AutoTech 2024 - AMA's After Action Report

Last week, the AMA team returned to Novi, Michigan for the second straight year to participate in AutoTech Detroit 2024. Falling between CES 2024 and CES 2025, AutoTech Detroit marks a halfway checkpoint for the automotive industry, allowing companies to showcase their latest advances and outlooks in vehicle technology. Attended by 3000 industry professionals, 150 exhibitors, over 100 speakers, and 850 companies, AutoTech was a bustling hub for business discussions, collaboration, and planning for the future. The showing was again impressive this year, and the AMA team had a productive and fun experience meeting with clients, partners, industry experts, and friends, including AMA being able to participate in the inaugural Women's Automotive Summit - US held in conjunction with Autotech. At such a focused gathering of automotive technology suppliers and OEMs, the content and business of the show was dominated by a few major themes.

A notable feature this year was the in-cabin monitoring systems brought to the show by a variety of different suppliers. Designed with driver safety in mind, these systems utilize cameras to ensure drivers are not distracted and paying attention to the road while being able to create 3D reconstructions of the interior cabin. As vehicle interiors are packed with more and more features, drivers can be distracted in new ways, so having advanced monitoring systems provide benefits for occupants, manufacturers, and insurers alike. The success and importance of this system was made apparent by the awarding of Eyeris with the “Automotive Tech Company of the Year” and “Automotive Product of the Year” awards for their cabin-sensing AI system. Eyeris’ product allows AI models to regress 3D data out of 2D data collected from the interior of the vehicle. In turn, costly 3D cameras and sensors can be bypassed, making the technology less cost-prohibitive for OEMS and enticing incorporation into new vehicle models. Moreover, insurance companies and police may be able to use these points of data collection to better understand crashes and possibly reconstruct the moment of impact to understand what went wrong and assign fault accordingly. Already catching significant attention from industry experts at AutoTech, it will be interesting to see how OEMs embrace this innovation throughout the rest of the decade.

Beyond the cutting edge products showcased at AutoTech, AMA’s team of experts were hard at work moderating and speaking at panels covering topics ranging from smart route planning to AI in automotive infotainment. George Ayres, AMA’s Managing Director led an excellent discussion with panelists from Nissan, Honda, Wards Intelligence, and GlobalPlatform titled “Refining the IVI Experience: Exploring Opportunities Beyond the Dashboard.” The discussion revolved around the best ways for OEMs to deliver customers the safe and robust experiences they expect. The conversation delved into the need for biometric security in infotainment systems due to the increasingly personal and private nature of in car data. Meanwhile, Chip Goetzinger, AMA’s Solutions Director moderated a fireside chat titled “Gen AI Drive: Unleashing the Power of Generative AI in Automotive Infotainment.” Joined by speakers from Amazon Smart Vehicles and INRIX, important light was shed on customer problems, new AI use cases, and integration of AI into the in-car experience. Talks of AI usage for reducing over-the-air update costs were particularly insightful, giving audience members a look into how innovation could extend the life cycle of OEM products while cutting prohibitive expenses. AMA’s wide range of expertise across all things automotive technology facilitated relevant dialogue for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century auto industry.

An underlying theme throughout the show was the personalization of the customer experience. OEMs, suppliers, and other experts spent a lot of time and effort strategizing the best ways to deliver customers the most personalized experience possible while preserving standardized ecosystems and data. In panel discussions, OEMs from BMW to Honda emphasized the need to facilitate robust third-party collaboration and ecosystem development in the interest of achieving a cost-effective personalized in-car experience. Partnering with third parties will give OEMs the support they need to create financially profitable products that surpass consumer expectations and derive revenue from new sources within the car. In fact, Dan Teeter, AMA’s Advisory Director, chaired the “Revolutionizing Auto Tech: Subscription Services, Infotainment, and Fintech” panel with Mercedes-Benz, BMW, AT&T, and Parkopedia. There they discussed and mapped out future services customers will be excited to pay for. All of these discussions paint a picture of a robust future for companies across the automotive industry, from new Tier 3 suppliers to globe-spanning OEMs.

Once again, AutoTech was a bustling environment of companies coming together to present cutting edge solutions to current problems. Business models continue to evolve, and the breakneck pace of development continues to be spurred on by the introduction of AI integration and other innovations covering all facets of the market from driver monitoring systems to in-car entertainment. The excitement and importance of AutoTech should not be underestimated, allowing industry professionals the opportunity to peer into the future of tomorrow’s automotive world today.