“We see the industry evolving to where there are a number of digital platforms that come with their own unique innovations that can then come together to meet the needs of the industry,” said Sanjay Ravi, general manager of automotive, mobility and transportation industry at Microsoft. “It’s less about all of us going out for a very constrained innovation opportunity. It’s about expanding the innovation that we all can bring to meet some of the safe, sustainable and productive needs of mobility in the future.”
Ludes said the new partnerships with tech companies will not make the traditional automaker-supplier relationship obsolete.
Auto companies will still need the hardware expertise that suppliers possess, he said.
“ZF, for example, is obviously producing components for big OEMs and will continue to do so in the future,” he said. “So if they’re partnering with tech companies in this domain to connect their factories, to address smart factories and make their processes more efficient, that will only benefit the existing partnerships with OEMs.”
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