Speaker 2026
Moderation
Augustin Friedel
Associated Partner, MHP - A Porsche Company
Beatrix C. Keim
Director, CAR Center Automotive Research
Dirk Wollschläger
Director, CAR Center Automotive Research
Ole Harms
CEO, VAIVA
Sarwant Singh
President & Chief Commercial Officer - EMEA, Markets and Markets
Speakers
Ahsan Shamim
Senior Principal Technical Marketing Manager, Red Hat
Alessandro Curioni
Vice President Europe and Africa, IBM Fellow & Global Research VP, IBM
Augustin Friedel
Associated Partner, MHP - A Porsche Company
Bassem Hassan
Senior Director – Core Industries (Aerospace, Defense, Transportation & Mobility) ECAL, Dassault Systèmes
Boris Nowak
Consulting Partner Automotive, Kyndryl
Celine Laurent-Winter
Vice President Connect Vehicle Platforms, BMW
Christian Poschmann
Senior Vice President Global Engineering Technology, CLAAS
Christoph Hartung
President Cross-Domain Computing Solutions Bosch Mobility, BOSCH
Enrico Salvatori
Senior Vice President & President, Qualcomm Europe
Florian Kraft
Chief Executive Officer, Renault Germany
Frank Becker
Consulting Partner Data & AI, Kyndryl
Geoffrey Bouquot
Member of the Board of Management for Technical Development, Audi
Hanno Wolff
Executive Director of Automotive Business Development, Synopsys
Holger R. Scholl
Vice President Sales Engineering & Product Marketing, Cerence
Jan Hoscan
Vice President Head of Industrial, Everpure
Marco Wierer
Senior Manager Software Development, Vector
Mario de Felice
VP SW Engineering & Digital Vehicle Platforms, Audi AG
Markus Rettstatt
Vice President Software Defined Car, Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation
Martin Hofmann
Board Advisor, ex EVP and Group CIO, Volkswagen
Matthias Haringer
Principal Virtual Development, VAIVA
Ole Harms
CEO, VAIVA
Patricia Rennert
Head of Processes, Methods and Tools, CARIAD
Rahul Prathap
Vice President, Tata Technologies
Robert Lokner
Managing Director EMEA Automotive Industry Lead, Microsoft
Sabrina Reif
AI Leader – Tech Center Central Europe, Stellantis
Sarwant Singh
President & Chief Commercial Officer - EMEA, Markets and Markets
Stefan Poledna
CTO & Co-Founder, TTTech Auto
Stephan Hönle
VP Automotive Strategy and Operations, SiMa.ai
Thomas Kahl
Co-Head Automotive, TaylorWessing
Timo Schreiber
Managing Director, e.Solutions
Werner Köstler
Executive Officer Europe and Americas Automotive Electronics Division, Pioneer Corporation
Agenda March 26th - 27th
19:00 - 22:00 | WARM-UP
Rooftop bar (inside & outside) at Maritim Hotel | Ingolstadt
SPONSORED BY
MARCH 26TH
07:30
Registration & Morning Coffee
08:45
Welcoming Remarks
Team CAR & VAIVA
Dirk Wollschläger
Director
CAR – Center for Automotive Research
Ole Harms
Chief Executive Officer
VAIVA
Beatrix Keim
Director
CAR – Center for Automotive Research
08:55
No Slow Lane: AI’s Acceleration Year for Automotive
Ole Harms
Chief Executive Officer
VAIVA
09:15
Agentic AI: The New Intelligence Layer Transforming the Software Defined Vehicle
Agentic AI is transforming the SDV with unified compute that enables vehicles to perceive, decide, and act seamlessly across cockpit and automated driving functions.
Andreas Hennig
Senior Director Product Management
Qualcomm Europe
09:30
Connected Digital Vehicle – Shaping the Future of Mobility
Intelligent, connected vehicles blend onboard & cloud AI to personalize driving, elevate comfort, and scale digital experiences globally.
Dr. Celine Laurent-Winter
Vice President Connect Vehicle Platforms
BMW
09:50
How Edge Native High Performance AI and SoCs Transform How We Interact With Cars
Edge‑native, high‑performance AI means a shift from cloud‑dependent AI to real‑time, low‑latency edge execution transforms responsiveness, privacy, and OEM design flexibility. Cerence and SiMa.ai demonstrate how this works.
