Continental CTO compares move to software-defined cars to climbing Everest

BERLIN -- Continental Chief Technology Officer Gilles Mabire has a unique way of explaining the difficulty of the industry's move to software-defined vehicles. "We are not climbing the Alps anymore. We are in the Himalayas," he said, likening the challenge to summiting the famous mountain range's high peaks, with Mount Everest being the highest. That means the German supplier has to develop its products in a completely different way, he said. Under Mabire's guidance, Continental is also helping automakers maximize the benefits of over-the-air updates and tap into the power of artificial intelligence to slash the time it takes to solve complex tasks. He discussed this and more with Automotive News Europe Managing Editor Douglas A. Bolduc and Correspondent Nathan Eddy.