How will vehicle experiences evolve with AI? | with Mel Roberts of Stellantis

**John Heinlein** (0:00)
Today in The Garage, we're recording live at AutoTech 2026 in Novi, Michigan. Just last night, we were participating in the AutoTech Awards, including awards 10 Best Interiors. And one of the things that the Interiors Awards celebrated was innovation in vehicle experience and user experience for the driver and passenger. And you're seeing an evolution of how features get presented to drivers, both in terms of the displays, voice interaction, which controls are physical controls for things like volume or climate, which are soft controls on screens that are tactile and change over time. And just the use and way these things are evolving is changing all the time and user appetites are changing all the time. It's a really exciting application of software. And as software defined vehicles evolve and as we bring more AI into vehicles, there are exciting new ways that we can use software and AI to improve the user experience. To talk about that and learn about that important topic, we brought on an expert, which is Mel Roberts. Our guest today is Mel Roberts. She's Director of North America Infotainment and Feature Planning for Stellantis. And in our conversation, we talk about the user experience in many ways, how the user experience is evolving, and how software and AI can enhance that experience now and in the years ahead. It's an exciting conversation and I think you're going to really enjoy Mel's unique perspective.
Let's go.
Welcome to The Garage. I'm John Heinlein, Chief Marketing Officer with Sonatus. We're here recording live at AutoTech 2026 Mel Roberts, welcome to the podcast.

**Mel Roberts** (1:56)
Thank you.

**John Heinlein** (1:57)
We've been talking for years about having you on the podcast. I'm glad we're finally able to get you on the show.

**Mel Roberts** (2:03)
Very excited to be here. Thanks.

**John Heinlein** (2:05)
Start by telling us a little bit about you and your background.

**Mel Roberts** (2:07)
Absolutely. So I graduated from Michigan Tech, and I started my career in the medical industry. So I was working at a hospital as a bioelectrical engineer, fixing medical equipment.

**John Heinlein** (2:19)
As you do.

**Mel Roberts** (2:20)
I mean, it was fun. Every day was a different story. And then after that, I went into medical research, found myself accidentally doing microsurgery on rodents for a microcirculation model. Realized I wasn't that good at it after a while. And so I went back and talked to one of my mentors from my undergraduate career. And he said, when you were 18, what did you want to do when you grow up? And I said, I wanted to do crash test dummies. He's like, well, you're not even in automotive. I'm like, that's a valid point. Yes.
So he introduced me to someone. And long story short, I ended up automotive and will never look back. I love it. And I don't miss the mice nor the rats.
Although sometimes I still have stress dreams about it. But happy to be here.

**John Heinlein** (3:10)
It's such an incredible background that people's journey. I mean, when I began my journey, I've been in technology of many different kinds. I didn't know I'd end up working in automotive technology, but it's a super exciting space.

**Mel Roberts** (3:20)
Absolutely.

**John Heinlein** (3:21)
We always like to get to know our guests. You have to tell us a fun fact about you.

**Mel Roberts** (3:25)
Okay. Well, also at that illustrious college in Houghton, Michigan, Michigan Tech University, I was a college radio DJ. So, yes.

**John Heinlein** (3:35)
Was there a style you specialized in?

**Mel Roberts** (3:37)
Yes. And that is the tricky part. Three-hour show, all on punk rock. So, it's like, what, a minute and a half, two-minute songs. I hustled. I got to work out every CD and vinyl, because that's what we had. We didn't have digital music.

**John Heinlein** (3:53)
There was no digital then. No, no, no, no.

**Mel Roberts** (3:55)
So, the whole DJ station looked like a mess, a tornado after I was done. Everything was ripped off the walls. But I had a huge following because we had the biggest transmitter in Michigan. So, I had a huge following at the local Barraga County Prison and got lots of fan mail and...

**John Heinlein** (4:13)
Proposals from prison?

**Mel Roberts** (4:15)
Absolutely. No end in sight.

**John Heinlein** (4:18)
That is hilarious. That is hilarious. So, I always share a fun fact back. My fun fact is I'm a podcaster.

**Mel Roberts** (4:24)
That's awesome.

**John Heinlein** (4:24)
No, but all joking aside, when we started the podcast, it was an experiment because we really wanted to engage thought leaders. And it's been a great experience. I really enjoyed it. And I was not a radio DJ in college, but I'm jealous that you got to do that. And punk rock too, that's super fun.