Dr. Holger R. Scholl
Vice President Sales Engineering & Product Marketing
Cerence
Dr. Stephan Hönle
Vice President Automotive Strategy and Operations
SiMa.ai
10:10
Virtual to vehicle, build better and deliver exceptional driving experiences
HERE Technologies’ Remco Timmer will outline the rapid pace the SDV market is moving, unifying navigation and autopilot and giving OEMs freedom of choice with open ecosystems
Remco Timmer
Senior Vice President, Product Management
HERE Technologies
10:30
Panel Discussion
moderated by: Dirk Wollschläger and Ole Harms
Andreas Hennig
Senior Director Product Management
Qualcomm Europe
Dr. Celine Laurent-Winter
Vice President Connect Vehicle Platforms
BMW
Dr. Holger R. Scholl
Vice President Sales Engineering & Product Marketing
Cerence
Dr. Stephan Hönle
Vice President Automotive Strategy and Operations
SiMa.ai
Remco Timmer
Senior Vice President Product & Technology
HERE Technologies
10:50
Break
11:20
How AI is disrupting the way we think Software (and Products)
AI is entering the next phase. When algorithms can coordinate with each other, retain memory, and make decisions autonomously, this fundamentally changes our perspective on software and on product development as a whole. What are the key structural changes driven by AI? What opportunities arise along the product development process? And which enablers must OEMs and suppliers now establish in order to benefit from this transformation?
Dr. Christof Horn
Global Lead SW Defined Vehicle
Accenture
11:35
Trusted AI in Automotive Industry: How Agentic AI drives mobility through intelligent Automation
Salvatore Romeo
Director Automation Software
IBM
11:50
The Next Developer Workplace: Achieving Productivity, Scaling AI
Patricia Rennert
Head of Processes, Methods and Tools
CARIAD
12:10
Autonomy in Agriculture – AI as an Enabler beyond Driving and Steering
AI-driven autonomy in agriculture enables farmers to do more with less - offering a perspective in comparison to autonomous driving in automotive
Christian Poschmann
Senior Vice President Global Engineering Technology
CLAAS
12:30
Panel Discussion
moderated by: Moderator: Dirk Wollschläger and Dr. Christof Horn
Salvatore Romeo
Director Automation Software
IBM
Patricia Rennert
Head of Processes, Methods and Tools
CARIAD
Christian Poschmann
Senior Vice President Global Engineering Technology
CLAAS
Dr. Christof Horn
Global Lead SW Defined Vehicle
Accenture
12:50
Lunch Break
14:00
Software-Defined Vehicles: Today and the vision for the future
Augustin Friedel
Associated Partner
MHP – A Porsche Company
14:15
Mastering the SDV requires a Software Deployment Revolution
SDVs raise system complexity, requiring new software methods. A unified, scalable approach accelerates development and supports safe, rapid feature evolution.
Dr. Stefan Poledna
CEO & CTO
TTTech Auto
14:30
Perfect Match – AI Meets ECU Configuration as Code
Software-Defined Vehicles are widely discussed, yet translating the vision into real world implementation remains challenging. A key question persists: how to manage the growing complexity and identify a practical starting point?
Marco Wierer
Senior Manager Software Development
Vector
14:40
Smarter AI Is Not Enough: Grounding Resilience in Connected Mobility
AI is moving from tools to systems that act in the physical world. As autonomous decisions increasingly interact with vehicles and infrastructure, resilience becomes a system challenge. This session explores why interpreting system deviations requires shared system-state context and digital twins.
