"In the future, we will see cars that understand you, know your mood and needs"

"We are in the midst of a huge technological disruption in the world of transportation. This includes new technologies, batteries, and electric vehicles. An entire software ecosystem is changing, with artificial intelligence (AI) having a major impact on our field as well," said Dr. Nikolai Ardey, Executive Director of VW Group Innovation at Volkswagen, speaking on a panel moderated by Yarden Rozanski from Calcalist at the Mind the Tech Berlin 2025 conference. The panel also included Hemdat Sagi, Managing Director, Konnect - VW Group Innovation Hub TLV. Ardey was responding to a question about how the automotive world is experiencing significant disruption.

He continued, "We have innovation teams around the world preparing for these changes, and we are required to invest a great deal of resources throughout the company. We need to understand where to invest, how to navigate the future, cover new technologies, and identify which ones are most significant today and which will become more significant in the future."

Hemdat Sagi added, "In Tel Aviv, change is the driving force behind the opening of our innovation center in 2018. The goal is to address existing innovation and emerging trends through solutions developed in Israel. We are becoming not just a mobility company, but a mobility-tech company. To do this, we need top-notch engineers who can handle the challenges ahead."

What technologies are you most interested in today?

Ardey: "AI is a major technology and is already being implemented through machine learning, but the real transformation is coming with AI agents in autonomous driving, language processing, and more. In the future, we will see cars that integrate AI, cars that understand you, know your mood and needs while driving, and know your schedule and routines.”

What can you tell us about the Tel Aviv Innovation Center?

Sagi: "We have been operating in Tel Aviv since 2018, after the group realized the importance of working in international innovation hubs. Since then, we have collaborated with various brands across the group. Our goal is to create the best customer experience, and that requires an innovative environment strengthened by startups. We have outstanding engineers, and our flagship project is the collaboration with Mobileye, which offers various solutions and Level 4 autonomy, as well as our work with Innoviz, which provides technologies for autonomous vehicles."

Nikolai Ardey added: "We already have robo-taxi vehicles in China transporting passengers. We will see them in Europe soon as well. We are ready with our technology and are just waiting for deployment to begin."

Will we see a fully autonomous vehicle without a driver in 5 to 10 years?

Sagi: "We will see a combination of capabilities, not only full autonomy. It will start with various autonomous services that provide a sense of security for people entering driverless vehicles. I tried it, and at first there is some apprehension, but you get used to it very quickly and feel very comfortable. What bothered me most was the behavior of other drivers, not the autonomous car we were riding in, it was extremely precise and pleasant. This is Israeli technology combined with Volkswagen's capabilities, and its importance will become clear very quickly."

Ardey: "I recently got into an autonomous car in California and simply told it where to go. I felt no fear driving without a driver. The sense of safety was complete, without having to think about the driving at all."

Watch the full exchange in the video above.