinlein, Chief Marketing Officer from Sonatus, to discuss his valuable perspective on the shift to software-defined vehicles. Moritz is well-known in the automotive industry and explains critical technical infrastructure, including how Elektrobit is advancing Linux for vehicles, how SDV suits commercial vehicles, prototyping, CI/CD, and more. Moritz also explains his SDV maturity framework and how it introduces a common nomenclature for the shift to SDV. Filmed live at the Sonatus booth at CES 2025.
Links referenced in this episode:
Moritz’s SDV maturity level framework https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sdv-yet-dr-moritz-neukirchner-uuyxf/
Recorded live at the Sonatus booth at CES 2025, Collin Shaw, President, MEMA Original Equipment Suppliers spoke with host John Heinlein, Ph.D., Chief Marketing Officer from Sonatus about the important opportunities and challenges that software offers to vehicle manufacturers spanning passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles and more. MEMA represents about 500 original equipment manufacturers, so Collin brings incredible perspective from across the industry, don’t miss it!
In this episode of The Garage we talk with Rich Nass, famed journalist who is Executive Vice President with Open Systems Media following his long career at storied electronics periodicals. Rich talks with John Heinlein, Ph.D., Chief Marketing Officer at Sonatus and shares his perspective from talking with leaders across the industry about vehicle innovation ranging from architecture, software, safety, regulations, AI and much more.
In this episode, Vidya Rajagopalan, Senior Vice President of Electrical Hardware Engineering at Rivian joins host John Heinlein, Ph.D., Chief Marketing Officer from Sonatus to discuss the electrical and software architecture for Rivian vehicles ranging from the R1, the R1 second generation, and the newly announced R2. This conversation covers topics including domain architecture vs zonal architecture, decisions around high performance ECU’s, vehicle networking, sustainability, ADAS/autonomous driving, Over the air updates (OTA), and much more!
In this episode of The Garage we talk about vehicle batteries, battery technology and battery management, all critical topics for the shift to EV’s. Our guest is Nadim Maluf, founder and CEO of Qnovo, a leader in battery software, who joins Sonatus CEO Dr. John Heinlein.
Matt Harden, AVP Business Development, Connected Car, from AT&T joins host John Heinlein, Ph.D., Chief Marketing Officer from Sonatus, to talk about connected cars, networking, the transition to 5G, and software defined vehicles. Recorded live at AutoTech: Detroit 2024.