Giuseppe Serio
Vice President Market Development
Upstream Security
Dr. Martin Hofmann
Board Advisor
ex EVP and Group CIO Volkswagen
15:00
Panel Discussion
moderated by: Dirk Wollschläger and Augustin Friedel
Dr. Stefan Poledna
CEO & CTO
TTTech Auto
Marco Wierer
Senior Manager Software Development
Vector
Giuseppe Serio
Vice President Market Development
Upstream Security
Augustin Friedel
Associated Partner
MHP – A Porsche Company
15:20
Break
15:50
Closing the Looming Automotive Technology Gap Through AI, Open Source, and Collaboration
Digital-first OEMs already lead; AI-native could make slow movers obsolete. The fastest path to staying competitive is open source and collaboration
Ahsan Shamim
Senior Principal Technical Marketing Manager
Red Hat
16:05
Driving the Future: How AI, Storage-Agnostic Data Platforms and leading Storage Solutions Are Powering the Next Generation of Automotive Innovation
Everpure| Driving the Future: How AI, Storage-Agnostic Data Platforms and leading Storage Solutions Are Powering the Next Generation of Automotive Innovation
Harald Ruckriegel
Area Vice President, Systems Engineering, Strategic Accounts EMEA
Everpure
Jan Hoscan
Vice President Head of Industrial
Everpure
16:20
From Imperative to Impact: Delivering Mission Critical AI for Automotive
The automotive industry is accelerating into a new era defined by AI, data, and software driven value. This talk highlights why many organizations struggle to move AI from promising POCs to real production impact. We showcase concrete automotive use cases to illustrate what truly works at scale. Join us to explore how mission critical AI can unlock new efficiency, innovation, and customer value
Dr. Boris Nowak
Consulting Partner Automotive
Kyndryl
Dr. Frank Becker
Consulting Partner Data & AI
Kyndryl
16:35
Panel Discussion
moderated by: Dirk Wollschläger
Ahsan Shamim
Senior Principal Technical Marketing Manager
Red Hat
Harald Ruckriegel
Area Vice President, Systems Engineering, Strategic Accounts EMEA
Everpure
Jan Hoscan
Vice President Head of Industrial
Everpure
Dr. Boris Nowak
Consulting Partner Automotive
Kyndryl
Dr. Frank Becker
Consulting Partner Data & AI
Kyndryl
16:50
Break
17:20
AI and Quantum
Dr. Alessandro Curioni
Vice President Europe and Africa
IBM Fellow & Global Research VP
IBM
17:35
Panel Discussion: Agentic AI / Agentic Enterprise
moderated by: Sarwant Singh, President MarketsandMarkets
Dr. Alessandro Curioni
Vice President Europe and Africa
IBM Fellow & Global Research VP
IBM
Dr. Martin Hofmann
Board Advisor, ex EVP and Group CIO,
Volkswagen
Dr. Rene Deist
CDO/CIO
EnBW
Sarwant Singh
President & CCO – EMEA
Markets and Markets
18:05
Car IT meets EU AI regulation – innovation with the handbrake on?
In this panel, panelists from OEM and supplier legal & compliance teams will discuss:
• the impact of EU AI regulation on car IT
• key compliance risks & challenges
• how companies can strategically navigate regulatory requirements instead of simply “hitting the brakes.
Thomas Kahl
Co-Head Automotive
TaylorWessing
Holger Böhme
Head of Data, AI & Digital Compliance
Mercedes-Benz Group AG
Dr. iur. Dipl.-Ing. Lennart Lutz
Principal Legal Counsel
CARIAD SE
18:25
Summary Day 1
18:35
Break - Dinnerbuffet
19:30
Fireside Chat
Dr. Mario De Felice
VP SW Engineering & Digital Vehicle Platforms
Audi AG
Christoph Hartung
President Cross-Domain Computing Solutions Bosch Mobility
BOSCH
Ole Harms
CEO
VAIVA
Dirk Wollschläger
Director
CAR – Center for Automotive Research
20:00
Evening Get-Together & Networking
End of Day 1
08:00
Welcoming Remarks & Review Day 1
Dirk Wollschläger
Director
CAR – Center for Automotive Research
Ole Harms
Chief Executive Officer
VAIVA
Augustin Friedel
Associated Partner
MHP – A Porsche Company
08:15
The new driving force: How AI is transforming car manufacturing and the customer experience
Florian Kraft
Chief Executive Officer
Renault Germany
08:35
Vehicle Data as a New Profit Center
We pioneer dealership transformation from analog to algorithmic by using vehicle scanner to turn cars into data and unlock new revenue through AI
Kaan Ernst Güner
Head of Sales
Instavalo
08:55
The Agentic Advantage: Orchestrating Relevance (Drives Growth)
Jens Wages
Business Innovation Director, Native AI Products Lead, EMEA Auto GenAI Lead
Accenture
09:10
AI-Enhanced User Experience
How AI improves emotional interaction quality by addressing human senses – Hear, Look, Feel – and the vehicle system behavior and architecture. This applies beyond cars to any HMI – vehicle, train or plane/drone.
