A little more about Volkswagen’s €1 billion strategy to realise “no process without AI” across its global operations – as reported in these pages a couple of weeks back. The Germany-based auto-maker told RCR Wireless that it is making more company, vehicle, and customer data available “across the board” for AI applications, including for usage in large language models (LLMs) and in a new consortium-led large industry model (LIM) – to drive generative AI applications in its IT and OT operations, as well as in its vehicles themselves. It also provided some clarity about its global cloud strategy, which seeks to balance three disciplines: resiliency, sovereignty, and openness. 

The last point is to ensure Volkswagen, bound by regulatory frameworks in its home markets, “does not become isolated in the global technology race”, it explained. Which is the bigger message, ultimately. It is a bellwether note for enterprises contending with AI governance in a globalised Industry 4.0 landscape, effectively. And Volkswagen, as the biggest car maker in the home of Industrie 4.0, has a leadership position, of course – which is pro-regulation, but also deeply pragmatic. Read more here, and below.

But some quick intros, first: RCR Towers is delighted to welcome Susana Schwartz, Sulagna Saha, and Christian de Looper as part of the editorial team – respectively (mostly) covering the AI infrastructure, test and measurement (T&M), and the semiconductor industries. Susana’s latest story on the potential impacts of OpenAI’s partnership with AMD on the AI hardware landscape is available here; Sulagna’s latest about the growing importance of T&M as a core enabler of rapidly advancing tech is available here. Check their posts out; you will be hearing more from all three.