Positioning and politics in the world of artificial intelligence

From Drivelines to AI: Mercedes and Microsoft navigate shifting competitive landscapes.

Together with Wout van der Kooij (ex-Varta and Linde AG) I investigate the parallels in automotive and what currently happens in the landscape of AI technology. or what can we learn from the story of Mercedes and Bosch?

Mercedes has been a premium car builder for years, with as main competitive advantage very high quality of drivelines and high protection levels of vehicles for the people inside. The long livedness of the cars is legendary, and it is not seldom to find Mercedes cars with more than a million miles driven.

For years, Mercedes had its competitive advantage in their robust drivelines, the engines, gear boxes and differentials, which were of utmost quality and required huge investments to design, test and build. Mercedes reportedly invest 8.5 Billion Euro in R&D every year for its car and truck divisions (Statistica, 2023). Read my write up of our discussions on recent developments and why Microsoft is living a dangerous life.