Let's talk about AI & Data: Innovation4Mobility Talk in Munich
4 Nov 2025
On 23 October, leading experts from the mobility and IT industries gathered at Google Cloud Space in Munich for the Automechanika ‘Innovation4Mobility’ expert talk series. The title of the event was: ‘Value creation through data, software-defined vehicles, autonomous driving and GenAI’. The event was hosted by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Google Cloud and Messe Frankfurt.
In his introductory remarks, Christopher Dehnel partner at BCG made it clear: ‘AI will have an enormous impact on the aftermarket. That's why we're here today to talk about the challenges, but also the opportunities that this transformation will bring.’ Around forty invited guests from science, industry, politics and the aftermarket took advantage of the event to learn about current AI trends and new insights, network and exchange ideas.
Among the participants in the talk were leading representatives from Audi, eBay, Eucon, EUROPART, Groupauto International, LKQ, Nexus Automotive, Schaeffler and ZF, who had travelled not only from Germany, but also from Paris and New York to discuss the future of AI in the aftermarket. Dehnel pointed out: ‘86% of companies worldwide are investing in AI, but only 5% are achieving economies of scale.’ It will be exciting to see how this ratio develops in the future. The central question of the event was what companies could do to profitably integrate AI into their processes.
Programme & highlights
Three presentations provided impetus for the subsequent discussions:
Susara van den Heever (Director, AI Technical GTM at Google Cloud) spoke about ‘How AI will change the aftermarket’. Using many practical examples from Google, she demonstrated what Agentic AI is already capable of: from AI assistants in workshops to intelligent catalogue optimisation and complex automation of aftermarket workflows through multi-agent systems.
Robert Herzberg (Partner at BCG) gave a keynote speech on the topic: ‘From spare parts to performance: monetising the opportunities of the AI aftermarket’. He highlighted new sources of profit that are currently emerging through predictive, generative and agent-based AI.
Dr Christian Sahr (Managing Director, Allianz Technik Zentrum) spoke about ‘The impact of ADAS technologies on repair costs and insurance’. Autonomous driving and ADAS systems are already changing the insurance economy and its risk models.
‘The landscape of agentic AI is changing rapidly. We are no longer in the testing phase, but are now clearly in the development phase.’
‘Our rule of thumb for implementing AI in companies is: 10, 20, 70. It's 10% algorithms, 20% technology and 70% people and processes.’
‘Autonomous driving will reshape the insurance industry: autonomous functions are already reducing accident rates by up to 66%, which increases safety and lowers costs for customers.’
Google keynote speech by Susara van den Heever: ‘How AI will change the aftermarket’
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This was followed by a lively expert panel discussion entitled ‘The Future of the Automotive Aftermarket’. In addition to Susara van den Heever and Dr Christian Sahr, Dr Alexander Brenner, Managing Director & Partner at BCG, also took to the stage. The panellists quickly agreed that the technology is already largely ready for use and that the main task now is to integrate it sensibly into work processes and, above all, to get employees on board with the new development. AI can help with ESG reporting as well as with processing large amounts of data in general. ‘A human being cannot distinguish between valuable data and data garbage. But an AI tool can help you do that and create new opportunities,’ said Brenner. Van den Heever added: ‘I have yet to find a problem that AI cannot be used to improve. AI can make a difference in almost all cases.’
The participants in the talk also developed a vision for the aftermarket: a new aftermarket must be intelligent and data-driven, with processes supported by AI where it makes sense to do so in order to unlock new efficiency, security and, of course, new customer benefits.
Stay tuned!
Every two weeks, we will present another exclusive talk from the Innovation4Mobility Talks in Munich here.
