With gas-powered vehicles, hybrids and EVs, how can automakers keep costs down?

Molly Boigon (0:03)

Hello, and welcome to the Automotive News Shift Podcast, where we bring you the latest on automotive technology, trends, and transformation.

I'm Molly Boigon, tech and innovation reporter at Automotive News. On this week's episode, I spoke with CJ. Finn, PwC's US automotive industry leader, about some of the regulatory barriers to widespread autonomy in personal vehicles and robotaxis.

C.J. Finn (0:28)

We've got to get a little bit better than having individual cities make the decision as to, are we letting this autonomous vehicle work in this particular city? And it's a city by city determination.

Molly Boigon (0:40)

But first, let's talk about the week.

Last week in Detroit, auto industry professionals from around the world gathered for the 2026 Automotive News Congress. Several tech related topics were on the agenda. Joining me to talk about that now is Hannah Lutz, Assistant Managing Editor at Automotive News. Hannah, great to have you back on Shift.

Hannah Lutz (1:00)

Nice to be back on Shift. Thanks, Molly.

Molly Boigon (1:02)

So you've moderated a couple of panels, but one of them was about the Automated Factory, AI Robotics and the Future of Automotive Work. What was your main takeaway from moderating that panel?

Hannah Lutz (1:13)

Well, robots and AI were just one of the biggest underlying themes of the whole three-day event. Out in the hallway, there were robotic dogs, like dancing and begging from Hyundai and Boston Dynamics. So, it was definitely top of mind for everyone. Some of my biggest takeaways from that panel, people often worry about what the influx in automation and AI and factories will do to jobs. The panelists were pretty clear that they, for the most part, will not replace jobs, they'll enhance jobs. They also pointed to AI and automation as one of the ways to solve the shortage of labor in the US. That was actually a theme that came out of multiple keynotes and panels, the gap in the skilled workforce.

Not all doom and gloom on the workforce side. Toyota also talked about ways they're using AI to improve these very tedious labor intensive processes like welding. There are some real world examples that I hope gave the audience a sense of how they could use AI and automation.

Molly Boigon (2:23)

It is interesting that the panelists chose to devote so much time to that question about workforce replacement, because I feel like that's the only main hang up that I can think of for making factories more automated.

Hannah Lutz (2:38)

Yeah, and another point that Suzanne Kazunas from Toyota made was that she worries about the newer generation of employees relying too heavily on AI and losing their sense of critical thinking or losing the experience they would have built up without it. So it seems like these companies are trying to get all the benefits of AI in terms of efficiency and speed without breaking down the expertise that the people need to learn. Something else that the speaker Barry Phillips from Eptronic mentioned, which I thought was really interesting, we would probably do a separate panel on this, is the way that robots, especially humanoid robots, interact with actual humans when they're working side by side on the floor of a plant. It's something that hasn't really been a big deal yet because they're not at a great scale. But it is something that will come up when you're every day next to a robot that's the same size as you doing something similar.

What are the new standards? How do you communicate effectively and reduce any tension? It's a whole other dynamic of workplace pleasantries.

Molly Boigon (3:54)

A whole other dynamic. A fun piece of trivia about me is that my first ever byline for an original reported story was about co-bots, the robots that were working alongside employees in the logistic centers and stuff like that.

Hannah Lutz (4:11)

Yeah. Yeah. It's another thing to think about.

And Molly, you also moderated a couple of panels at Congress. One of them was about software defined vehicles, AI and autonomy, delivering real world impact at scale. What did the panelists say about monetizing STVs and making a return on those R&D investments?

Molly Boigon (4:32)

I was sort of surprised by the direction that the panel took on this. You know, the software defined vehicle transition originally had some potential new revenue streams for automakers. One of those was the sale of user data, which backfired spectacularly in a public relations and legal nightmare for general motors, which had been selling consumer data to data brokers, and that resulted in additional insurance costs for drivers. Another one was in-car advertisements. There was a recent backlash for this related to BMW, and then even something like subscription offerings have not really materialized as expected. Consumers have not really jumped on those subscription offerings as anticipated.