Women leading technical innovation: AI, readiness, and engineering depth at Vehicle Tech Week

Day 1, Automotive Testing Expo, Vibe Credit Union Showplace, Novi, Michigan. “Panel discussion: Women leading technical innovation.” Moderator: Dr. Gozde Tutuncuoglu, Associate Professor, Wayne State University. Panelists: Ashwini Balasubramanian, Vice President, R&D, 3M; Dr. Ankur Ganguli, Executive Director, Vehicle Motion Embedded Controls, General Motors; Paula Jones, Segment Director, Infineon Technologies; Danche Gjorgjievski, CTO, ADAC Automotive.

Organized with IEEE Women in Engineering, the last session of the first day brought together leaders from across the supply chain, from Infineon's chips and 3M's materials to ADAC's mechatronic systems and GM's vehicles.

Guardrails for AI in safety-critical engineering

A brake system has to respond the same way every time the pedal is pressed, and that requirement shapes how GM brings AI into engineering. GM is putting lightweight guardrails around AI tools that can give two different answers to the same question. Engineers worry about their jobs, so Ankur's teams ask which part of the work people like least and point AI there first. That work is often skipped or done poorly, so the benefit shows up right away and engineers start asking for the tools themselves.

Organizational readiness sets the pace

GM tests each new idea against the customer pain point and business case, the risks it has to retire, and whatever blocks commercialization. Ankur said that last step is often organizational, because promising ideas often fall between two teams, and Danche added that a technology the organization can't keep pace with will fail regardless of its merit. Organizational readiness decides how fast a new technology reaches a vehicle as much as engineering does.

AI makes deep expertise more valuable

AI tools will hand engineers five different answers to the same problem, Paula said, and only someone with deep technical knowledge can say which answer doesn't make sense and why. Ashwini expects AI to close knowledge gaps quickly while experience gaps stay open, which makes it harder to see who can execute when everyone has the same information. Hiring and promotion will need to test for that depth.

Representation is a business requirement

More than half of GM's customers are women, Ankur noted, and an innovation process built on customer pain points needs people who understand those customers. Ashwini argued that supply chain shocks and geopolitics require all the talent the industry can find, and that vehicle affordability will only improve through innovation that takes cost out of the design. Representation on engineering teams is a business requirement for building vehicles people can afford.

Innovation across company lines

GM can't innovate on its own, Ashwini said, and neither can 3M, Infineon, or ADAC. The next round of innovation will come from teams that work across company lines early in development.