Werner Koestler
Executive Officer Europe and Americas Automotive Electronics Division
Pioneer Corporation
09:25
How to build a software defined company
The presentation will identify the building blocks for a software defined company: Turning strategy into shipped software by transparent timelines; achieving continuous development without disruption, and identifying knowledge gaps early on.
Markus Rettstatt
Vice President Software Defined Car
Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation
09:45
Panel Discussion
moderated by: Dirk Wollschläger & Beatrix Keim
Arndt Hüsges
Chief Executive Officer & Founder Hüsges Group and Founder
Instavalo
Florian Kraft
Chief Executive Officer
Renault Germany
Werner Koestler
Executive Officer Europe and Americas Automotive Electronics Division
Pioneer Corporation
Markus Rettstatt
Vice President Software Defined Car
Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation
Jens Wages
Business Innovation Director, Native AI Products Lead, EMEA Auto GenAI Lead
Accenture
10:05
Break
10:35
Driving the Future: The Impact of AI in the Engineering Process
Sabrina Reif shows how AI is already transforming vehicle development at Stellantis - from vision to tools engineers use every day.
Sabrina Reif
AI Leader – Tech Center Central Europe
Stellantis
10:50
AI-Driven In-Cabin Simulation
Dr. Matthias Haringer
Principal Virtual Development
VAIVA
11:10
AI-integration into Customer Experience at Ford
Thomas Lukaszewicz
Chief Engineer Advance Driver Assistant Systems (ADAS) Europe
Ford
11:25
Best Practices of an AI-infused Company
Timo Schreiber
Managing Director
e.solutions
11:45
AI Enabled Shift to Software Driven Engineering
Rahul Prathap
Vice President Automotive and Managing Director Germany,
TTL
Hanno Wolff
Executive Director Business Development Automotive, Synopsys
12:00
Your Models, Your Rules: Who Really Controls AI in Your Engineering Process?
Automotive software teams need AI acceleration, but also control. This session explores self-hosted, model-agnostic engineering with built-in governance and zero lock-in.
Falko Sieverding
AI Solutions Architect
GitLab
12:15
Audi Digital UX - global requirements vs personalization
Poorab Sarmah
Senior Vice President Infotainment and Interior Interaction
Audi AG
12:40
Break
13:20
Panel Discussion
moderated by: Dirk Wollschläger und Augustin Friedel
Dr. Matthias Haringer
Principal Virtual Development
VAIVA
Rahul Prathap
Vice President Automotive and Managing Director Germany,
TTL
Hanno Wolff
Executive Director Business Development Automotive, Synopsys
Jens Wages
Business Innovation Director, Native AI Products Lead, EMEA Auto GenAI Lead
Accenture
Thomas Lukaszewicz
Chief Engineer Advance Driver Assistant Systems (ADAS) Europe
Ford
Falko Sieverding
AI Solutions Architect
GitLab
13:40
Embedding AI at the Core: Microsoft’s Blueprint for the Next Generation of Automotive Innovation
In this session, Microsoft shares its perspective on how a unified AI and data platform enables automotive organizations to move from isolated AI use cases to enterprise-wide transformation.
Robert Lokner
Managing Director EMEA Automotive Industry Lead
Microsoft
13:55
Large Industry Models: Accelerating the Shift to Software-Defined and Autonomous Mobility
Dr.-Ing. Bassem Hassan
Senior Director – Core Industries (Aerospace, Defense, Transportation & Mobility)
ECAL
14:10
Panel Discussion
moderated by: Dirk Wollschläger and Augustin Friedel
Robert Lokner
Managing Director EMEA Automotive Industry Lead
Microsoft
Dr.-Ing. Bassem Hassan
Senior Director – Core Industries (Aerospace, Defense, Transportation & Mobility)
ECAL
14:25
Closing remarks
Dirk Wollschläger
Director
CAR – Center for Automotive Research
Ole Harms
Chief Executive Officer
VAIVA
14:35
End