Generative AI in the automotive industry: from pilot project to driver of value creation

The sector-specific findings of the study “Generative AI in the German Economy” show that artificial intelligence has become an integral part of corporate management in the automotive industry. 93 per cent of companies have their own AI strategy, and in half of all companies, AI is managed directly at the highest level of management. At the same time, organisational maturity is growing: the vast majority of companies already consider their workforce to be well prepared for the productive use of AI. 

In the automotive industry, the use of AI is clearly focused on core operational activities. At the customer interface, however, the potential remains largely untapped, even though digital applications such as personalised sales interfaces or AI-supported advice are growing in this very area. At the same time, perceptions of the benefits of AI are shifting: the impact of automation remains stable, whilst contributions to innovation and cost reduction are viewed much more cautiously than in the previous year.

The deeper AI penetrates production and decision-making processes, the more pressing questions regarding data protection, ethics and regulatory compliance become. Around a third of automotive companies cite precisely these requirements as the biggest obstacle to the expansion of AI applications. Companies are responding: 40 per cent are prioritising AI governance, 63 per cent are already continuously monitoring their AI systems, and 57 per cent are seeking external support for this. The study highlights the governance priorities and measures that automotive companies are currently implementing to combine responsible and compliant use of AI with the necessary speed of implementation.

For many companies, it is virtually impossible to build up the necessary expertise entirely in-house. 87 per cent of automotive companies therefore rate partnerships with other companies as important or very important for their use of AI. In practice, this is evident, for example, in the development of driver assistance systems or in the establishment of data and AI infrastructures.