Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav Stellantis, the global car company that owns brands from Alfa Romeo to Vauxhall (including Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram), has begun a five-year partnership with Microsoft. The tech company will use its expertise to help the automaker improve its digital services, beef up its cybersecurity, and enhance its engineering capabilities. And yes, it will do that with the hype-iest of tech trends, AI.
When Ars Technica started covering the auto industry, it was because technology had begun to infiltrate our vehicles. More than a decade later, the impact of that trend is impossible to ignore. Almost every new vehicle has at least one modem embedded somewhere, connected to some cloud or other. Active safety systems perceive other road users and intervene to prevent collisions. Touchscreens are ubiquitous—and a necessity for the smartphone-like services we’re told make Chinese cars so much better than anything we can buy here.
It’s difficult to say that all this innovation has been good, at least for the end user. Connected services can be very useful—ironically, one of the harder things to test with press cars—but only if those services are provided securely. Advanced driver assistance systems aren’t always that safe, as Tesla’s many federal investigations and recalls remind us. Touchscreens and capacitive panels might save automakers a few bucks, but they’re unquestionably worse in terms of human-machine interactions than real buttons or switches. And I don’t need to tell the Ars audience about the possible privacy implications of in-car apps.
Barring the currently unproven experiment that is the Slate Truck, it’s unlikely that we’ll see a significant change in the near future. Some regulators are requiring a return to buttons, but only for a few controls, and some automakers are going back to more traditional interfaces, but only to a degree. If the problem in the past has been core competencies and automakers trying to offer products outside of those, then partnering with a company like Microsoft may result in some benefits.
“As AI rapidly advances, we have been early adopters across our business, from engineering and manufacturing to design and customer interaction, embedding AI directly into our vehicles, from the new digital cabin to the core vehicle Operating System,” said Ned Curic, Stellantis’ chief engineering and technology officer. “Through our collaboration with Microsoft, we are accelerating our AI momentum across the enterprise, giving our teams the tools to innovate faster and deliver the products, services, and experiences customers expect from us,” he said.
Stellantis wants to use AI to improve its product development and create customer-facing features such as predictive maintenance algorithms and efficiency coaching in the car. AI will also harden Stellantis against cyberattacks and make its connected services more resilient, the company said. As an example, “Jeep drivers will benefit from reliable connectivity and protected data access even in remote terrain, ensuring confidence wherever their journey takes them,” the company said.
Perhaps surprisingly, this doesn’t mean a massive expansion to Stellantis’ server farms. The two companies say that by 2029, they want a 60 percent reduction in datacenter footprint, doing more with less.
“Our work with Stellantis reflects a shared ambition to drive AI transformation responsibly and securely across the automotive value chain,” said Judson Althoff, CEO of Microsoft’s commercial business. “By combining Stellantis’ global scale and engineering expertise with Microsoft’s trusted cloud, AI, and security platforms, we are delivering real value for millions of drivers worldwide.”
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